Tomba!: Like His Pink Hair, Not For Everybody Company: Sony Interactive Entertainment America Tomba! has nice graphics; reminiscent of Donkey Kong Country. It has a tropical feel to it, with a few oddball characters present. Those of you who enjoy Japanese cartoons will probably like the graphics. You know the drill... Huge eyes, pink hair, but the loincloth is a switch. Again, I have to revert to my description of cute. One thing that puzzled me was a sound I heard from time to time. It sounded like a baby bird crying. I didn?t know where it was coming from or if it was a cue for me to do something. Chicks (no guys, baby birds) are an item that you can pick up during your travels, but I sure don?t know what their use is. Maybe they just didn?t like being cooped up. Tomba! wasn?t spectacular, but it wasn?t that bad. All of you who LOVED your Super Nintendo will enjoy this game. Although it has points where you can go ?forward and back,? it is basically a side-scroller. Being used to games like Tomb Raider and Resident Evil, I found myself constantly trying to make Tomba go places he couldn?t. This was somewhat frustrating, but I?m sure the player would get used to it. Tomba can swing from vines, climb walls, beat pigs with a mace of sorts and then toss ?em, and destroy certain surrounding foliage. Why he can kill the purple flowers and not the trees is beyond me, though. Basically, roll Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country together, put them on the PlayStation, and you?ve got Tomba! I found Tomba! to be fairly easy. Of course, this is just a demo and it?s also the very beginning of the game. I think it would be a wonderful game for kids who have played on Super Nintendo previously and are ready for a PlayStation, but not prepared to be eaten by zombies. Sorry to repeat myself, but this game is d?j? vu if you?ve ever played DK Country or Super Mario. The ability to climb walls is nice, though. Sometimes you just can?t jump EVERYWHERE. In the area I was exploring, the tree swinging didn?t seem to help too much. I found Tomba hard to control when he was swinging. The longer you hold the button, the further you will go, however. Tomba does have an inventory, but if you rent this game, you?ll more than likely be as confused as I was with the inventory. Just what does one do with baby chicks and normal green pants, anyway? One nice touch is the Status option. I didn?t discover it right away, but when I did, I found out what my mission was. (Like running around pig tossing and swinging from trees ain?t enough!) You begin the game with a mace-type weapon called a Black Jack. It?s pretty effective, and the longer you hold down the button, the further the weapon will strike. As you progress, you acquire certain items (as I mentioned earlier), so I can assume you also get weapon upgrades. I picked up a tornado, but it had a specific purpose, so I couldn?t use it for just anything. This seems to be the case for most items. (Think ?note? from Tomb Raider). I recommend renting Tomba! before purchasing it. It?s cute, but not for everyone. -Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins