The Last Tinker: City of Colors is a bright and beautiful platformer from indie developer Mimimi Productions, coming in the second quarter of 2014 to PC (Windows and Linux) and Mac.
The preview of The Last Tinker: City of Colors introduces the story and main character Koru, a young boy with special powers, and covers the game’s tutorial: running, climbing and exploring the vibrantly coloured city.
I found the controls really responsive, and simple to learn. Holding down the right trigger of the controller allowed me to automatically sprint, make jumps or climb, based on the terrain.
I really enjoyed exploring the various districts of the city, where I found a wealth of buildings and decorations and lots of animal characters. These characters often had something to say too, via cardboard cut-out speech bubbles.. sometimes referencing the player’s tasks or actions, and other times simply references to something else nearby. Koru starts his adventure by heading off to take part in a race..
The music changed as I moved between areas; never too distracting and changing often enough to not feel repetitive. Overall it felt like a cheerful, full world with plenty to see and do.
Combat was fairly simple, with single and combo attacks available by repeatedly tapping the button. These combat sequences weren’t challenging, but I imagine outside of the tutorial area the enemies may put up more of a fight.
The puzzles were also easy to complete but rather satisfying. I was given a mushroom companion to help me prepare mushroom beds.. this meant moving levers to create a path for the companion to take, or shrinking him to allow him to pass under obstacles. I quite liked the gormless smile too!
Koru does eventually make it to his race.. including a run along one of the game’s rails which lets him skate along automatically with a few obstacles to jump and avoid.
The preview section ends with Koru meeting a spirit and learning of his abilities. I’m looking forward to seeing the completed game when it’s launched in a few weeks, and continuing the adventure!