Every now and again a game comes along that you really want to like. Maybe it’s because of the characters. Maybe it’s because of the gameplay. In Tornado for the DS’s case, it’s due to its unique premise. In it, the player takes control of the "Cosmic Cleaners", a group of intergalactic animal garbage men. Toki, their leader, and his friends take it upon themselves to restore all of the Earth’s buildings, monuments, ect., that have been stolen by the Prince using a "Black Hole Device." In order to do this, Toki and the other Cleaners transform into tornados and run amok on levels based on various captured Earth cities, sending the items they suck up back to their rightful places on the real Earth. This scenario is undeniably different, but unfortunately, that’s the nicest thing I can say about the game.
They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, and if that’s the case, than Tornado must be absolutely enamored with Katamari Damacy for the PS2. It’s gameplay mechanics are an exact copy of Katamari’s, aside from the obvious fact that you control a tornado rather than a ball. Just as in Katamari, you must build up your tornado by swallowing up as many objects as possible. The bigger your tornado gets, the bigger items you can snag, such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris. There’s even a character named the "Prince." Coincidence? You be the judge.
There is one important area, however, where Tornado differs from the game it so closely emulates: quality. Tornado could have been a competent Katamari imitator; while its gameplay wouldn’t be original, at least it would be imitating a good game. Instead, Tornado ruins the potential fun to be had by sucking up everything in your path by imposing ridiculously strict time limits and forcing you to accomplish asinine tasks. Pretty much every stage involves finding something, whether it be batteries or a fellow Cosmic Cleaner. Sometimes this isn’t so bad, because in some levels an item’s location can be memorized, so when you are forced to restart due to failure, you can get it faster the next time. However, in some of the stages, namely the ones where you must find the Cleaners, the character’s location is randomized. Since the time limits never exceed 4-5 minutes and it takes at least a minute or two to power up your tornado to a useful size, the game leaves you very little time to find the missing Cleaner.
I was forced to repeat the second level over eight times simply because I was never lucky enough to find the deviant Deva. Progression in any game shouldn’t be solely based on chance. There is no skill involved with finding the character whatsoever. Just roam the level aimlessly until you get lucky enough to find what you’re looking for. The task is made even more difficult by a camera that is permanently zoomed in far too closely. The game is controlled completely with the stylus, and while the controls are at least responsive, it can get tiresome to have to constantly recharge your tornado by spinning the stylus in circles.
When you inevitably fail, the game does not save your progress. The levels once beaten are opened up in Arcade mode so you can learn their layouts at your leisure. However, by the time you’ve passed them, any usefulness that could have been gleaned from studying the levels has been rendered moot. Arcade mode has time limits as well, though, so really, what’s the point? You can view items you’ve reclaimed in a gallery, though you’ll only care about that if you’re one of the people that felt the need to amass every statuette in Wind Waker.
The graphics are decent. All of the gameplay is rendered in 3D polygons, and they look slightly better than what you’d see on the N64. The music is forgettable, and I often found myself turning off the volume whenever a character spoke in annoying Animal Crossing-esque chatter.
A friend of mine suggested that instead of writing a review for Tornado, I pose a list of things I would rather do than play this game. It was extremely tempting. Stay far away from Tornado – never mind that it’s probably the closest thing we will ever get to a Katamari Damacy on the DS. Never mind that the game humorously comes in a shiny, cardboard slipcase (not even the pretentious Final Fantasy games do THAT). I know you want to like it, but trust me, you’ll only end up getting hurt. Tornados are avoided for a reason.
I’m glad to hear you loved it!