Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue
Developer(s)	Krome Studios
Publisher(s)	EA Games Krome Studios (PC)
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows
Release	Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2 & Xbox NA: 12 October 2004 EU: 5 November 2004 Microsoft Windows WW: 13 December 2017
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single-player

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue is a platform video game developed by Krome Studios and published by EA Games for Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows.

Gameplay

Ty is set in Southern Rivers, a rural countryside divided into many smaller areas, such as Bush Rescue HQ, the town of Burramudgee, and various other inhabited regions. Presented as a non-linear open world game, the player is given a degree of choice as to where to go and the order of what missions to accomplish^[1][2][3] While most of the gameplay is on foot, the player is occasionally given a selection of vehicles and weapons to control, which include trucks, mechanical body suits known as "Bunyips", mortar launchers and go-karts.

The game progresses by completing missions, which can range from helping town citizens to delivering items from one point to another, destroying mission-critical objects, and defeating certain enemies/bosses. After completing a handfull of normal missions, the player is assigned a plot-critical mission, which progresses the game further and unlocks new areas upon completion. Ty's trademark weapons are his dual-boomerangs, which can be thrown individually or together to defeat enemies, be used to perform a glide after jumping or falling, manipulate objects, create/clear pathways, and utilize objects for maneuvers. Ty can also use a bite attack, which lunges himself at the nearest enemy, crate, or object with a large jaw chomp. It also allows him to reach hidden areas of objects by chaining bites together (Similar to the Homing Attack in Sonic games). New boomerangs can be purchased using Opals, the game's currency, at Sly's Boomerang Shop in Burramudgee, each with varying differences in combat effectiveness and functionality.

Multiplayer consists of Mario Kart style go-kart racing, where players use various items to disrupt other racers as they compete to reach the finish line. The mode is playable split-screen with up to four players (two in the PS2 version).

Apart from its console counterpart, a Game Boy Advance version of the game was also produced. While the story and overall gameplay remains the same as the console versions, it plays as a 2D side-scrolling platformer as opposed to a fully 3D game. The game also is more restrictive, changing the open world vehicle exploration found in the console versions to an overworld map with enemies scattered throughout in real-time. Interacting with said enemies on the world map triggers a driving minigame where all enemies must be destroyed before being allowed to proceed, similar to Bionic Commando. Go-cart racing, and all side quests associated with it, were also completely removed, and no multiplayer modes are available.

Plot

Following from where Ty the Tasmanian Tiger left off, Ty defeats the cassowary Boss Cass by using the Doomerang given by his brother Sly in the previous game. Afterwards, Ty retrieves the last talisman and returns it to Rainbow Cliffs, rescuing his parents who were trapped in the Dreaming during a battle with Boss Cass. Ty and his parents embrace and Rainbow Cliffs is saved. Boss Cass is later detained by Buramudgee police as a result of the incident.

A while later, Cass' henchmen lead an spontaneous attack on the town of Currawong. Ty, his girlfriend Shazza the Dingo, Ranger Ken (a Tasmanian devil) and Duke (a Kiwi) arrive to assist Maurie the Cockatoo, Sly and the local police in halting the uprising. Together with Sly and Shazza, Ty manages to fight his way into the city and halt the advancing dropships and giant bipedal mechs known as "Deamon Fluffies" using the bipedal power suit, the Battle Bunyip. Cass' assistant Fluffy (a Thorny devil), arrives in her own Bunyip and makes her way towards Currawong Jail. Ty and Shazza realize that the attack on Currawong was a diversion so that Cass' henchmen could break him out of prison, and Ty gives chase. Ty manages to catch up to Fluffy, and a battle ensues. Despite being supported by several genetically enhanced Frill Lizard henchmen, Fluffy is overpowered by Ty's Battle Bunyip. Ranger Ken and Duke arrive by helicopter to Ty's aid, but are subsequently shot down by Fluffy. Ty rescues his friends in the crashing helicopter, giving Fluffy the time to successfully break Boss Cass out of prison. After taunting Ty's efforts, Cass and Fluffy escape from the prison. Ty, frustrated by the turn of events, vows to be ready for Cass when they meet again.

Some time after Cass' escape, Ty and his friends preside over a special inaugural ceremony, where Dennis, an Australian green tree frog, announces the formation of "Bush Rescue, a peacekeeping organization based in Burramudgee dedicated to the protection of Southern Rivers. Ty and Shazza are then informed by Dennis that Boss Cass has founded his own country called "Cassopolis", and as a result of his status, he now possesses diplomatic immunity, meaning that he and his diplomats can raise whatever havoc they want as long as it's "official business". As part of Bush Rescue, Ty goes on a number of missions all around the Southern Rivers such as transporting valuable items, rescuing civilians, "saving" a filmmaking group from America who grow increasingly frustrated with Ty as he continually ruins their movie shoots by mistaking the actors playing ninjas as Cass' Minions and attacking them (before Cass' Minions actually do attack the set), using various and investigating Boss Cass' operations, all the while waiting for an opportunity to recapture Cass. On one mission, Ty has to face "Patchy the Cybersaur", (an Ankylosaurus with robotic enhancements on his head, tail, and back) who was sent by Fluffy to eliminate him. Then, while trying to stop a fire on an oil platform, Fluffy summons "Buster", a monster formed by yellow nanobots joined together, to distract Ty so she could steal a shadow drive from the rig. Cass then uses the drive to combine captured Southern River mammal residents warm blood with his Frill Lizard henchmen and their cold-blooded ferocity to make genetically modified bio-weapons known as "Uber Frills".

During a battle with Fluffy, Ty manages to steal a Data N.U.T. and gives it to Julius the koala, Bush Rescue's lead scientist, for analysis. From the N.U.T., Cass' evil plan to capture the people in Buramudgee and transform them is revealed. Just as they find out about his plan, Cass kidnaps the Burramudgee denizens to use their warm blood for the mass production of Uber Frills. Out of options, Ty, Sly, and Shazza and Duke fly to Cass' lair to stop him, with Shazza commandeering a standard Battle Bunyip, Sly using his custom-made "Missile Bunyip", and Ty using the newly constructed Shadow Bunyip. After eliminating most of Cass' henchmen, including a rematch with Patchy, Buster and Fluffy, Sly and Shazza go to free the residents of Burramudgee while Ty goes to defeat Boss Cass. Just before he leaves, Shazza gives Ty a kiss for luck. Ty encounters Cass in the heart of the island's volcano, and the two battle. Cass summons a bunch of green nanobots capable of joining together into a long armed robot (Known as "Armstrong" in the GBA game) to fight Ty, but he manages to destroy it and defeats Cass once and for all. When they get back, Ty, Sly, and Shazza receive medals of bravery and honor from Dennis and Bush Rescue, while Boss Cass is sent back to prison, carrying out lunch duty and serving food to all of his imprisoned henchmen.

The story of the Game Boy Advance version remains mostly the same, with certain battles and sequences being altered (such as the opening battle with Fluffy), and others being added in (such as a boss fight against a malfunctioning Cy the Cybernetic Tiger). The final boss battle also takes place within Cassopolis, as opposed to inside a volcano, and Armstrong is also significantly larger in the GBA version (almost three times bigger than the Shadow Bunyip).

Television series

It was announced in 2004 that Film Roman and Krome Studios was developing an animated series based on the video game series.^[4] No further reports, however, have been made since then, and the project is believed to be cancelled.

References