Toki Tori walks the fine line between challenging and frustrating, but should delight puzzle fans.
Cons: Core challenge relies heavily on trial and error
I could say some pretty nice things about Two Tribe's adorable puzzle game, Toki Tori, but without a doubt the best thing I can say is that it has a rewind function. It saves the game. If Toki Tori did not have a rewind function, it would not be at all worth playing. For everything that Toki Tori has going right for it, the trial and error aspect of its puzzles threatens to ruin things.
The whole goal of Toki Tori is to maneuver the titular bird around a variety of levels to pick up eggs without getting stuck or killed by enemies. You get a limited supply of tools including bridges, teleportation devices, ice block guns, and more, and the challenge comes from resource management. You not only need to know where to place everything, but you also need to place them in the right order to be as efficient as possible. Puzzles are well-designed, introducing new mechanics and angles frequently, and then testing your mastery of them.
Of course, this mastery comes back to perfect object placement. And there's no way you will know exactly where to place which object-and in what order-on your first try. Trial and error is the name of the game, and you better be ready to abuse the rewind button-you'll need it. When the puzzles start getting tough towards the end of the game, or in the bonus levels, this trial-and-error is a major source of frustration. Push through it, and you are rewarded with deviously well-designed puzzles, but only if you really push through things.
If that sounds appealing, then by all means get Toki Tori. There isn't much else to it (it's adorable, and the music is sometimes catchy, but the puzzles are the real star), and trial-end-error will inevitably put some people off. However, everything else in Toki Tori is definitely worth any puzzle gamer's time and $5.