Eagerly mislead by a great first impression and a pretty face, I've come to terms with Topatoi actually being another Marble Madness game in disguise. The episodic platform puzzler, or puzzling platformer, is initially pretty great. There's room for improvement on almost every front that isn't charm, and this becomes quickly relevant as players begin the story mode of the game.
Speaking of story, Topatoi may have been better off without one. Players are equipped with a "Gyroscopic Exploration Multidimensional Multiterrain Apparatus", or more simply GEMMA, which is the vehicle used to explore the giant tree trunk that makes up this portion of the game's episodes which we've crash-landed into.
Players quickly learn to move around (slower or quicker by tapping L2 or R2 to dampen or rev the machine), and begin to advance towards each new goal a nutty professor ushers you towards. Due to constantly being updated on an inane story, the game is interrupted in healthy doses that it really could have done without. Perhaps this is why the arcade mode shines so much over the story option. As if the developers felt more creative and not trapped within the confines of some greater mechanism that needed to tie itself together in a comprehensive manner.
Elements are introduced over time which will require more than simply moving slowly across a level and advancing upwards, such as moving crates to push buttons, collecting hidden stars, and tackling the occasional enemy.
Generally there will be no frustration with understanding the goals of the game, or solving the puzzles, but moreso with the sleepy controls that will fail to be the leap of faith required to make a jump every now and then. That isn't to say the game plays messily, but that it feels too loose, and due to this it poses the challenge of adapting to this flaw as a handicap.
That's where the Marble Madness comparison comes into play. Everything is so linear and obvious that Topatoi feels like a means to an end rather than a viable source of entertainment. Poorly implemented mechanics such as having to maintain your source of fuel à la Lost Planet's heat globules come off as superfluous rather than an interesting catch, and the game's cuteness runs short once it becomes clear that it has more potential than has been addressed so far. The arcade mode and multiplayer options are a note of this.
Fortunately, and I'll assume the episodic puzzler continues to deliver more content; there's room for change, and time to make it happen. For now, Topatoi will find itself an audience without a problem, but for those looking for something refreshing it remains yet to be seen whether or not it can become a standout purchase on the PSN. An otherwise honest attempt at something new, it's not ready to shine just yet.
