Save Toshi Review

Something I find worthwhile telling you before I review Save Toshi (from Nitako) is that I usually am a hard audience for puzzle games, with that said, Save Toshi proved good enough to graple its hooks around me.

So many options, so few tennis balls.

Toshi is a japanese erotic dancer who forgot how to walk (yep, you read it right), so it's your job to throw several tennis balls and help her to the dancing floor, where she magically forgets about her legs impairment and "celebrates" like the world ends tomorrow. Obviously, although the game is set in day-time, I always imagined it on a Saturday night fever.

I'll get the only thing that bothers me out right away - the entire preppy high school girl setup. I guess most people will find it attractive and joyful, but it just annoys me, along with the equally high pitched sound effects that acompany the little girl. I gotta admit though... it made catapulting Toshi to her death a strangely pleasuring experience.

Now onto the more serious stuff, Save Toshi is built around the Unity Webplayer (also available for iPhone), which makes the game boast some great graphics, not to mention the truly amazing physics that make the puzzles stand out.

The gameplay imediatly reminded me of all Crush the Castle games, its thousands spin-offs, and of course, Angry Birds. But what Save Toshi does to stand out of the competition is that the puzzles are entirely 3D. Very simply put, each level contains a puzzle consisting of various blocks, which are made of different materials (each one with a different gameplay action), and the all-mighty dance floor. It's your job to mess around the level, throwing tennis balls at the blocks, and getting Toshi to the dance floor.

There is no such thing as a ball limit, but at the end of each level you'll be rewarded with a number of stars according to the number of shots you used up (the smaller the better), and of course, the more stars you collect, the happier you and Toshi will be.

Now the thing that truly made me addicted to Save Toshi is the physics involved in the puzzles, it simply is that great. And very challenging on later levels, requiring several approaches to the puzzles, and even some trial-and-error. So you at least should give it a try, even if you - just like me - are not very found of puzzle games like Crush the Castle.

Game Rating: 8/10