For years I've heard from so many people that while the first Ty the Tasmanian Tiger lives up to its pretty mediocre legacy, I'm always told that Ty 2: Bush Rescue was different. This was the one where they really nailed the formula. Really perfected it. Made it the best it can be. Well, after being surprisingly forgiving and a bit more positive about the first Ty, how do I feel about this 2nd one? Is it everything people have said about it and more? Not really. It's fine, but I feel the game suffers from completely different problems now. Let's get the first thing out of the way, I think it's incredibly impressive that a game from 2004 was so heavily experimenting with Open World gameplay, something that wouldn't become to prevalent until around the late 2000's about the time Assassin's Creed really started popping off, and for the most part, it works pretty damn well. Even more impressive, now that this game has an HD port, the previous loading zones between the open world and levels are now almost seamless. For this game to run this well and load so fast being a 20 year old title is very commendable. Even with getting a bit of extra horsepower in this HD version, the original still had the ability to do most of this at a consistent framerate, so props are still in order. Gameplay is a bit more tweaked and refined. All rangs from the last game return plus much more. Unfortunately, a lot of the rangs this time around feel very unnecessary. The elemental rings from the first game are hardly ever used. Fire Rangs are used about twice in one level, and Ice Rang is used about twice in two different levels, but I never once used the Zappyrang. Not once. I really only stuck with 2 main rangs for most of my playthrough. The X Rang, and updated version of the Infrarang, and the Smashrang, a new rang that allows you to bust open metal crates. The Warprang, an upgrade of the Lashrang, was also used a lot for grappling and swinging on hooks. Other than that, none of the other rangs need to be used ever, and if you're not going for the 100% or platinum, your really not missing much. While the gameplay has been tweaked and improved upon from the first game, it unfortunately feels like you don't get to experience it too much here. Ty 2 on top of your average platformer levels from the original, now pile on side missions and minigames, while on paper sounds like a good way to avoid to much tedium and helps with keeping the game fresh, unfortunately feels like it focused TOO MUCH on these news side segments, as it only feels like you only really have 4 traditional levels, and they're all still about the same length as a standard level in the previous game would be. This results in the games pacing going from fine, to really fast, and then grinding to a halt. It's all over the damn place. Regardless, what is there in the main levels are still fun, and not all the new side segments are boring slots. They do help break up the monotony every now and then. My last problem with the game is the fact that despite still including all the characters from the first game, they all feel like they're barely there and do nothing. Sly is only seen in the first and final cutscenes. Absolutely no time getting to explore him becoming his own person or how he feels about formerly working for Boss Cass. Shazza does drive Ty around the overworld and you could argue she's in a lot of the game, but aside from the beginning and ending cutscene, as well as the first overworld video, she never converses with Ty at all. Same goes for Julius, who only gives you a handful of missions and contributes to the plot only at the end. It's fun to see all these characters back and what they're now doing in this new city, but so little is done with them in 90% of the game that seeing them mostly feels like references to the first, and it just really bugs me. The ga.e also has a real non story. In fact, it feels like a 20 episode season of a TV show. Lots of one adventures and missions, and only a few interconnecting stories that will tie in a little to the plot, but only at the very end. I continue to be very frustrated that Boss Cass is such a fun goofy villain that these games do almost nothing with. COME ON. Have him in more of the game harassing Ty and his crew. Give him and his minions more of a presence in areas that he's invading. SOMETHING besides "Oh boy, he sure is being an evil gentleman in the background." Let me see it please. Despite these gripes, I still enjoyed TY 2, even if it wasn't what everyone was hyping it up to be. Once Krome decides to finally remaster and release TY 3 HD, then I can finish off this series, but it seems like they may want to still wait a while before tackling that.