As someone that really enjoys 3D platformers and had a ton of nostalgia for the PS2 era of games, I knew I had to try this out when I saw it on Steam. I never grew up playing this game, so nostalgia won't play any factor into this review.

For a collect-a-thon, the level design was pretty solid. The early levels start off linear so you're not overwhelmed too quickly, but later levels are much more open ended and encourage you to explore. There's no fast travel, but the maps are just the right size and feature plenty of landmarks making it easy to get your bearings. Each level also has a map on the pause screen so getting lost shouldn't be an issue.

Some level highlights for me include Ship Rex with its relaxing beach setting and calming music, Down By The River TY for the night time setting and good objective variety, as well as Lyre Lyre Pants on Fire where Lenny the Lyrebird gives you false directions and you have to do the opposite of what he says to progress. The level variety is quite good with some creative ideas and each one feels memorable in their own way.

Unlike its sequels which took a more mission based approach, this is a more straightforward collect-a-thon. You explore open levels for collectables such as opals (300 in every level, collect them all for a Thunder Egg), bilbies (like the Jinjos from Banjo-Kazooie, rescue all 5 for a Thunder Egg), golden cogs (10 in each level, used to unlock extra boomerangs) and Thunder Eggs (the main collectables, 8 in each level). There are 3 levels in every zone, and you only need 17 of the 24 Thunder Eggs to face the boss and progress, so there's a bit of player choice as to what you want to do and wish to skip.

Platforming itself is very responsive and the controls take very little time getting used to. It gets even better once you get your second boomerang and unlock the glide which is very useful for slowing your descent and making those tricky jumps. It's also fun as heck to swim like a dolphin once you gain the ability to swim. I did find sliding to be a bit stiff, the swimming felt awkward at first until I got used to it, and there aren't any drop shadows making it hard to tell at times where you're going to land, but otherwise it feels good to play.

For those looking to 100% this game, there's also no need to backtrack to earlier levels with upgrades from later ones to fully complete them. All levels can be fully cleaned out on a first visit, allowing you to complete the game at your own pace. It's a little annoying that there's no item tracker like there was in the sequels, so there are times where you may be running around aimlessly for ages trying to find the last collectable you missed.

The combat is pretty basic, but works well enough. Your main weapon is the boomerang which comes in multiple different types. You start with the basic boomerang, but later on unlock elemental boomerangs that can do different things like create ice platforms or burn spider webs. Most enemies go down in one hit and spamming boomerang throws usually does the job, particularly the fire boomerang so there's little reason to experiment with different boomerangs unless you need to do so to reach certain collectables. At least it's not tedious nor does it waste your time.

This is an overall pretty easy game, however. There is a lives system, but even those who have never played a platformer before shouldn't worry too much about game overs (so much so, they made reaching the Game Over screen an achievement) and all that happens is you restart at the last checkpoint anyway. This is a very forgiving and mostly stress-free experience. If you prefer a challenge, Hardcore mode was added to this version which is one-life perma-death, requiring you to play the whole game without dying once. It's easier than it sounds once you've finished it for the first time.

Like the sequels, there are a few mini-games in certain levels. However, there are only about 3 of these in the whole game and only appear once each so they don't distract from the core platforming too much and are there to add just a little variety. Each level also has a time attack for a Thunder Egg if you can beat the target time but these use the same controls as the rest of the game.

I absolutely adore the overall visuals and presentation. This game has such an Aussie vibe to it in ways you rarely ever see in games. Outback Australia as a setting has so much potential for video games, yet it's a shame to see very few games use this setting. I may be biased on this given I'm an Aussie myself, but it definitely helps gives this game a very unique style and identity that you won't find from others in the genre.

The bosses were okay. Most of these were pretty easy even on a first playthrough, but they still require a bit of pattern recognition to beat. One neat touch I liked is that you fight a bull as the first boss, but in the second set of levels one of them has you riding on the bull you fought from earlier. Although the final boss was a bit of a let down in that you never actually fight Boss Cass at all.

I had very little issues with the PC port of this game. It ran really well, looks nice for a remastered PS2 game and there's a few QoL improvements not found in the original PS2 game such as the boomerang wheel from TY 2 and better camera control. I didn't run into any major glitches during my playthroughs, and it works great with my XBOX One controller.

While by no means a masterpiece or anything, this is still worth playing if you're in the mood for a fun 3D platformer and/or are craving that itch for PS2 era platformers like I was. The low difficulty also makes this a game I can recommend to those that are new to 3D platformers. I may prefer the second game, but TY 1 stands out as a simple collect-a-thon that its sequels moved away from.

erm... NOSTALGIA OVERLOAD!!!!!1!