Well, this is a bit unusual. A few days ago, we were sent a postcard by SEGA, teasing a brand new game from the Pokémon studio, Game Freak. With an elephant's bum on one side, and its trunk on the other, we didn't know what to expect - but what we weren't expecting was Tembo the Badass Elephant. Because no-one expects Tembo the Badass Elephant.
Winning a few points from the off thanks to its original title, Tembo is a bit of a diversion for Game Freak. Not only is it not a Pokémon game, but it's also only going to be coming out on PS4, Xbox One and PC - in other words, not on a Nintendo platform. Still, with a leading man (OK, pachyderm) that looks like this, it's not going to be hard to win fans over.
Boom! Indeed.
Part commando, all elephant, and the star of this platforming adventure, Tembo the Badass Elephant puts players in control of one of the military's (ahem) heaviest weapons. When Shell City finds itself under attack by the mysterious forces of PHANTOM, its troops are left broken and dismayed, and the city all but brought under enemy control. With their backs against the wall, the good folks of the city have only one secret weapon left up their (seemingly quite spacious) sleeves, in the form of Tembo - a commando elephant, and his little bird friend Picolo.
Set over 17 levels, with some gorgeous cel-shaded, comic book style graphics (and a lovable hero), Tembo is a platforming adventure game with a difference. Taking the fight to the PHANTOM troops with a battle cry from your trunk, you get to take advantage of your superior dimensions to crush all that stands in your way. Literally. Collecting peanuts as you go (what else), you'll be smashing your way down through stories of a building, and flinging rocks, tanks, cars, and even soldiers themselves sky high with your gigantic tusks as you save the day. In a nutshell (sorry), you're a force to be reckoned with. Let's face it - of all the ways to go, being ground-pounded by an elephant probably isn't one of the best.
Whether you're rolling a bowling ball through a village, making use of a boxing glove plant to demolish a wall, or simply getting the job done where others have failed, Tembo the Badass Elephant looks nothing if not original. All it really needs now is a co-op mode, and we'll be sold. Set for a release this summer, look for more on this soon.
