Levels are long and complex enough that you're going to want this option, especially on initial runs as you're still learning the layout. Every 300 peanuts will grant you an extra life, which allows you to begin at a checkpoint when you die, rather than restarting the level entirely. Likewise, Tembo utilizes a strangely old-school "life" system, where the elephant collects peanuts to crush into peanut butter, which revives him after death. These goals aren't hard to attain generally, but on a couple of occasions I was forced to return to old areas and hunt down foes that I missed in the far corners of the levels. Like many platformers, progression is split into levels, which themselves are placed into four distinct "worlds." The last couple of levels in each world are locked behind a goal - a set number of PHANTOM soldiers that you need to find and destroy in the previous levels. It's odd, then, that Tembo the Badass Elephant maintains a couple of confusing systems that purposefully slow things down. And frankly, while I often found the former strategy more in line with my pace of play, the latter felt incredible as I memorized levels and was able to blow through them. If you'd rather plow through the levels recklessly, smashing through everything in your path and trying to complete each zone in the shortest time possible, this is both allowed and encouraged via the dash button. If you want to take things slow and steady, exploring levels to find every collectible and strategically tackling each enemy, the game will allow that. The brilliance of Tembo lies in how it facilitates two separate types of gameplay perfectly. None of this is revolutionary, but the immediate reactiveness of Tembo's controls ensured that I felt like a master when I was able to string my moves into a lengthy combo of destruction. In motion, though, it's fluid and fast, a personality-filled cartoon come to life. In screenshots, Tembo the Badass Elephant can look kind of cheap and flat. Those levels (and all of the enemies and allies inhabiting them) are also beautifully animated. You can interpret that as you want in my mind, those PHANTOM scum were not just knocked out.) When Tembo runs down an enemy, they disappear in a puff of smoke and a skull symbol, floating to the heavens as your "enemy defeated" counter ticks one higher. (A note here: "kill" may sound like a harsh word for such a cheerful, cartoony game. The levels housing these enemies mostly follow a linear path from beginning to end, but there are often many short branches and hidden areas to explore for completionists hoping to rescue every prisoner of war and kill every PHANTOM soldier.
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