About two years ago, I played through Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion and I didn't really like it. I thought the gameplay was passable, but messy at times, and while the story was entertaining and the writing was really funny at certain points, it wasn't very consistent and relied a lot on references to pop culture.
I just finished playing through Turnip Boy Robs a Bank. I thought the game was gonna be more of the same, however it instead takes a new approach to the ideas and fixes most of the problems that the first game had, mixing up the gameplay and delivering a fresh and exciting experience. I'm so glad that I decided to give it a chance, because it's an improvement over the first one in every single way.
The game's a direct sequel to the original Turnip Boy Commits Tax Fraud, however it's no longer an action-adventure game like the first Zelda games. The gameplay's now completely different, as it takes every idea the first game had, refines the gameplay loop by giving it a focus on combat, and turns Turnip Boy into an extraction shooter, reworking every single mechanic to fit the game's new identity as a fast-paced shooter.
The gameplay loop follows a very simple structure: First, you go into the bank, cause as much mayhem as possible, advance the story if you can, and then quickly get out with all the money you got before the police can catch you. After that, you'll go to your warehouse, where you can purchase key items to access new areas, upgrade your stats, change your loadout, and get ready to do it all over again. It's quick, addictive, and most importantly, fun.
However, it's not without its flaws. Getting money is very exciting at the beginning, but quickly devolves into being useless the closer you get to the end of the game, as the later areas will give you ludicrous amounts of money with nothing to spend it on. Locking areas behind bosses or items you can only get at the warehouse also makes the game feel extremely linear. And while the consistent structure of the main bank building helps you get familiar with it and allows you to better execute your heists, the variation in the extra rooms feels lacking and starts to get boring after a while.
The overall writing of this game is a lot better than the original. Instead of being a parody of adventure games and pop culture, Turnip Boy Robs a Bank approaches writing in a different way, with characters being the most important part of it all, and featuring way fewer meta elements., which was one of my main complaints with the first game.
I think my favorite example of this is the nuclear war. In Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, the game stops in the middle of the action to introduce the concept of a nuclear war taking place before the game starts. This is taken completely seriously and feels extremely out of place while you're playing. Now, the nuclear war's just something funny that happened a while ago. It's no longer a serious thing, but rather just an event that allows the developers to come up with new and fun ideas to add to the world.
There's still a lot of referential humor, but this new entry does its best to always put its own spin on things. For example, while the first game would have characters exist solely to quote another franchise, in this one, these same characters now have their own unique personalities and stories, while still delivering the references in more subtle ways. I personally believe that the decision to stop relying on pop culture as much benefits the writing more than anything else.
The presentation's really great. The pixel art for the environments and weapons is really cool, however the level design can get messy at times and doesn't compliment the art very well, leading to the art looking worse than it should. Portraits and items now use a pixel aesthetic as well, however this can be pretty hit or miss, depending on the character or item it's trying to represent.
The music, however, is great all the way through. Every song is a banger and the phone's music app helps the game stay fresh all the way through. And that final boss theme? 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
IN CONCLUSION: Turnip boy robs a bank is an amazing game that managed to break away from the mediocrity of its predecesor. It tries out new ideas, to the point where the game is a completely different genre, and absolutely nails the execution. It's a short and sweet adventure that's fun all the way through, and I definitely recommend it. 9/10
If you're interested in reading my review for the first game, you can find it by clicking here.
