Also known as a Karakuri Combination, Overdrives allow your little ragtag bunch of mini-robos to link up into a giant Voltron-esque monstrosity capable of supreme domination. You can earn new Overdrives by defeating the bosses you meet in the different levels, but, sadly, it appeared that there were only four different Overdrives available total. Still, you can beef up each of those four combinations by sinking cash into them to make them even more powerful. The four that we got to see had our tiny tin menaces joining up into a sword-wielding samurai, a spread-firing tank, a titanic hammer and a missile-launching octopus-thing.
Due to the increased disc capacity of the PS2, Tokobot Plus has a much deeper storyline than the PSP version and other improvements generally add a level of polish that simply couldn't be accomplished on the handheld. We'll also get a new focus for our hatred in the form of the villain Taji, a rival Tokoboter bent on our destruction.
While it would have been nice to see a few more Overdrives thrown into the mix, Tokobot Plus seemed like it was shaping up to be a fairly imaginative (if totally cutesy-wootsey) platformer that will deliver some clever gameplay variety. Its $29.99 price tag makes it a pretty good deal as well, so if you've got a hankerin' for some good old fashioned platform puzzling, you might want to keep an eye on October when Tokobot Plus is scheduled to drop.
