Product description
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Tail Concerto is an action-adventure platforming game featuring
three-dimensional characters and environments. Players control
the character Waffle, who pilots a semi-humanoid mecha called the
" Robo" with the ability to run, jump, climb on ledges, and
hover in mid-air for brief periods.
Review
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After bouncing between Activision and a few other US publishers,
Tail Concerto has finally been released in the US. Originally
developed by toy mega-marketer Bandai, Tail Concerto represents a
shockingly uncharacteristic attention to originality and
production value. A delightful, light 3D platformer perfect for
gamers of all ages, Tail Concerto doesn't quite live up to its
potential, but it is enjoyable all the same.
Tail Concerto takes place in the fantasy world of Prairie, a
floating archipelago inhabited by bipedal, anthropomorphized dogs
and cats. Racial strife is rampant - the cats of the world,
lacking government representation, feel oppressed by the dogs who
rule over Prairie. Three feline sisters, Alicia, Flare, and Stare
recruit a small army of adorable kittens and form the Black Cats
Gang, a radical organization designed to help the cats
split away and form their own nation. Influenced by the nefarious
Fool, they seek five legendary crystals, which they believe can
create a nation for them. Unbeknownst to the three sisters, the
crystals are actually the key to resurrecting the Iron Giant, an
apocalyptic robot whose enormous pieces are embedded throughout
Prairie's islands. Enter Waffle, a work-a-day cop with a
floppy-armed robotic suit. Having foiled the Black Cat Gang's
first attacks, Waffle gets the unfortunate assignment of locking
up the three sisters, as well as apprehending any minions
encountered along the way.
As cliche as much of Tail Concerto's story is, its gameplay is
surprisingly fresh for a 3D platformer. Waffle's suit is equipped
with a bubble , a teleport device, and the aforementioned
floppy arms. The bubble will can damage any enemy vehicles,
as well as temporarily immobilize any fleeing kittens. After
grabbing the cats, Waffle tosses them into the teleporter on his
back, instantaneously whisking them away to prison. On a more
sadistic note, Waffle can also pick up pieces of furniture in
people's houses and smash them against walls, serving no real
purpose in the game. More useful, especially on the bosses, is
the ability to pick up and lob back the bombs that the enemies
generally attack with. Waffle's suit can also perform a majority
of the other 3D platformer basics, such as climb and move
hand-over-hand while hanging. In one stage, Waffle can equip his
suit with a jetpack, fly about a huge debris field, and hop from
island to island, occasionally pausing to let his jets cool. Even
though Tail Concerto is primarily an action game, a number of
little quests, spoken dialogue, and anime cutscenes are liberally
scattered throughout the game to move the story forward and keep
the game from becoming mindless.
Prairie is a beautifully envisioned 3D world, complete with
forests, floating reefs of island debris, and huge mechanical
fortresses. Virtually every surface is textured, and each
environment is alive with animation and detail. Tail Concerto's
3D engine is speedy enough, but it has a high rate of polygon
dropout and sorting errors. The game's camera intelligently pans
most of the time, but it has trouble in some tight places. During
action scenes, you can adjust the camera's position relative to
Waffle, allowing for some minor control. Limited as it may be,
the standard viewpoint is sufficient almost all the time, with
the extra camera angles just helping out in a few situations. The
game's excellent anime sequences, fluidly animated and lushly
colored, also show an impressive level of effort. Tail Concerto's
music is not as grand as the game's title might imply, however.
The peaceful and subdued score is fairly hummable, but it does
not stand out enough to warrant any special mention. On an
unfortunate note, Bandai of Japan deemed the beautiful J-Pop
intro song of the Japanese version to be "for Japan only," and
replaced it in the US version with a rather weak orchestral
piece. The game's sound effects are clear and effective, using
voice often to tell the game's story and add personality to the
boss encounters. Atlus' text and voice adaptation is very well
done overall, truly giving the player the feeling of an
interactive cartoon.
Tail Concerto's only real flaw is its length. Experienced players
will breeze through the game in less than five hours, almost
never having to push the limits of their gaming prowess. The game
feels as though it could've been a lot more. For example, the
jetpack stage is practically only a bonus stage, but it could've
been used as a training session for a real jetpack action scene.
Instead, the jetpack is nothing more than a gimmick for one minor
quest. With gaping holes of rtunity like that, some players
are bound to feel a tinge of dissatisfaction after completing the
game.
Bandai has an excellent starting point for a series on its hands.
Tail Concerto's furry world and gameplay basics could create an
exceptional game when ed out beyond their current state.
Even in its current state, however, Tail Concerto is definitely
worth a look - games this pleasant and light don't come along
that often, and they are a welcome change from the norm. --Peter
Bartholow
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot
logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Review
- 9 levels with detailed 3D rendered graphics, variety of weapons, items, and upgrades, variety of animated cut-scenes and interactive characters.