Tail Concerto
Just as the 3D platform genre was getting supersaturated, along
comes Atlus' Tail Concerto, a charming game about cats, dogs,
police-robos and bubble guns. It just goes to show that there's
always room for one more.
Walt Disney Meets Robocop
Tail Concerto is the tale of a strange and oddly captivating world
where you find yourself in the role of Officer Waffle, a dogged
robo-cop from the village of Porto. It seems a rowdy gang of
cat-people with the unlucky moniker of the Black Cats Gang is
causing trouble all over the world. You must hop into your robot suit
and protect your fellow dog-people from the Black Cats. Along the
way, you'll encounter mysteries about strange crystals, Iron Giants,
and exactly why you're capturing kittens in bubbles and shoving
them into your robo-suit. After the first hour or two of the game, you'll
find yourself doing more and more jump puzzles and even a wee bit
of exploration, with kitten-capturing thrown in as a breather.
Pastel Concerto
Graphically, Tail Concerto is simple but a bit rough on the edges,
with big, blocky polygons and soft colors. Officer Waffle's robotic suit
moves with more personality than you'll see in most 3D platformers
these days, and the enemies range from helpless kittens to
somewhat less-helpless kittens driving small orange tanks, with
strange bosses that are generally huge and formidable. When a
gigantic, six-legged cat-machine creeps toward you with an immense
cannon on its back you know your nine lives just got reduced to one.
With a name like Tail Concerto, you'd expect the music to be
phenomenal, and it is. Each area is accompanied by a wonderful
musical score which helps to keep the game feeling mellow. Aside
from the annoyingly cute whines of the kittens, the sounds in the
game are top-notch. The police-robo's mechanical whirring and
chugging sounds exactly as it should, and the voice acting is just
campy enough to be fun.
Not as easily orchestrated are the game's controls. Well into the
game, you'll find that the difficulty has suddenly shot skyward, and
that the loose and fast controls of the police-robo are just too flighty
to get anything done. What's really missing is camera control, as the
camera remains behind Waffle for most of the game. Running in
circles creates a whirlpool of blind angles as the camera chases
Waffle's tail. More often than not, you won't see the enemy you're
fighting, or you'll see nothing but that enemy. The controls are great
for simplicity and speed, but fall short when you require precision.
Reigning Cats and Dogs
Tail Concerto is a strange, appealing and above-all harmless game
that manages to be fun despite its obscure story and oft-frustrating
control. If you're looking for a good platformer and just can't wait for
Spyro 2, then give this one a shot. Here's your chance to kick some
Tail.
