Skip to main content

Review - Tails Noir... Striper No Striping.

 
Image Credit: Egg Nut

In order to do this game justice with my review, I'm going to keep it short and sweet. That is exactly what the developers did, anyway.

    In Tails Noir you play a private investigator named Howard. Howard's typical clientele are people looking for cheating spouses or those who have misplaced a valuable bauble or two. Nothing big time. And he knows it. He also is well aware of how lame his life feels as a result.

    The latest case that drops in his lap seems just like all the others. A pregnant mother is looking for her deadbeat husband. She just knows he's two-timing, but she doesn't want to fully boot him out without proof. Howard is on the case! When investigating this particular dirtbag, however, Howard discovers a lot more than he bargained for. For one, the guy is dead. And secondly, his corpse is being chopped up and packaged off as if it's going to market. Could there really be people in elite society feasting on the flesh of those below who will hardly be missed? Well... if some of this Epstein stuff is to be believed... maybe fiction isn't so strange, after all.

    Oh, did I mention everyone is a talking animal? The cover photo and title should have given that away, anyway, but I thought I'd just clear that up. It certainly plays into the different species, or "kinds" as they're referred to in game, developing a class structure that holds some down while elevating others.

The Good

Story is crucial in a game like this. It makes up the brunt of the entire experience, and clocking in at just six hours it needs to be homed in on exactly what the audience is looking for. Luckily, Egg Nut carries this task out very well. Is it on par with Citizen Sleeper? No. But that is a hard bar to reach. The writers do a good job in putting Howard's story out there, and the mystery that unravels is at times jarring and others emotionally grounded.

    I'm a fan of the pixelated graphics. It takes me back to that time of yore, maybe. Or maybe it's just refreshing to see something that doesn't need to be so completely CGI-enhanced that I know people got burnt out from crunch and ended up getting laid off anyway. I'm looking at you, EA. Egg Nut's visuals are kitschy, but they're meant to be, and they help in unfolding that story as well as it does.

The Bad

Audio is a bit lacking. There's no voice acting, but that's not necessarily a negative. It's more just the fact that the soundtrack is so dry. Some of this is intentional. It is a noir game, after all, but there could have been more poignant music to engage the player a bit.

    I also thought the gameplay could have been tweaked. There are things a game, even a text-adventure-type, can do in order to pull the audience in more. None of that really happens in Tails Noir. You can walk, jog, climb up, or crouch. Even the crouching dynamic is used so sparingly you'll forget it's an option. There are really only two scenes, lasting 20 seconds a piece, where you'll need to use crouch to get through to the other side. Egg Nut could have done more, here.

The Takeaway

Tails Noir is a fun little mental getaway for a day or two of play. If you have a spare six hours between games, it could easily be used as something of a "palate cleanser." It isn't a huge investment, and it actually tells a pretty interesting tale.

7/10

Good Enough

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Have a comment? Let me know!

Popular posts from this blog

Review - Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader... All Guts & Glory

Image courtesy of Owlcat Games "The God Emperor protects!" I know what you're thinking, but no, not that one.     Every so often, a game comes around that demands 10 to 15 hours of your time. This isn't one of them. Rogue Trader requires ten times that amount, easily, in order to see the story unfold in all the meaningful directions that it can.     I would like to preface my review by saying that I knew next to nothing about Warhammer 40K when I started up the game. I really only found myself drawn to the title because of my love for Owlcat's previous two entries in the Pathfinder world. That being said, Owlcat once again does a great job of putting the lore of their assigned universe into their work, and after 140 hours of gameplay I feel like I'm decently well-versed in plenty of the God-Emperor's vision of humanity's future. The Good Rogue Trader starts off where your main character is handed over the reins to the titular position by means of a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review - Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden ... Nice Shootin', Tex

  Image courtesy of Don't Nod Entertainment It's rare that a game will captivate me so thoroughly and profoundly. If you have already been here before, then you're probably well aware that I play quite a bit of games. From the ugly to the gorgeous, the trash to the glorious, they can cover the entire range of the gaming spectrum. Banishers is a game that is very clearly on one side.   Don't Nod's venture into the New World focuses on two characters who are as intertwined and in love as can be. Red Mac Raith and Antea Duarte are married in every sense of the word, as long as the word doesn't involve church bells and priestly ceremonies. They work together as banishers, a name given to those who expel ghosts and conquer hauntings in exchange for a bit of coin. They don't have Dandelion singing for everyone to toss a coin to their nearest banisher, but in this version of the 17th century they don't really need him. Everyone is well aware of what a banisher ...
1 comment
Read more

Review - The Expanse: A Telltale Series... Bosmang for Beltalowda

  Image courtesy of Deck Nine and Telltale Games If you know anything about the show The Expanse , then you probably remember Camina Drummer as the no-nonsense take-charge from the Belt. She spends a lot of the series in the #2 role amongst the likes of Belter leaders, those bosmangs, like Anderson Dawes or Fred Johnson, but Drummer consistently shows that her leadership style of cutting through the bullshit and doing the heavy lifting from the front will one day place her as top dog. The Expanse: A Telltale Series displays that penchant for solid leadership even more.     Cara Gee returns to voice Drummer without skipping a beat in style, voice, and attitude in this prequel taking place around three years before the events of The Expanse 's first season. Drummer is the Executive Officer, there's that #2 again, on a scavenger ship called The Artemis that is exploring the solar system in search of salvage. They're hoping to hit a score big enough to let the entire crew liv...
Post a Comment
Read more