Tadpole Tales, a game where you spit-shine the pollution out of your enemies.
This came up when I was browsing the new popular game releases on Steam and it looked super cute, not to mention it’s a free game, so how could I possibly pass it up, right?
Oh man.
Pay attention to some of the genres people choose for the game, because I don’t typically play shoot ’em up games or bullet hell ones because I’m terrible at them, due to me being ADD and either not being focused enough or being hyper-focused on the wrong thing.
But I don’t regret one moment of playing it.
- Developed by Zizhen Andrew, Giacomo Autili, Tomer Barnea
- Published by Pinnical Studio
PC
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FAQ
What is this page?
This is an in-depth critique of the game Tadpole Tales. I go all in with my review by picking apart the game, piece by piece. By doing this, I try to help not only the devs that created the games, but also future aspiring devs by giving my viewpoint on everything as an avid gamer, but please understand…
There may be spoilers.
How long does it take to beat Tadpole Tales?
According to How Long to Beat, around 30 minutes. There’s not much to the game, but it is a straight-shot toward the end as a single level with only three bosses, but how long it takes for you to beat them and the game is on you.
Title Screen
Background
This is a simplistic and clean title screen.
It’s not a static image, for one. The river has a sort of rapid movement to it just from the reflective lighting they use for the graphics animation. Plus the greenery on the lower and upper portions of the screen have some sway to them.
Like I said, simplistic and clean.
Title Font
It’s super huge, but it works like that because it’s also a fun font to read and not to mention the cuteness value of that little tadpole face in the “O.”
Although I can’t help but think it’s maybe a bit misleading, because it has that kid-friendly look to it, and unless your kid can handle a difficult bullet hell game like this where you have to dodge for your life as well as shoot to save yourself from the polluted scum, they might be disappointed from their constant deaths.
But hey, losing is part of the gaming life and kids gotta learn somewhere.
Why not here?
Menu
The menu style is unique and doesn’t involve just text on the side or in the center below the title of the game.
Instead we have three, bubbles, I guess, to choose from. Simplistic.
I kind of wished instead of them looking like bubbles–which I think they’re supposed to be eggs as that fits the theme sort of, since a tadpole is in an egg first and foremost–they’d instead look like lillypads. However, when you hover over them, the tadpole looks happy for the attention, and the graphics get more vibrant.
Options
Either way, looking into the “Options” portion, you’re met with another simplistic screen of volume controls as well as your PC screen size and if you want it in fullscreen or not.
Tadpole Tales reminds you that you don’t have to have everything to have a lot.
Extras
The “Extras” section allows you to look at the intro and the outro, (the latter only if you’ve actually completed the game). Not only that, but it gives links to those that helped make the game into what it is now and shows you what they did for the game with icons instead of words.
Gameplay
Achievements
There are 4 achievements, and good luck with getting them.
Tadpole Tales is a rough game to complete for how short it is, but in order to get a lot of those achievements, you’re going to need to be a bit tougher in how you deal with what RNG throws out at you.
Plot
After popping out of your shell of an egg, you’ve decided it’s up to you to cleanse the waters of its pollution by defeating three big bad baddies.
Game Length
If you’re going for both normal mode and hard mode, then it’s going to be around the 30 minutes to an hour of gameplay, depending on how good you are, how RNG treats you, and…well, that’s really it.
If you’re wanting to go for a speedrun type of score, however, you can at least beat the normal mode of Tadpole Tales in under 7 minutes.
Replay Value
Tadpole Tales’s one main replay value is trying to beat your score, really, and the fact that you have to keep replaying the game from the start once you die, wherever you die. Not to mention there’s a hard mode for once you complete the normal mode.
You know, in case normal mode didn’t screw you over enough and you’re wanting to feel more of that burning sensation.
Genre(s)
You’re going to get no sense of adventure here, but a whole lot of action.
From the moment you start the game, you’re probably going to want to tape your space bar down to continuously fire off those jets of water
So there are a lot of other bullet hell games that are way more intense than Tadpole Tales, but either way, you’re still constantly firing off those shots to cleanse the enemies, and the enemies, while they take breaks in their attacks so as not to stress you out too much, they’re still constantly taking shots at you.
An intense bullet hell game? No.
But one nonetheless.
This genre is self-explanatory.
While I don’t have a post regarding Tadpole Tales just yet, my other website, Worthy of Me, has a post related to hand-drawn games. Find it at Hand-Drawn PC Games Pre-2019 Worth Their Art in Gaming
Controls
In Tadpole Tales, you’re going to be using five keys in order to control your tadpole character.
It says WASD, but you can also use the directional keys as well, which helped me a bit more than using WASD. That’s for movement, of course. In order to attack, you’ll need to use the space bar.
Keep in mind if you need to move faster, stop shooting and it’ll increase your speed a slight bit.
Graphics
Style
Games like this remind me why I love cell-shading.
You can really make the colors pop and become striking in their looks with the most simplistic of shading, and Tadpole Tales does just that. Honestly, I might suck at the game, but I’d definitely keep coming back to it just to look at the pretty imagery.
And while you pass the same scenery over and over, the graphics don’t get tiring to look at.
Plus, seeing evil polluted critters become cleansed into something more adorable is just icing on top of the cake.
Soundtrack
Background Music
Personally, I think the music stands out the most during the title screen, because you can really just jam to it at its full volume. It’s a pretty chill soundtrack you’ll be listening to, but with a definite fun vibe that’s short and repetitive, yet doesn’t seem to lose its touch.
During the gameplay, the music kind of goes a bit more into the background so as not to distract you too much from what’s already a stressful situation.
While I liked the soundtrack during the title screen or the gameplay itself, I can definitely say I didn’t much pay attention to it while I was trying to dodge everything and cleanse the pollution from my frienemies.
Sound Effects
There are sound effects for when you or the enemies are attacking, if you get hit, or if they get hit.
That’s about the gist of the sound effects, but they’re all different. Such as with the bosses you face and their different attack types–they each create their own sound effect. So nothing, aside from your constant shooting, possibly, sounds too repetitive.
Final Thoughts
I might never be able to complete Tadpole Tales, and I sure as shit will never get any of those damn achievements, but I’m okay with that. This game is free and it’s so fun to play.
I urge you to give it a chance and at least give it ten minutes of your time.
You’re going to die, a lot.
That part isn’t fun.
But knowing you just shot the pollution out of these big bad bosses that wrecked your river in the first place is satisfaction guaranteed.
