Tales of the Tiny Planet

Genre: Arcade

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Tales of the Tiny Planet, released on PC in 2017, and ported to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in 2018, is a physics-based one-button mobile-style Arcade game with Puzzle elements that has players trying to guide a ball (er, planet) to a goal within a time limit. Players do so by manipulating various parts of the level using a single button that powers all of them.

The presentation in this game is simple but appealing, using colorful 2D shapes with nice colors in gradients backed by soothing music and joined by the adorable high-pitched nonsensical mumblings of the planet as it gets bounced around the level. This game is an excellent example of how you can do a lot with a little in a game’s presentation.

The gameplay here has players figuring out what the different parts of each of the game’s single-screen levels do and then trying to use them in a way that gets the ball to the exit. Some level elements spin, or bounce, or raise up when held down, and coordinating all of them, since they all react to the same input, is a part of the challenge.

I think this mostly works well, though there are definite difficulty spikes, and it’s irritating that the visual design of the game doesn’t just tell you what each element of a level does, meaning you need to basically waste the first one or two times playing a level just experimenting to see what everything does, rather than actually playing it.

The other issue here is one of price. This game is $15, despite looking and playing very much like a budget title. What’s more, that price puts it $5 above every other platform. It’s hard not to feel like this is an example of the “Switch tax” at work, and there’s no good reason that should be the case here.

In the end, the price kills this game for me. Tales of the Tiny Planet is enjoyable, and has a good presentation, but it just doesn’t seem substantial enough to justify its bloated price tag, especially on Nintendo Switch. It may be worth playing if you get it on a really good sale, but even then don’t expect much more than a time-waster here.

tl;dr – Tales of the Tiny Planet is a physics-based one-button mobile-style Arcade game with Puzzle elements where players guide a ball to a goal within a time limit by manipulating parts of the level with a single button. The presentation and gameplay is simple but enjoyable, but this is far too insubstantial a game for the price, and unless you get it on sale and don’t mind a simple time-waster, I’d suggest skipping it.

Grade: C-

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