When an adorable tamarin’s family is captured by evil bug soldiers, he grabs a gun and sets out to rescue them in a bizarre hybrid of a 3D collect-a-thon platformer and a third-person shooter.
Tamarin
Developer: Chameleon Games
Price: $40
Platforms: PC (reviewed) and PS4
MonsterVine was provided with a PC code for review.
Tamarin begins with a little tamarin family enjoying a peaceful day, when suddenly their home is invaded by gun-wielding insect soldiers who look like they marched straight out of Jet Force Gemini. The bugs leave the village in flames and kidnap all but one of the tamarins. You then take control of him as you follow a firefly through your ruined home, out into a grassy area where a friendly hedgehog pops out of a pile of leaves to say the bugs have taken over and offer you an Uzi.
You then blast your way through a lair of insect soldiers, hitting switches and unlocking doors on the way, until you finally clear the level and meet your hedgehog friend… who tells you your weapons weigh you down too much to jump and offers to hold onto them until you’re ready to fight again. What follows is a much more open segment filled with fireflies to find, collectibles to gather, and all the usual trappings you’d expect from a 3D collect-a-thon platformer, until you finally make your way to the next shooter level.
The way Tamarin combines its genres is bizarre. In the third-person shooter segments, you can’t use any of your platforming skills besides a simple jump, and instead you’ll focus on shooting the bug soldiers that get in your way. Combat feels generally good, although the aiming seems a little slow at times and the checkpoints in these sections can be stingy. In addition to fighting enemies and searching for the occasional health or ammo upgrade, you’ll also want to keep your eyes open for captured birds. Birds serve as the main collectible in the shooter sections, but be careful! Before you go in with guns blazing, you’ll want to make sure there are no birds in the area. Birds caught in the crossfire will die, although you can always revisit a level to make another attempt at saving them again.
Defeated enemies drop insect tokens, which can also be found scattered throughout the levels. These serve as a form of currency you can use to purchase additional weapons (unlocked at specific points in the game) and ammo refills from the hedgehog. This isn’t just for combat, either, since you need specific weapons to open doors to certain areas. New weapons are essentially upgrades required to access new locations and progress in the combat sections of the game.
Meanwhile, the 3D platforming sections are completely different in tone. You have barely any defenses, so you need to avoid enemies and focus on using your platforming skills to traverse each level. The platforming is pretty good, aside from one specific move that requires you to stand on one ledge and then lock on to another ledge to leap across the gap. This move requires precise positioning, and I found myself stuck more than once because I hadn’t stood in the exact spot to see that it was possible. Tamarin also doesn’t explain some things very well; I discovered some moves just because I tried common button combinations from other 3D platformers. Overall, the basic platforming is simple enough, but there are some tough sections, especially in the optional challenges.
Fireflies are the main thing you’re trying to collect here, since you need a certain number in order to open up the doors that lead to the shooter levels. Some are hidden, some are the reward for completing challenges, and several are presented to you upon returning groups of rescued birds from the shooter levels to their birdhouses. Each 3D platforming area also has a certain number of collectable redcurrants, which are the currency your hedgehog buddy will ask for in order to teach you new abilities, like using springboards to reach new heights. Although the areas appear distinct at first, they actually form an interconnected world, with several points where you can travel from one to another as you unlock more abilities.
You’ll notice I keep referring to the 3D platforming sections and the shooter sections as distinct things. This is because they’re so different from one another, they almost feel like they belong to two separate games. From the contrast between the darker tone of the shooter segments and the happy atmosphere of the 3D platforming areas, to the way the gameplay is completely different, there is very little cohesion between the two styles. The only connecting points really are the birds and the hedgehog. If you saw the 3D platforming gameplay, you’d never guess there was a shooter aspect to the game, and the reverse is also true. I couldn’t help but think the developers started work on a 3D platformer and a third-person shooter and then decided to just put them together in the same game.
Tamarin has a beautiful world in its 3D platforming segments, and it’s fun to explore and search for secrets. Although there are no characters to interact with besides the hedgehog, the platforming gameplay loop definitely carries a style reminiscent of Rare’s old 3D platformers. The third-person shooter segments are also fun and can get rather challenging, and the music in those parts is especially good. Both halves of Tamarin are enjoyable, but they tend to feel like two separate games.
The Final Word
Tamarin left me feeling conflicted and a bit puzzled. There’s no denying that it’s fun and well-designed, with solid 3D platforming gameplay and third-person shooter combat, but the blatant lack of cohesion between these two styles of gameplay results in the overall package feeling a bit odd.
-MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
