[Playing…] Taz Wanted

Today I am going to comment on one of the many 3D platform games that went unnoticed in the 128-bit era, since this genre was no longer the public's favorite nor the one chosen by companies to transfer their licenses to consoles.

I admit that despite being one of my favorite genres, I also ignored the vast majority of platform games from that time and perhaps that is why I am currently giving games likeRayman 3,Pitfall: Lost Expedition,Pac-man World 2or the one I'm going to comment on today:Taz Wanted, a game starring the crazy Taz, from the franchiseLooney Tunes.

Although the Tasmanian Devil has never been a character with a deep and developed personality and nor does he have the charisma of Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck, the world of video games has turned to him on many occasions, allowing him to contribute his bit in console catalogs such as Atari 2600, Game Boy, Master System, Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 and Playstation.

Except for the 90's animated series (Taz-Mania), I believe that the life of this character has never been delved too deeply and we have simply been shown fulfilling a simple role: sowing chaos. In fact, it seems that Warner Bros. producerdecided to ban this character because they considered him unpleasant, thus eliminating him for a few years, until the creator of the character, Robert McKimson, decided to rescue him by including him in episodes of Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck, a situation that increased his popularity and has kept him current until today.

Taz, neither good nor bad, is a hungry, brute being, with serious difficulties in communicating, who has the ability to become a powerful tornado that destroys everything he touches. Perhaps the character's mental limitation and his crazy temperament are what have made him ideal for starring in video games. After all, it is easier to imagine Taz eliminating dozens of enemies than Daffy Duck, right?

Maybe they thought about that when they createdTaz Wanted(available for PC, Xbox, Playstation 2 and Gamecube) where we see how Taz and his girlfriend have been captured and now they are both in Yosemite Sam's zoo. It's obviously very difficult to contain a being like Taz, so he quickly escapes and begins searching for his beloved, leaving behind a trail of destruction, which leads Yosemite to put up dozens of "Wanted" signs and send a bunch of zookeepers to capture Taz and put him back in a cage.

With that story we finda 3D platform game divided into 10 levels,in which we will have a main objective (destroy all the Taz Wanted posters) and some secondary ones (find all the sandwiches, destroy more than 50% of the stage elements, find the golden statue of Yosemite Sam, which will give us money and unlock extras.

When we have removed all the signs from a level,the exit will open for usand once we have completed all the levels of a world, we will fight the boss and move on to the next.The confrontations with the bosses are curious and very variedFor example, the first is the classic Pong game, but in 3D and the ball is an elephant that we will have to scare and the second is a duel inside a dome, where our character and the rival go inside balls, from here we will go on to avoid dynamite in a maze, to demonstrate our worth by jumping platforms inside a volcano disco and finally, to fight against the final bad guy used by the robot that Lieutenant Ripley used to confront the Alien Queen.

The style of playdrink directly fromSuper Mario 64,with objectives in the level, and control of the camera by the player. If in the Mario game we had to use our heads (or accomplish some objective) to find stars, here we will have to do it to locate and destroy the Taz Wanted posters. Although some of these signs are as easy to eliminate as turning into a tornado next to them, many others require us to think about how to reach them or achieve their destruction, in many cases it is necessary to use some element of the setting or one of Taz's costumes to destroy them. The search and destruction of the signs can be a bit complex at first, fortunately Tweety will give us some clues by telling us where the level signs are located. We will also have a map (where we will also be given clues) so that the player does not feel helpless.

Taz hasSomewhat rough control, but easy to get used to, our character can jump, eat objects that he can then spit out (to eliminate enemies), scare, tiptoe and become the iconic tornado that represents him, thus increasing his speed and destructive capacity.

 If during the game we enter a telephone booth, Taz will come out disguised, depending on the suit he is wearing we canuse some special skill, which perhaps we need to eliminate a specific posteror simply help us keep the enemies at bay. Other items that will help us pass the levels are: soda cans (which will allow Taz to burp causing a big explosion), chewing gum (which will make him fly as if he were in a balloon) and hot peppers (which will allow him to spit fire). If this doesn't seem enough to you, don't forget that Tazcan devour practically anything on a stageand then spit it at the enemies and knock them out.

Every world we visitIt will be full of enemies eager to capture and cage Taz, so we will have to be very careful when moving through the levels, because if we go crazy we will end up in the nets of some zookeeper. If that happens to us, we will see that our character does not lose lives (since they do not exist in the game) but he does lose money (which is what we get every time we meet an objective) so that whatever we doTaz can't die, but our profits will suffer sharply(something not advisable, since the extras are obtained by accumulating money). Taz's invulnerability can also be applied to enemies, as many of them respawn after being eliminated or simply remain stunned for a while and then continue their search round.

The technical part of the game is not surprising, but it is quite correct and is very reminiscent of the cartoon style thanks to the use of Cel Shading, which is rounded off with some fun animations, for example when Taz falls from a great height and hits the ground, peels off like a sticker, and curses the sky while shaking his fist. The scenarios are varied and colorful, they are full of destructible elements and hidden paths, howeverit can be difficult to find your wayfor them if we are looking for a specific place, which will force us to use the map, the camera and the first-person view to try to know where we are going or what we have missed.

one thing thatI really liked the game, it was the sound sectionWell, not only is it dubbed into Spanish (quite a detail), but the music (generic but lively) modifies its rhythm depending on what we do, for example if we turn into a tornado it will speed up, if we walk on tiptoe the pitch will be lowered. They are silly details, but they are very funny.

Pese a tener buenas ideas en su planteamiento y haber incluido elementos necesarios  para una correcta jugabilidad (como la cámara, el mapa o las pistas)Taz Wantedno es un juego notable. La idea de tener que resolver puzles para eliminar los carteles es bastante buena, pero algunos de esos puzles no tienen demasiada lógica o no resultan muy interesantes, el control es aceptable, pero no perfecto, los niveles pueden ser confusos y el hecho de que Taz sea inmortal le resta cierto encanto. Las misiones extras yel excelente modo a 2 jugadores(con bastantes variantes) hacen que el juego dure algo más, de hecho creo que encontrar todas las estatuas de oro de Yosemite Sam puede llevaros mucho tiempo.

Así que, pese a quees un juego divertido y muy recomendable para fans del personaje, creo queTaz Wantedqueda bastante por detrás de otros juegos del mismo género que también fueron multiplataforma comoRayman 3,Pitfall The Lost ExpeditioneitherPac-Man World 2.