Taz in Escape From Mars

"You don't understand a word he says, but you love him anyway, it's Taz!"

Introduction to: Taz : Escape From Mars

Taz: Escape From Mars is a 2D platformer. You control Taz, the insane Tasmanian devil from the cartoon Loony Toons. Anyway, you control Taz through some crazy levels on the planet Mars. This game was released in 1994 by Sega. It is for one player only and is rated GA (appropriate for all audiences).

Story

The story is simple enough, and sounds like it came right from the cartoon. Marvin the Martian has kidnapped Taz and taken him to the Mars Zoo. Fortunately, Taz's cage is loose, and he takes advantage of that by breaking on through. From here, it's all about what the title says, escaping from Mars in an attempt to get home.

Graphics

The graphics in this game are actually quite acceptable. Although fuzzy at some points, the overall level of cleanness is good. Taz looks like he does in the show, except a little smaller and flatter. Anyway, the other characters and enemies look pretty good too. The colors are very vibrant, and the backgrounds are smooth and detailed. The levels are unique and they are all well done also. Overall, the graphics are good throughout the game and shouldn't cause any problems.

Gameplay

The gameplay for this game is also good. The most impressive part of it is the level design. The levels start off simple enough, but once you get into the game, the levels turn into absolute mazes. They become quite tricky and easy to get lost in. You are carried through many different level settings, for example, the crazy zoo, Mole World, the bizarre Planet X, Mexico, a haunted house, etc. Basically, there's lots to see. Beyond what's right in front of you however, there's loads of secret areas to find. And I mean loads, considering that the levels are huge and complex, there's plenty of hidden secrets that will confuse you very much.

You use your basic D-pad to move around, and you also have available some interesting moves. For example, the Taz Tornado involves holding B and moving left or right to move in a ground tornado. While doing this, you can also press C to jump into the air to do a flying tornado. There's also the Taz Boomerang, which involves pressing the C button under a shaft, and then running directly into the one of the walls, quickly press the B button and you will be carried up to the top. Next you have the Taz Smash, which is just using the Taz Tornado to break through a wall. This is important for finding secret areas and the like. There's also the Taz 360, where you must stand back from a loop-de-loop and press B. The use the D-pad to move towards the loop so you do a 360 through the loop-de-loop, this can be useful in rock barriers and pipe mazes. The Taz Whirly Copter involves finding a Whirly Copter, and pressing A to pick it up. Press B to spic up into the air! You can then control further with the D-pad so you can fly right through the air.

Keep in mind that Taz starts with 3 lives and a health bar, as is common in platformers. The items will help you though, snacks will fill the health bar, as will first-aid kits. Gasoline will fuel Taz's temper, this means you can press the action button to spit a big spurt of fire that will clear most everything in your way. With a mouthful of ammunition and the item box or rocks, you can spurt a barrage of stones with the action button. Bubbling beakers turn Taz huge, and bombs will make Taz explode if eats one, be careful! There's also transporters riddled throughout each level, these will teleport Taz to a completely different area. This isn't always helpful though, make sure you think it through before you step into one! Another item is the shrink ray which will melt Taz down to mini-size. This will allow him to fit through tiny tunnels that would otherwise be inaccessible. Finally, the crate is a sign that you've completed the maze. Be happy when you see one of these, and then jump in to proceed on to the next level.

There's also a boss at the end of each level. As would be expected, these are tricky and require skill to beat. The other enemies throughout a level aren't necessarily easy to defeat either though, so always choose your attack carefully, and always make good use of all your Taz moves that are available, as they can not only kill enemies but open new paths to speed up your escape from the level.

Sound

The sound in this game is for the most part, catchy, and well-fitting. I enjoyed most sections of it. A few portions were irritating, or just plan out of place. The first boss battle's music is clowny, and bizarre. It doesn't fit the mood of the giant elephant you are fighting, and it ruins some of the excitement and makes it into a sort of joke. The music for Mexico wasn't all that exciting either, and was a little annoying. On the whole though, the sound is pretty well done. Aside from the few slip-ups, the sound is all pretty clean.

Buy or Ignore?

At first glance, the game may appear to be some lousy cartoon-licensed game. But this is much more than that. It is actually quite an impressive platformer that deserves to be tried. If you own a Genesis, you definitely should have this game lying around somewhere. There's no reason not to have it, so go get it if you don't have it!

Final Score: 9

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/27/06