Tail of the Sun

"Mindless... yet not that bad... Strange"

Intro
It's not often you actually see different ideas. Some of these different ideas either become revolutionary or just go completely unnoticed. I think the second case was applied here with Tail of the Sun. It actually isn't a bad game albeit the fact that it's pretty much mindless and repetitive. For some reason, though, I kept playing it. I think the one thing about it that's enjoyable is the fact that there is a lot of exploring and adventuring you can do at your own leisure. The game is totally non-linear.

The Game According to Joe
In Tail of the Sun, you command a tribe of cavemen. At the beginning of the game, you get a choice of one of three different cavemen to choose from (yes, there are cavewomen as well, and yes they are playable). You then take this caveman out to explore a huge world that consists of the usual environmental structures like mountains, plains, and such. While running around, you can bump into different types of animals which you must kill to feed your tribe. As you feed your tribe, they grow in size. You can also get a tattoo from some stone structures south of your village that gives you different advantages such as better swimming ability, increased reproduction, better cultural advancements, etc.

Developing Culture
One thing I found pretty interesting about this game is that rather than having your character gain levels, your culture gains levels. As this happens, you can develop better living conditions for your tribe which will allow better propagate capabilities and even gain newer and more powerful weapons (you start the game barefisted. After a while, you get different clubs and spears). You can use these to kill animals more efficiently.

The Goal
The primary objective of the game is to build a tower big enough to reach the Tail of the Sun. The only way to do this is to head way up north and kill a certain animal that is the most powerful one in the game: the mammoth. As you kill a mammoth, your add on to your tower using its tusks. Before long, you'll have a tower big enough to reach the sun. Different things you do in the game will result in a different ending.

Game Elements
The graphics aren't bad, but for that matter, they aren't great. I'd say pretty much mediocre in that department. The music is pretty annoying, although the sound effects aren't bad. The controls work pretty well. You mostly just run around the world going in any direction you want while attacking and jumping. They're not hard to learn and they aren't too stiff or overresponsive. There are two things that brought the gameplay down a bit: repetitiveness and bad camera angles.

FINAL JUDGMENT
Graphics: Not the greatest, not the worst 7/10
Sounds: Lame music at times, but good working sound effects 7/10
Controls: Work very well, surprisingly 10/10
Plot/Storyline: A different concept. Too bad the story doesn't build up more and more. 8/10
Gameplay: Not bad. Good for about one time through, anyway. 7/10
All Together: 7/10

Recommendations
I would recommend you rent or play this before straight buying it. If you can look past repetition and really like adventure, then you just might enjoy this game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/08/01, Updated 04/08/01