Kit and Baloo aren’t as famous as the mice, ducks, rabbits etc of the cartoon world. Baloo’s a hulking great bear who owns a business, ‘Higher For Hire’, delivering cargo by plane. Kit’s a wee bear who helps Baloo when he comes to blows with arch rival Shere Khan.
The two-high flying heroes have taken on a challenge. They have just seven days to outwit Khan and his cohorts, Don Kamage and the Air Pirates, and gain a lucrative contract their company desperately needs.
In GG Talespin, you have the choice of playing Baloo or Kit. You travel through nine different locations around the world, by plane or on foot, collecting cargo as you go. Grab as much as you can or Khan gets the contract.
Each stage scrolls vertically or horizontally and is made up of numerous ledges and platforms. Jump on springs, rooftops and jets of water to reach higher levels.
Cargo’s found in yellow boxes; stand on ‘em to collect what’s inside. When you’ve sufficient freight, you’re allowed to leave the level and enter the airport.
Snakes, seagulls and fire demons are out to get ya! If you play Baloo, your means of defence is a sphere on a piece of elastic! Kit has an endless supply of balls.
At airports, you come face to face with a single bad guy. Keep firing and zap all his strength.
In the air, you battle Don and his Pirates. They come at ya thick ‘n’ fast and drain life force. Grab the floating icons for extra weapons, lives etc
Will you survive the challenge in one piece or will fur fly in full effect?
I know the lads weren’t all that impressed with the Mega Drive version, so I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to play the GG game. I wish I hadn’t! Talespin’s another wasted cartoon licence. Even though I loath Tom and Jerry, at least the handheld version has a cartoony feel to ft.
There’s a little more playability in Talespin and a fair sprinkling of testability, but the whole caboodle gets extremely tedious after a short while. Leaping around collecting cargo’s not the most enthralling pastime. Even the flying sequences didn’t stifle the odd yawn or ten.
The characters aren’t particularly well animated and Jump around as though they’re in outer space! The graphics are nothing to shout about. They’re dark and dreary, a touch flickery and it’s hard to see what’s going on in places.
I can’t recommend Talespin. There are far better GG games around.
ADE 51%
You deadheads who read Issue 13 know the MD version of Talespin ain’t too hot. You’d think Sega would improve the gameplay before releasing the GG version, wouldn’t you?
Well, think again, because the GG game’s the same as its big brother in every department, right down to the annoying tune that bleeps throughout the game! Yes folks, us lucky Game Gear owners can relive the tedium of collecting tea chests and dodging seagulls while tapping our toes to the most grinding soundtrack ever created. How lucky we are... not!
In my opinion, Talespin was, and still is, dead average. Monotonous gameplay and a boring plot make it instantly forgettable. It plays exactly the same over all the levels (except for the shoot-’em-up bit) and once you suss out how to dodge the baddies, it’s easily completed.
Do yourself a favour and avoid Talespin. There are loads of decent GG games, mainly thanks to Sega themselves, so the question has to be asked, if they can make great games like Master Of Darkness and Defenders Of Oasis, why oh why do they release crud like this?
PAUL 52%
A wasted licence. Above-average gameplay but not recommended
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