Tantibus

Tantibus for those of you not subjected to Latin classes in your youth, or access to Google, means nightmare, and given some of the surreal aspects of this game, it's not a bad one word title, though it does beg the question does Beanallean dream in neon, or is that reserved for nightmares only?

The game opens with some grating title music which irritates me, but then since it's meant to be nightmarish, that's probably intentional, as is the fact the first room in which you find yourself is silent, an interesting juxtaposition and designed I believe to make you feel a little unsteady going in. Unless it's an error in which case don't correct it, and don't tell me, I like my theory as it is. The remaining music in the game is much more melodic and some of it is quite catchy, it feels quite familiar but I can't place it though I'm sure it's not from any other game I've ever played.

The thing however that grabs your attention from the get go is the graphics, or course. The bright neon colours highlighted by the matt black backgrounds, it take a little getting used to and I did have to drop the saturation level of my screen a little to prevent eyestrain with some of the images used, especially for some reason those green diagonal lines demoting the background and surrounds. Still it's worth it for the look of the game; the clashing vibrant colours do add to the nightmarish feel and add another layer of immersion.

It's a shame the same can't be said for the story, or at least the opening story, it's just there really isn't one. I don't know why I am where I am or why I am wandering around looking at things. There is obviously a goal, but as to what it is that's a touch fuzzy, actually it's a lot fuzzy. It's an easy fix, a small internal monologue from the character outlining what they think they need to do, even something as nebulous as 'I need to get out of this room and find out what is going on' if you wanted to keep the mysterious and unsettling vibe that you have already established in the music and graphics. Or something a little more concrete and purposeful if you wished to create a dichotomy between the visual and aural qualities and the storyline.

Lack of direction isn't a big negative in gameplay, it's one of the mainstays of open world games, but lack in story can be a little more problematic.


Thanks for the heads up, but I think you meant Infested.

Battles are irrelevant for growth since you gain no experience but they do showcase some of the custom battlers which are really nice pieces of work, though others are an odd choice. One in particular is the fact that the faceless men when fought are represented by various monsters, all of which appear to have faces, or at least those that have places where faces could be, it seems like a more suitable graphic could have been used, something that matches the gameworld description. In fact if I do have a peeve in this area it's the fact that none of the battlers actually match the visible sprites, given the custom nature of the work already accomplished, I wouldn't have thought it would have been too difficult to make sprite versions of the battlers and it would have added to the enjoyment considerably.

Though the facial expressions on the custom character sprites are hysterical to watch as they move.

Other than the custom battlers the battles are the classic turn based with no additional customisation which is a shame since the smooth graphics used in the battle screen for the HP/PP counters and the generic swirly background clashes somewhat with the face-sets and battlers. I understand making a graphical change that intensive may have been difficult but even something simple like changing the bars to a more neon shade or amending the font to something more pixellated would have made them look more integrated.


Attack of the depressed PIXAR™ lamp.

Levelling up since not achieved by experience gain via battles is actually accomplished by finding certain items in the game world. This is not only a novel way to approach that standard RPG growth element but actually rewards exploration, since if you want to get ahead you need to find those items which will boost your abilities. Grinding is not an option. Another interesting twist is that levelling up which is limited to level 5 doesn't increase your stats, it simply adds abilities, if you want to grow in strength and defence you need to upgrade your weapons and armour. It means that those battles you do fight, and there are some that are obligatory are more about the strategic use of abilities since you are pretty much going to give and take the same amount of damage until you upgrade, so any advantage in battle has to be skill based.

Scattered around the world are a series of worthless eggs, some of which are used as movement barriers, which change when certain conditions are met, either into chests with useful items in them, or if they were used as movement barriers then they disappear allowing forward momentum. The only problem with this system is that unless you cotton on to the fact that the eggs can be used for either purpose you'll just assume that when they are not being used to impede your progress they are part of the surreal landscape and not go back to check on them after key events have happened. Since at least a few of them have the level up items in them, not having that information can be detrimental to success in the game.

The game is full of little touches that aid in the experience, the fact that the NPC's dialogue grows and changes over time depending on the current level of the party and the feats they have accomplished, the notion that in a world that is painted in shades of neon the healing items are all named after light sources, like desk lamp and skylight, and that the energy replacing items are all chocolate, which is universally acknowledged as the best pick me up in existence. They are just small things but they show that the developer has thought about the world in which he has set the game and had tried to make it an encompassing experience.

There is however a strange glitch in the game, if you use the optimise option in the equipment menu it will indeed automatically give you the best equipment available, but it will also reduce your current HP/PP to its base amount, which means if you use it whilst in a dungeon and away from one of the healing light bulbs you may be in a world of trouble. You don't lose your full HP/PP amount you are simply reduced back to the amount you had when the character was introduced. So avoiding that is a good idea. Another thing to avoid is heading into the Pit of Doom until you've got all four of your party members, it's an optional dungeon that has the hardest boss in the game right at the bottom, but it's also a one way trip. Once you are in you can't get out until you can defeat it so save your game before you go in. The reward if you do defeat him is all the money in the world and a killer weapon, which bizarrely once you've defeated him you no longer need since no one comes close to him in ferocity or difficulty.


Funny, I'm beginning to feel right at home.

After traversing four different but equally peculiar landscapes you finally get to the void, the place with the end of game boss, who is weak in comparison to the Pit Boss, and the final cut scene, unfortunately the game ends in much the same way as it began, oddly and with no real story to hang your hat on and no idea why you just spent the last two hours running around this surreal little world, but I can't say it was a waste of time. I really enjoyed this funny little cast of characters in their bizarre but somehow consistent world. Dreams rarely make sense; there is no reason to assume that nightmares do either.

Go spend some time in this one, you won't need your night-light, it's a neon world.