Tadpole Treble (Wii U) Review

Normal tadpoles tend to have a calm life since they're born, just swimming and living, waiting for their legs to start growing - but games aren't made about normal tadpoles. Not too much later after being born, one petite tadpole friend gets eaten by a pelican. However, this stubborn tadpole will smack its mouth until it breaks free, and the adventure commences at the top of a mountain.

After that, the protagonist tadpole will have to swim his way through lots of dangers. That's the main objective in Tadpole Treble: swimming from left to right through rivers in the form of a pentagram, while dodging little bombs that serve as the notes of the various songs that will accompany the player through their experience.

Nevertheless, just stating that would be very stingy. One of the main values of Tadpole Treble is the amount of events that take place around your miniature adventure. Big fishes to avoid, treasures to uncover, crabs to dodge, bubbles to collect, and bamboos to smack at the right time. All of these occurrences are the things that make this game have its own personality and charm.

Interesting enough, though, is that you need to avoid the notes that form the song that takes place in each level, instead of catching them, as the player would in any other rhythm game. On first view, this generates a feeling that the game's just a horizontal Temple Run - but this flaw is compensated with a few mechanics that reward you for having good timing, which puts the rhythm in the rhythm genre.

To this point, Tadpole Treble could be a very forgettable rhythm game - yet there're three relevant aspects that put it over the average game. The first one is its presentation, aside from the already lauded personality, which appears in the form of the overall cartoony looking and charming comic cutscenes, plus amusing songs that guide the player through each level, some of them being genuinely good and catchy.

The second one is the clever level design, which takes a few elements and uses them in several ways in order to provide as much variety as possible. One level will consist on a chiptune-themed river, while the next one will take place in salty waters that steadily hurt tadpoles and force the player to grab healing food. This makes each stage memorable and distinct.

The third and most awesome feature of the game is its composition mode, which is outside of the adventure mode. Here, the player can compose songs and transform them into levels that can be shared online. The composition itself is fun and comfortable thanks to the Wii U GamePad, and the possibility of playing these custom levels in gameplay terms of Tadpole Treble makes this feature a formidable one.

On the negative side, the length of the game can be a source of disappointment. What should be just a world amongst four or five is the entire map of the game, which finalizes with a surprisingly good -but a little cryptic - puzzle-like boss fight. However, this lack of size is remedied by the replay value provided by scores, ranks, challenges, several unlockable features, and - again - composition mode. Sadly, no amount of features will be as good as awesome new levels.

In conclusion, Tadpole Treble is a charming, light-hearted rhythm game, with lots of features and moments to conform a game that makes an impression, with cool level design and a fantastic composition mode that could provide endless fun. Its biggest flaws are the brief duration of the adventure mode, which begs for a bigger, better-rounded sequel, and scarce mechanics that make the rhythm impactful in the gameplay.