Developer: BitFinity
Publisher: BitFinity
Platform: Switch
Tested on: Switch
Tadpole Treble Encore – Review
A long time ago, Tadpole Treble was released for the Wii U and later on ported to the PC as well. The game was received very well with positive reviews all over, including one from our site, which you can find here. Now, almost 5 years later, Tadpole Treble Encore has been released; an updated version with a bunch of extras added onto the game. Developed and published by BitFinity, Tadpole Treble Encore is sure to bring some Rhythm to your life. We were lucky enough to be able to review this version and take on the role of Baton.
Story
Baton is a small tadpole that just got out of its egg. During the first part of the game, her parents teach her how to swim in the pond they live in, along with what to eat and what to avoid. Baton ends up swimming a little too far into the pond despite her mother’s warnings and she ends up being snatched up by a pelican. Luckily she manages to escape the beak, landing in an unknown river left to find her way back. On the way back, Baton will go through different environments and meet many different animals, although she will only interact with a few.
Even though Tadpole Treble Encore is mostly a rhythm game, it’s still nice to have a story attached to it. The story is mostly used to give you a little bit of a setting and a purpose in the game.
Graphics
Tadpole Treble Encore has a very playful storybook art style that looks cute. Each level has its own theme, complete with animals and decorations with one level even turning the graphics from the game into an 8-bit retro-styled experience. The different environments of the levels are well thought out and often even have small changes to interactable objects so that they fit with the theme. So in a cave-themed level, you’d encounter mushroom sticks instead of the bamboo sticks that you might encounter outside. Some pickup items change color with the level, which does make them a little bit hard to tell apart. Every creature you encounter has this cutesy look to it, even the evil ones who try to hurt you, which sometimes makes them look a bit silly.
Sound
Since Tadpole Treble Encore is a music rhythm game there are of course a lot of tracks included. Most tracks are instrumental only but there is one song where there is actual singing. Each level will contain a different song fitting its theme. There are songs that are jazzier, while others are more classical and even an 8-bit inspired one to go with the aforementioned level.
While most songs actually have quite a good beat and are fun to listen to, the level selection background track can get a little annoying. The same track stays on repeat and loops around pretty quickly; so if you take a little long to select what you want, it will become grating. Each level also has noises correlating to you picking up items or taking damage.
Gameplay
Tadpole Treble Encore is an action-packed music rhythm game where you follow Baton’s journey through a musical world. When you start the game, you’ll first get a tutorial level where the story actually starts with Baton’s parents who basically explain the game to you as you go through the level. Unlike other Rhythm games, you aren’t actually the one making the music but black blocks are. These blocks hurt you and should be avoided. In each level, there are a few items that can be picked up, such as pink bubbles, little stars, and a health chip. The pink bubbles you can trade in later in the game for unlockables. What the little stars do isn’t exactly clear but they probably help your treble meter. Last but not least, the health chip gives you a little health back.
Although you have an attack, you don’t actually use it on enemies. You use your attack to hit bamboo in correspondence with the rhythm or to hit big bubbles. These big bubbles make you jump upwards or float downwards and are a good way to get some bonus bubbles or health.
After the treble meter is filled with the little stars, you can charge up and actually break through the blocks that you normally should avoid. However charging up the attack doesn’t go as smooth as it should be, taking way too long to do so and causing you to bump into the rocks instead.
During some levels, you will encounter enemies that mostly want to eat you and you’ll obviously want to avoid them. It’s however not always easy to avoid enemies when there are a ton of rocks in your way. Some enemies you can ward off by hitting the bamboo, others you will just have to dodge.
When you finish a level, you’ll get a rank going somewhere between an F and an S, with the latter being the best. You can also collect a lot of pink bubbles to unlock more extras, such as the bestiary and the music player, or you can challenge yourself by collecting challenge flies. These flies require you to do a certain thing in a level before they appear, such as hitting all the bamboo.
If you’re feeling creative, there is also the composition mode where you can make your own levels. There are all kinds of instruments you can place down in the form of the previously mentioned hard blocks. For every pick-up that you find in the game, you can also find it in the composition mode, so you can create an entire level from scratch. Even if you’re not an expert in music, the composition mode is still fun to play around with.
Conclusion
Tadpole Treble Encore is a fun game that isn’t too long but has a lot of replay value. You can also create your own levels if you grow tired of the actual levels of the game. The game isn’t a typical rhythm game where you just hit note blocks to the rhythm of the game but you’ll actually swim through a musical world. Tadpole Treble Encore is a game that is fit for all ages and can be now be enjoyed on the go as well thanks to the Switch version.
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