Tooth and Tail

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. TheSixthAxis
    Sep 28, 2017
    70
    Tooth And Tail charts the midpoint between traditional RTS games and their massively popular mobile counterparts. It’s quick and streamlined yet complex and deeply tactical when played competitively. Some fans of the genre will no doubt revel in customising their decks to devour their opponents, but others will find Pocketwatch’s approach either too simplistic or not simplistic enough.
  2. GameCritics
    Sep 18, 2017
    65
    The concept is great, I love the aesthetics, and the goal of streamlining the RTS genre and making it more approachable is one that I can get behind. And in truth, Pocketwatch has been largely successful! However, I’d recommend it only on the strength of the multiplayer. The campaign’s lack of in-game information, AI with too much advantage, and spiking difficulty curve make it tough to embrace. Perhaps RTS vets will disagree with me, but as a mostly-console player coming to this project, it’s got to go a little further to meet me halfway.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 3 out of 11
  1. RichiMusha
    Sep 13, 2017
    4
    Campaign is unplayable for me. A.I. doesn't play by the same rules. That's just unfair and frustrating.
    Multiplayer gets repetitive after the    Campaign is unplayable for me. A.I. doesn't play by the same rules. That's just unfair and frustrating.
    Multiplayer gets repetitive after the first match, if you even find one. Sadly i wasted my money here.    … Full Review »
  2. GBG_Jason
    Sep 27, 2017
    9
    I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: some genres are made specifically for a particular platform. If you were given the choice ofI’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: some genres are made specifically for a particular platform. If you were given the choice of playing Command & Conquer on a PC or a PlayStation, the obvious answer is PC. Does it work on PlayStation? Sure. Is it as good though? Not even close. The genre has made many attempts to break into the console space with little success, despite the hype and gimmicks involved (Tom Clancy’s Endwar, I’m looking at you). So is it possible for a team that’s never developed for the console space to do it?

    Quite honestly, Tooth and Tail is the game to break down the RTS barrier. It takes the formula you’re familiar with and creates a control scheme that’s simple yet effective. Too often in these games you’ll find yourself using the gamepad in the way a mouse would, dragging a cursor to select who you want. Not here. You will either call all of your available army, or you can select them by class. That’s two buttons for calling, and one analog stick for selecting; doesn’t get much more streamlined than that.

    Opposed to being a floating camera that will hover over the battlefield, you are the captain of your team, and are able to scout around the map as you build your defenses and armies (I immediately thought of Pixeljunk Monsters with this approach). In the event you walk into a very precarious situation while scouting and die, don’t fret, as you’ll respawn at your base. Your base is a windmill with farmland around it that serves as your resources for everything you do. Eventually the soil becomes barren, so it’s important to branch out and make sure not to pigeonhole yourself, as the enemy will also be gaining ground.

    The levels are chosen from a hub of sorts, where you can talk to the different characters you take care of, and each animal clearly has a different place in the animal kingdom hierarchy. Additionally, the animals will perform jobs that are most like them, and clearly fits their demeanor. You can choose to replay any completed levels here, which will be necessary if you don’t complete all the Heroic Goals from each level, assuming you want the platinum. The majority of the trophies are tied to these (the rest will be earned through ranked matches online), and while they are easy at first, they quickly become more time consuming. And that is very much the game in general.

    Right out of the gate the game seems to be something much simpler than it actually is. There is no real strategy involved, as you are just learning the mechanics of how to play. It’s a nice way of building up your self-esteem, because it doesn’t take long for it to trounce it if you’re not overly familiar with RTS games. It wasn’t until I was posed with defeating the enemy with soldiers I could find scattered about without creating my own ranks that I truly took a beating. It’s at this point that you regret not learning the best way to use each class, as each one is notably better at one thing over another. This is when choosing who you bring into battle and when you do so becomes the focus of the game, and it truly is real-time strategy.

    On top of the fairly extensive single-player campaign, you are invited into the world of multiplayer, because what’s an RTS game without multiplayer. While limited with players at the moment, I expect the campaign to be a warm up for what will be the ultimate difficulty of human logic. Prepare for an assortment of strategies the developers probably didn’t account for while making it. Until some patches are brought about to nerf them, I can see people finding a way to take advantage of some geographical stopping points that characters get caught on.

    In addition to ranked and unranked matches with people across the internet, there are offline modes as well. This allows for up to 4 players locally, as well as 2v2, 2v1, and 3v1. Even if you don’t have any friends, you can play these modes using bots, each with six different difficulty settings. This will definitely help you hone your skills for online play, and maybe even try some strategies out for the single player.

    The game has four factions to choose from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. If you can’t wait to play as them in the campaign, you can always go the multiplayer route as none of the factions need to be unlocked. While the differences between them aren’t as big as something like StarCraft, there’s enough variation that it will make a difference for strategy.

    If you’re a fan of real-time strategy games, regardless of where you enjoy playing them, it’s a safe bet you’ll love Tooth and Tail. It does some things you may not love with the mechanics from the norm, but I promise they work well once you get used to them. A beautiful art style, a wonderful score from Austin Wintory (what doesn’t he do these days?), and simple controls with a deep understanding of mechanics leads to a fantastic console debut from the dev.    … Full Review »
  3. Jarhead335
    Sep 18, 2017
    9
    Having progressed through roughly a quarter of the campaign, but having spent several hours in multiplayer (splitscreen and online), I finallyHaving progressed through roughly a quarter of the campaign, but having spent several hours in multiplayer (splitscreen and online), I finally feel qualified enough to say this game is absolutely fantastic.

    At first, it feels frustrating. The third campaign level took me three times to beat. You feel disoriented initially, blinded by the blistering pace of the AI until you realize something profound- the AI is not too fast or beefed up, YOU are playing too slowly.

    In Tooth & Tail, you cannot approach games as even 30-minute grind fests. You can not prioritize economic gain and hoarding resources. You cannot build up massive armies and keep them out of harm's way, hoping to eventually build enough strength to overwhelm the enemy. Tooth & Tail necessitates playing in scales of seconds or half-minutes. You must remain constantly focused on the goal, on staying lean, agile, and putting no resource to waste. Like never before in an RTS, I learned to manage my resources to the utmost. Mistakes in T&T cost so much more than, say, in Age of Empires. A misplaced turret or building an expensive unit barracks you can't build fast enough see crippling returns with such immediacy, it punishes you into getting better each time. After stepping away and coming back, it will often take several sweeping failures against an AI opponent set to Medium to get rolling again. It's a give and take that requires patience, but once learned reveals a very deep gaming experience.

    Classes are so fun, interesting, and with dozens and dozens of combinations to really customize a play style. One of my favorite quirky ways to play is by bringing barbed wire to the fight (in multiplayer games you can choose 6 units to bring to compose your armies, of varying strenghts & costs). Some units are anti-air, some are strictly melee, some are designed for destroying structures and some are meant to heal. A variety of other hybrids means that, unlike Tom Clancy's Endwar, this doesn't feel like a big game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, but instead like a game of chess playing out, with versatility and robust strategy that mean even the smallest of revolver-toting squirrels could make the difference in the face of overwhelming odds.

    The core factions are each tropes in themselves, but the story around them is engaging and recall Animal Farm, Redwall and a derivation of the future "corporation as government as tyrant" so often found in dystopian fiction. Dialogue is eerie but interesting, unsettling but well-written. The world is alive and the war is visceral, and you never feel too far removed from the struggles of its meekest participants (poor piggies).

    The most negative feature of the game is that sometimes, its pixelated graphics, most often in splitscreen, sometimes appear muddied or at least not sharp enough. Units can blend in with the background and become lost in a sense, or otherwise fail to pop and ping like the rest of the game's elements.

    In all, a great experience that I will surely continue to cherish for the foreseeable future.    … Full Review »
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