Review for Tacoma. Game for PC, Steam, Mac, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 02/08/2017 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 08/05/2018
Almost a year ago Tacoma, Fullbright's second project, made its debut on Xbox One and PC, four years after Gone Home, the walking simulator that projected the developer into the Olympus of the indie scene. Despite a lower success than the first work, Fullbright's second work proved to be sufficiently profitable, and now lands on PlayStation 4 (and 4 Pro with 4K support) with a late port that we are preparing to analyze.
Not having had the opportunity to test the primitive version of Tacoma, we will not focus only on the characteristics of the port, but we will also focus on the game in depth.
Fullbright's second work is once again a walking simulator to be experienced in first person. The year is 2088, the setting is the Tacoma space station, owned by the Venturis Corporation, which sends Amitjyoti Ferrier to the site with the task of recovering some files as well as the physical module containing ODIN, the Artificial Intelligence of the entire structure. For several hours, the crew members seem to have disappeared into the cosmic void.
Tacoma is a tunnel strewn with hatches from which you reach the different areas: in each of them, Amy has to retrieve data by inserting a device in the appropriate slot. During the download time, the player is free to explore - with the level of detail that best suits him - the environments, finding documents, objects and above all AR recordings, (i.e. in augmented reality) through which to clarify what happened to the crew. In these phases the commands play / pause, fast forward and rewind are available, to allow Amy to follow all the numerous holograms and steal as much information as possible, such as security codes.
Fullbright wanted to create a character-driven experience even more than story-driven: the narrative sector is more slender - and omissive - than one might expect, while the characters are all well characterized and rich in facets, to be discovered by listening to the dialogues (which enjoy excellent acting), accessing their private correspondences during AR recordings and rummaging in their private quarters.
The "right" way to enjoy Tacoma is just that: to be curious, anytime, anywhere. Being a walking simulator, there are no real obstacles in terms of gameplay, but there are still small puzzles, mostly related to optional material, which also yield a good amount of silver and gold trophies, as well as a platinum obtainable in five or six hours. The longevity - obviously, considering the genre of belonging - is limited: it takes less than three hours to reach the credits, and the replayability is poor (even if someone might think of doing a second run with the Commentary Mode which we will discuss below. ). At this point, we might as well enjoy the experience to the fullest, looking for all the interaction possibilities provided by Fullbright and all the surrounding information that makes the cast so alive (well, more or less… Ed) and heterogeneous.
After dwelling at length on the game in general, let's deal specifically with the port for PlayStation 4, released last May 8. First of all, Tacoma has the same price (€ 19,99) on all three platforms, and for a few more hours it will be available for € 14,99 (but on PlayStation Store this price will be the prerogative of PS Plus users).
As regards, instead, the quality of the porting and the contents, it must be noted that there are no appreciable differences compared to the versions already released. During our test there was only one major technical glitch, given by a heavy drop in the frame rate that was solved only by saving and exiting the game (the only save option available) and then loading the game. The only new feature is the Commentary Mode, where you can listen to numerous comments "in pills" from the developers, which can be activated through the icons scattered throughout the game environments. This modality, however, was made available on 8 May also for PC and Xbox One users.
Tacoma is an excellent walking simulator, although Fullbright probably failed to achieve the same intensity that characterizes Gone Home, his first work. Fortunately, the porting was done with diligence, so that the version for PlayStation 4 proved to be up to the others.
► Tacoma is an Adventure type game developed and published by Fullbright for PC, Steam, Mac, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 02/08/2017 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 08/05/2018
