Misc. A Tiny Tale Review

One of my favourite genres is “be a little thing in an ordinary-sized place”, even better when it’s a third-person 3D platformer. Bonus points if it’s robots. So, Misc. A Tiny Tale checks all of the right boxes, sending you out into the wider world after a mysterious explosion, which showers everywhere with golden cogs and rubbish.

This is predicated on your best friend, Bag Boy, convincing you that it's the right thing to do — find out what happened and aid those in need. But maybe Baggy has ulterior motives… Not that you have time to worry about him, you have other concerns! After all, the gates for each of the villages aren't working unless you can gather enough golden cogs!

As Misc. A Tiny Tale is a pretty wholesome game; there are no fail states. It's very family-friendly, even the combat against the “menacing” Windups is without actual peril. Get hit by an enemy? You're simply knocked back slightly. Spotted by a guard? Sent all the way back, like, three metres.

That's not to say that the game is easy; you will have to work for your cogs as they’re not all just lying around the place. Perhaps you need to help a duck fly, or earn enough bolts to buy a battery. Everyone wants you to help them out! Oh, and everyone is a robot, because every living thing on the planet was wiped out in an apocalypse.

Yes, I said that this is a family game. It's not like the apocalypse is spelt out; a lot of it is inferred. Misc. also has a strong environmentalist message, since one of the tasks in every level is to clear up rubbish (which you can exchange for cash) and you obtain a brush for scrubbing things up. Things might be tiny, but they can be clean too, dang it!

The controls are responsive and the platforming works nicely. You have a double jump and a propeller to slow your falling, but you can also dive in mid-air to get a little bit more distance. While you are able to run around, it drains a battery (stamina) very quickly, and you spend longer waiting for it to recharge than you get out of the little sprint…

The character designs are great, with some really unique-looking robots populating the world. Not all of them are made from “robot” stuff, for instance, there's one which is a tube of toothpaste! The environments are fun, each built around a “real” place or object — oil drum, swing set in a park, shed, etc, etc. I really was captured by the world — the Windups may be evil, but they're adorable just the same!

The story really goes places, in ways that the best kind of family media does. It doesn't shy away from discrimination, judging someone by their looks, depression, loss… But there's also psychic powers, bottomless obstacle courses, and sentient castanets, so those topics are obviously not dwelt upon too heavily.

The game isn't faultless, however, as there are spelling and grammatical errors in places, and there's an occasional drop in frame rate. I also managed to soft-lock the game by failing a challenge at the same instant I won, though I couldn't replicate it.

Special notice should be made of the audio design. The music for each level is subtle and enjoyable, fitting each theme well. The robots all speak in nonsense, but each still has a distinct voice. Not that I could pick them out of a line-up, but you don't get two sounding the same in a level, at least. The level set in a flower garden is a highlight as far as your ears are concerned, with the music, sound effects, and vocals all in perfect harmony.

Misc. A Tiny Tale will take you about seven hours to get through, longer if you want to 100% the game. Since you unlock artwork for entirely completing a level, I recommend doing that. It's a huge achievement for a small team on their first title, I had a lot of fun with it.