Tail of the Sun is a bizarre game. It is an action-adventure game where you play as a tribe of cavemen. You only control one at a time, and in theory, they get stronger with each generation.
This is one of my favorite PS1 games because of how weird it is. It has a simple goal: build a tower high enough to grab the tail of the Sun. This simple goal takes a while because the only thing you can use for building materials is mammoth bones.
When I first played this game, I was so confused by it. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, or why everything kept killing me. It took a while for me to figure it out because I didn’t have the internet or even the game’s manual to give me a hint.
TLDR: A Truly Bizarre Game, but Fun as Hell!
Narrative
You’re a caveman, and for some reason, you want to build a tower so you can grab the tail of the sun. This is all you really need to know about the story until the end.
The manual kind of gives you an idea of what is going on (Link). You lead a tribe of cavemen. Over time, they get smarter and make stronger weapons, and you have to gather mammoth tusks to build a tower to the sun.
There are artifacts you can find, but they don’t matter all that much. Just walk around, gather meat, and help your tribe develop. When you die, a new leader will be chosen.
Spoiler Alert: The ending of this game suggests that everything that you just did was because your character had been knocked out. This whole experience was because you got a head injury. It all strangely makes sense.
The story isn’t all that important in this game. While it is nice to know why you’re doing what you’re doing, it ultimately doesn’t matter. Just sit back and laugh at all the absurd things in this game.
Gameplay
I’m not totally sure what to say about this game. You walk around and explore the world. If it looks like an animal, attack it; if it looks like a rock, throw it at an animal; and if it looks like food, then try to eat it.
Much of what you do is wander around a gigantic map, eating random things, and fighting animals. When you eat something, a part of your body will flash:
- Head – I think this means you got smarter
- Arms – You got stronger
- Legs – Means you got faster or have more stamina
- Body – I have absolutely no idea what this means, so let’s go with health
Killing animals will give your character a chance to eat meat. This will advance your civilization and allow you to get weapons. Because you’re a stupid caveman, you have to research how clubs work. Here is a list of the weapons/civilization levels:
- Club
- Pick/Axe
- Spear
The world is divided into regions. There are also some islands you can reach. Here are the regions:
- Prarie
- Desert
- Rivers and Oceans
- Mountains
- Artic
The thing that really advances the game is meat. You get this from killing animals, and when you pick it up, you can bring it back to the village or eat it. Bringing it back to the village will increase the tribes population, and eating it will heal your character.
There isn’t too much else to the gameplay. Wander around killing and eating things, and eventually work your way up to fighting a Mammoth. They drop tusks and a lot of meat. You can return to the village by picking up the tusk, or you can use it as a throwing weapon.
There are a lot of things to find on the map. Here are a few of them:
- Dinosaur tracks
- Underwater Temple
- Dead Alien
- Deserted Village
- Stonehenge
I like the gameplay in Tail of the Sun. It is hilarious at times, especially when nightfall and your character faceplants, no matter what, and sleeps until morning, or if he gets attacked. There is something about this game that makes me smile.
Visuals
This game has a gigantic map and some very early PS1 graphics that I find charming. It isn’t a good-looking game, but it doesn’t need to be. Everything from the sky to the animals looks strange.
The game looks like a drug trip. The sky looks really weird when night falls, and it can be easy to get lost in the game. Thankfully, that isn’t really a problem as you don’t need to return to the village.
The graphics are blocky, animals and humans look strange, and the world is just strange. Tail of the Sun is one of those games you can use to show how far we’ve come in terms of making video games.
For some reason, I find this game charming. The graphics remind me of a time when people were less hyperbolic about what games look like. Stupid people often say that a modern game looks like a PS1 game as an insult. When you actually look at PS1 games, you can see how dumb those claims are and realize how far we’ve come.
I don’t think that Tail of the Sun has good graphics. They work for the game, but they don’t look good when you compare them to other games. I find the game to look hilarious, and it is something to laugh at, how absurd everything is.
Reviews at the Time
The reviews for Tail of the Sun are all over the place. There is no consensus on whether this is a good game or not, and I can’t blame them. I like the game, but I can also see why others would hate it. I’ll be looking at the IGN, GameSpot, and Game Informer reviews.
IGN gave the game a 7/10. It is a very short review. The reviewer brings up some of the things I talked about. They don’t go in-depth, but they give you the basic premise of the game.
GameSpot gave the game a 4.4/10. The reviewer didn’t get this game and found the control scheme awkward. I can’t really complain or argue with what they said. When I first played the game, I was confused and frustrated as well. Then I started laughing at it, and the game got better.
Game Informer gave Tail of the Sun a 7.25/10. The review is only a paragraph. There isn’t too much to glean from this. They say that the game doesn’t have a goal, and then explain the goal of the game. I love it when reviewers do this.
The reviews show how subjective reviewing games can be. I can’t argue with what they say, and I can understand why people wouldn’t like this game. Tail of the Sun is a very odd game to try and review.
8/10. It doesn’t look good, but it is very entertaining. The hilarious stuff that happens in this game more than makes up for its shortcomings. I really like this game because of all its faults.
Pros
- Unintentionally Hilarious
- Fun Story
- Good Controls
Cons
- Confusing
- Below Average Graphics
- Weak Story
Conclusion
This is one of the many games I was convinced to buy. My friend Drew and I found it in a mom-and-pop video game store, and he told me how fun it was. I have no idea if he had ever played it before, which is something I could say about all the games he suggested I buy.
For a long time, I had no idea how to play this game. When I finally figured it out, I found the game to be way more fun than other games on the PS1. A lot of the enjoyment I got from this game was laughing at it.
It isn’t a great game; it is just a fun game. I like it because of all its faults. There is a large world to explore, but in the end, it is all pointless because you can’t actually reach the sun. That seems to be the whole point of the game.
If you like this post, please check out my other reviews of PS1 games, such as Brigandine and My Favorite PS1 Games.