Tales of Formentera is a low-cost indie Gameboy game developed by 3Monkeies. Ratalaika Games has published this pea-green retro title using the same porting interface that they have used for many of their classic re-releases.
You know how most Zelda games have a trading quest? Where you do a task to earn one item, then trade a string of items multiple times to finally get a nice bonus at the end? Tales of Formentera is essentially one big Zelda trading quest without combat – a task-based adventure game. Due to its casual nature and no way to get game over, this is a cozy one-hour adventure despite some obvious shortcomings.
Playing as a detective, it is your job to figure out why bells were stolen from churches on a small island. Presentation-wise, the game takes obvious inspiration from Link’s Awakening as the overhead world design, screen transitions, and even the menu system/UI have similarities. There is even one audio track that seems to be ripped straight from Zelda’s save menu music.
To progress the story, the player must talk to every villager, occasionally collect and item, and then use said item to progress a little further. For example, eventually the player will be given a sword which must be used to attack a giant grab and “creature” but this is literally just pressing the attack button while in front of them. Puzzle solving involves pushing a few boulders and a couple of boxes, but that is about it. So progression comes from triggering the next event by talking to the right person at the right time. Oh, and you’ll need a fight a few snakes by talking to them, then holding the button prompt that appears. So again, no real combat which works for this type of game.
By clicking on signs, the player can sometimes access a map to identify current location on this smaller island. However, my biggest complaint comes from the lack of an indicator, radar, or marker system. Unless you have a great memory or use pen and paper, chances are, you will be wandering aimlessly hoping to find the right NPC in which to converse.
Unfortunately, the location names of each area are in Spanish, text isn’t translated well with an occasional typo, and sometimes the text is too big for the text box so it gets cut off. This doesn’t make identifying the next destination any easier so wandering and hoping for the best is the name of the game. Thankfully, the game world isn’t terribly big so backtracking until to find the next trigger point usually isn’t terribly far away.
I also found a glitch that might be considered a feature depending on how it is used. Pressing Start/Pause in a room with pushable boxes will reset the room. Depending on positioning, this has the ability to trap the player… but can be fixed by using the same pause trick when standing in the correct location.
Also, spoiler alert, the password to unlock the box/chest in the woman’s house is 914. I figured I would put it here to save some backtracking by paying attention to the year the lighthouses were built.
Tales of Formentera is a simple game but one that is admirable and respectable. It isn’t the most polished, has some misguided rough edges, and the story isn’t even that well written, but that doesn’t mean this short quest isn’t worth your time. Fans of classic Gameboy games, especially ones with low stress, should probably put this approachable title on their wishlist.
SCORE: 7/10
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
X/Twitter: @ZackGaz
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