TAGAP: The Apocalyptic Game About Penguins

TAGAP: The Apocalyptic Game About Penguins
TAGAP promotional cover artwork, featuring the game's hero, Pablo the penguin.
Genres	Action, Platformer, Run and gun
Developers	Penguin Development Team (2007-present)
Platform of origin	Microsoft Windows
First release	TAGAP: The Apocalyptic Game About Penguins July 31, 2007
Latest release	TAGAP 2 July 31, 2011

TAGAP: The Apocalyptic Game About Penguins (or just 'TAGAP' for short) is a computer action game series for Microsoft Windows, released as freeware. The first game, TAGAP: The Apocalyptic Game About Penguins, was released via the Internet in July 2007 and the sequel TAGAP 2 followed four years later in July 2011. In TAGAP games, the player controls cyber-penguin Pablo on his quest to save the Earth from the conquering plans of evil madmen. In the first game the antagonist is the lunatic Dr. Glowenko,^[1] the creator of cyber-penguins and in the sequel all mankind is threatened by General Primo, a cyber-penguin megalomanic with mind control abilities.^[2]

TAGAP was the debut game of Penguin Development Team, a duo of Finnish hobbyist developers.^[3] The title, TAGAP, is an acronym with two meanings. The first is The Apocalyptic Game About Penguins, the title of the game. The second is Tissue Augmenting Green Addictive Pill, a type of drug that plays a large role in the game as a plot point (see Plot and Pills).^[4]

Gameplay

TAGAP series games are 2-D platformer and run and gun shoot 'em ups.^[1][2][5] The keyboard is used for movement, interaction and weapon swapping while the aiming are handled with the mouse, giving player 360° firing freedom. While the same control scheme has been used in games like Walker and Abuse, TAGAP has a bigger emphasis on shooting than "platforming". TAGAP 2 and the first game from version 1.5 and onwards also support PC-compatible Xbox 360 controllers.^[6]

TAGAP games feature a wide range of weapons. Some, like the shotgun, flamethrower and minigun are standard weapons in most video game arsenals. Others like the OMG-20k, the Disintegrator and EMP rifle are unique to the games. First game has eight and the second ten different hand-held weapons, all featuring two firing modes. For example, the Plasmagun's secondary function deploys a temporary shield, while flamethrower can set floors on fire.^[4][7] In addition to these mobile weapons, throughout the game the player can also control a few heavily armed combat vehicles. These include a miniature helicopter, a small submersible, a laser turret and a small space fighter. These vehicles also have secondary fire ability, such as rockets (helicopter) or charged plasma bursts (space fighter).

Pills

Three of the pills from the game

Drugs designed for genetic manipulation, commonly referred to as pills, play a large role in the games. The most common type of pill is the green TAGAP (Tissue Augmenting Green Addictive Pill) pill. As the name suggests, Pablo is addicted to the pills due to their role in his creation. To reflect this, the game's health bar is based on the percentage of TAGAP in Pablo's blood. When the amount reaches 0%, Pablo will lose a life. Eating TAGAP pills increases Pablo's health. When the TAGAP level in Pablo's blood reaches 100%, any more pills taken will result in an overdose. This is represented through by a green hue covering the screen, hallucinations and slow motion ability, resulting in an unparalleled combat state.^[4][7]

TAGAP 2 takes things even further, featuring an entire level during which Pablo is exposed to heavy rain infused with TAGAP drug compound, resulting him fighting with hallucinations represented by green, illuminated penguins - some of which wear a fairy costume and flail magic wands.

In the first TAGAP there are four types of pills in total, each with a different effect. From these, only green and red pills are featured in the sequel, though some, like painkillers, appear as portable items instead.^[4][7]

Synopsis

Setting

The first TAGAP is set in several locations around the world. The first half of the game is set in Dr. Glowenko's secret base, located in Southern New Zealand. The setting then moves to Antarctica, where Pedro's base is located, followed by downtown Tokyo and a North-Japanese volcano transformed into a secret fortress. For the final chapter of the game, Pablo launches into space and battles in a massive space station in orbit around the Earth.^[1][4]

While TAGAP 2 starts out in Antarctica and New Zealand, the plot soon takes Pablo and Pedro into even more varied locations, including an off-score oil platform, jungle, run-down hospital with a mental ward, urban construction site and a new city setting. The final showdown takes place inside a gigantic mecha-penguin piloted by General Primo, the main villain of the story.^[2][7]

Characters

• Pablo penguin - The hero of the story, Pablo is a genetically modified penguin created by Dr. Glowenko. He grows tired of being Glowenkos stooge, and rebels, becoming a self-claimed action hero.^[8][9]
• Pedro penguin - Pedro starts out as Glowenko's bodyguard in the first game, acting as a recurring boss character. However, after Pablo saves him from certain death, the two become friends, leading to Pedro appearing as both a support- and playable character in the sequel.^[8][9]
• Dr. Glowenko - Glowenko is a mad scientist who plans to take over the world with an army of cloned penguins. He ultimate meets his demise in Pablo's flippers. Dr. Glowenko is also the only human character shown in TAGAP titles.^[8]
• General Primo - Genetically modified rockhopper penguin created by REP Corporation, Primo is the main antagonist of TAGAP 2.^[9][10]

Games

TAGAP: The Apocalyptic Game About Penguins (2007)

At a distant research facility, Dr. Glowenko discovers a way to create bio-engineered cybernetic penguins, TAGAP (Tissue Augmenting Green Addictive Pill). Glowenko begins creating an army of cloned penguins, dubbed "Zombie penguins" due to their corruption by TAGAP. Glowenko plans to take over the world with his army, but one of the penguins, codenamed Pablo, is tired of being Glowenko's guinea pig and escapes. He quickly finds himself fighting the entire clone army as he tries to discover Glowenko's plan. Pablo's main adversary is Pedro, another cyber-penguin who is engineered to be more intelligent and has been promised a bounty of TAGAP for killing Pablo. Pedro uses an extensive range of lethal machines and weaponry to stop Pablo, but to no avail. After fighting his way throughout the complex, Pablo kills Glowenko and destroys the base with a nuclear self-destruct device.

Pablo heads to Antarctica, only to discover that Pedro has a secret base where he forcefully recruits ordinary penguins and turns them into zombies using TAGAP. Pablo frees the penguins and pursues a fleeing Pedro to a secret space shuttle hidden inside a volcano fortress. Pablo stows aboard the shuttle which is launched in orbit, where it docks with a massive space station, the base for Pedro's final strike on humanity. After a lengthy fight through the station, Pablo confronts Pedro for the last time and tries to make him see reason. Pedro responds by activating an enormous, heavily armed penguin shaped robot. Pablo destroys the robot and defeats Pedro, knocking him unconscious. Rocked by the robot's explosion, the station begins to destabilise. After a moment's hesitation, Pablo grabs Pedro and rushes to the hangar, where one small space fighter remains. The two penguins escape the station as it violently explodes. The shuttle crashes in Antarctica, and Pedro asks why Pablo saved him. Pablo replies, "That's what we video game heroes do." The penguins Pablo freed earlier arrive and the group throw a party, all differences forgotten.

TAGAP 2 (2011)

TAGAP 2 starts off the morning following the crash landing back to Antarctica, as Pablo is poking around space fighter's onboard computer. The files therein indicate that Dr. Glowenko wasn't working alone, but was backed by a huge multinational corporation called REP (Random Evil Pharmaceuticals), before going rogue.^[10] Wanting to prevent any further disasters from happening, Pablo, now joined by Pedro, set off to investigate one of REPs warehouses. Something goes wrong when the two try to hack the warehouse computer, which accidentally leads to them freeing General Primo, REP's own test version of a cyber-penguin locked away in stasis storage. Primo isn't happy about his imprisonment and the very moment he is freed, he wakes up the rest of the test subjects via mind control and sets off to inflict his revenge on all mankind via Penguin Apocalypse.^[2][7][10] A mad dash across the globe ensues as Pablo and Pedro try to unravel Primo's plot, which involves secret bases, weather control satellites, the original TAGAP formula and UMP, a gigantic penguin-shaped mecha armed to the beak.

After Primo manages to destroy a fictional city of Log Hill with UMP, he uses the weather control satellites and the stolen formulas to turn the rain into TAGAP, effectively stunning all opposition via a drug trip. Pablo manages to reach UMP regardless, confronting Primo. The duel ends with Primo falling into a stockpile of mutator devices - ones used by his henchmen throughout the game - that merge Primo and UMP into a super-cyber-mutant-monster. Pablo and Pedro manage defeat the mutated Primo and return to Antarctica, where another party awaits. As the game ends, camera pans up to space, where a satellite with REP markings orbits around Earth. Ominously lit satellite is revealed to be filled with Primo's clones and when one of them opens his eyes, the screen cuts to black and credits roll.

Gameplay-wise, TAGAP 2 expands the arsenal with new weapons, adds new moves for the player and improves physics and graphics. Additionally, the whole campaign of TAGAP 2 can be played co-operatively in split-screen.

TAGAP 3 (in development)

TAGAP 3 was announced in January 2012.^[5] Only few details and one screenshot have been released as of April 2012, but it is made public that the game will be in Full HD,^[5][11] features improved animations and gameplay,^[12] and will pit Pablo against evil, green space penguins. As with the two first two games, Penguin Development Team has refused to give an estimated release date for the project and taking their time instead.^[5][11]

Development

Snowdrop, the albino African penguin to which the game is dedicated.

The first TAGAP took almost four years to develop, starting in November 2003 as one-man-project, led by Jouni Lahtinen. Jouni soon joined forces with Petja Heiskanen in early 2004 and the duo went under the alias of the Penguin Development Team. The game cost almost 2500 euros to make, which was 2500 Euros over the budget, since the game was intended to be freeware. Nearly all the money was spent on software and hardware. TAGAP was originally five levels long instead of the current ten. The remaining five levels were meant to become a post-release expansion pack. However, since five levels felt ultimately too short in game testing, the levels were incorporated into the game. The game is dedicated to Snowdrop, an albino African penguin (pictured). It was a resident of Bristol Zoo Gardens from November 2002 until August 2004.^[3][13][14]

References to other games

A billboard in Tokyo illustrating the "Pimps at Sea" joke. Note the Halo style ring surrounding the text and the Halo font.

TAGAP has many inside jokes scattered throughout the game, most of them only relevant to people in the video game industry. For example, one Tokyo billboard (pictured) advertises the "forthcoming game" "Pimps at Sea", which is the code-name Bungie Studios has used for the Halo game series while they were in development. TAGAP also features miniature versions of Dopefish, the cult-favourite game characters originally created by Tom Hall. They can be found swimming in the Antarctic waters on one of the levels. Project leader Jouni Lahtinen is a huge fan of the Doom series, and TAGAP pays homage to them several times. For instance, in an early office level, the names on office booths are the names of the marine as seen in the Doom novels, original designs and the Doom film (the marine character in Doom was never officially named in the game).

While TAGAP 2 doesn't feature as many direct game homages, it has plenty of other pop-culture gags and references. For example, parking lot of a nightclub is occupied by famous TV show cars - KARR, Magnum's Ferrari and Mustang version of KITT - and the church featured in the game is one of "Tuxology", a fictional religion celebrating the Saint Tux, the Prophet of Freeware Gospel. The soundtrack, again composed by Petja Heiskanen, also has a few subtle references, including a score track Funking Up Wagner, a Hammond-rendition of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries^[15] named after fictional favourite album of Arnold Rimmer, a character in the sci-fi sit-com Red Dwarf.

Technical

TAGAP Engine, Penguin DT's continuously developed in-house game engine powering all three titles, is built on top of a heterogeneous standard and external library background; OpenGL standard for the graphics, DirectInput for input devices (e.g. Mouse and Keyboard) and FMOD Ex as the sound engine. While the original TAGAP was completely compatible with pre-XP Windows operation systems via a separate binaries from version 1.6 and onwards,^[6] TAGAP 2 requires Windows XP or later. However, being built around the more current Windows standards, TAGAP 2 can be played in Mac OS environment via Wineskin Windows emulation.^[16] The games also feature a developer function, allowing players to construct their own weapons, characters, levels and cut-scenes.^[17][18]

Reception

The first TAGAP received largely popular reviews, mainly from Finnish websites and gaming magazines. Pelit, a Finnish gaming magazine described TAGAP as "a new synonym for 'cult game'." The game was also included as part of a 'free games' package on the DVD that came with issue #144 of PC PowerPlay, an Australian gaming magazine. The game, dubbed "catch of the month", was described as "An extremely polished game, but the action could have been faster and less random, as it can sometimes feel cheap."^[19] Mikrobitti, Finland's largest computer magazine, has given the game good reviews, and has included the game on their annual DVD, 'Huvi & Hyöty Romppu 2008' (Entertainment and Utility Disk). While TAGAP 2 had a bit harder time finding its spotlight in the changed digital distribution landscape,^[20] it was still received with well among critics and gamers alike,^[21][22] including but not limited to as being the GameTrailers co-host Daniel Kayser's 'BattleCry of the Week' on EpicBattleAxe.^[22]

References

External links

• TAGAP – Official website
• TAGAP – Official forum