Taz: Wanted

Taz: Wanted is an action-adventure video game released in 2002 by Blitz Games. The game features the Looney Tunes character the Tasmanian Devil. This game is especially known for its character the Tasmanian Devil, mainly because he is always getting into trouble.

Plot

Taz and She-Devil are hanging out romantically at Taz Island, but are suddenly captured by Yosemite Sam and held captive in Yosemite Zoo. She-Devil is moved to a safer area of the zoo, while Taz escapes from his cage to rescue her. Sam has his "Taz Catcher" workers put up wanted posters to help catch Taz. After going through the zoo's locations and destroying all of the wanted posters, Taz escapes and battles Gossamer in a game of Elephant Pong. When Taz wins, Sam retreats and moves She-Devil again. Taz chases after them, reaching the town of "Sam" Francisco. After Taz evades capture again, he is forced to enter a game show called Gladiatoons to win her freedom.

After beating Daffy Duck, the fellow competitor, Taz is instead transported to the Old West. After gaining access to a mine cart, he finds Sam in an explosives warehouse and battles him. Sam blows up the warehouse, causing Taz to hurl into outer space. After landing back on his island, he finds Sam trying to build a theme park over it. Taz catches up to Sam, attempting to destroy the entire island with explosives, in a volcano. Although Taz defeats Sam, Sam escapes with a jetpack. Taz and She-Devil are raised into Sam's blimp, where Taz discovers that it was Tweety's idea to construct 'Tazland A-maze-ment Park' all along. The two battle, where Taz defeats Tweety by opening the blimp's rear cargo door, pushing the bird out. While She-Devil tries to pilot the blimp, Taz accidentally destroys the control panel, causing the craft to crash on the island. She-Devil hands Taz a broom to clean up, much to Taz's annoyance.

Gameplay

Taz: Wanted has four areas, the first three having the same basic blueprint. There are three levels in each area, each level having seven wanted posters of some variety that must be destroyed with some technique. Once all seven posters are destroyed, a scene will show an area of the level in which something happens that will help Taz get to the new area, such as a gate opening or something breaking. In the new area, Taz gets his hands on something and somehow manages to get it and him back to the HUB. Once the three things are acquired for the area, they can be used to enter a boss arena. The only exception for this is the level Taz Land, in which nothing is brought back, and the final area, with only one level and two bosses. Once the boss is defeated Taz is either blown, shipped, or chased to the next area. To travel between areas, a misplaced door is placed in each one which transports you to Planet X with all the other doors Taz can travel through.

Characters

• Taz - A wild, hungry, and extremely stupid predator, Taz is wanted by Yosemite Sam, who wants to use Taz as a tourist attraction. Taz is trying to rescue his beloved She-Devil. Voiced by Jim Cummings.
• Yosemite Sam - The secondary antagonist of the game, a bad-tempered and dishonest billionaire, Sam aims to capture Taz for his recently opened Taz Land theme park. He manages to capture Taz and the She-Devil, but after Taz escapes, he puts bounty on him to recapture him. Sam is finally defeated by Taz in the Disco Volcano, but it turns out he was actually working for Tweety. Voiced by Maurice Lamarche.
• Gossamer - A red and hairy monster, Gossamer is one of Sam's minions and the first boss of the game. He is defeated by Taz in a game of Elephant Pong, much to his humiliation. Near the end of the game, Sam accidentally dumps Gossamer into the lava in the Disco Volcano.
• Tweety - The main antagonist of the game, Tweety assists Taz in finding and destroying Sam's wanted posters, despite thinking Taz is an amateur. He reveals his true intents to Taz "sooner than he expected" and fights Taz using a large robot, but is defeated. Voiced by Joe Alaskey.
• Daffy Duck - A greedy and arrogant black duck and the second boss of the game, Daffy is the Grand Champion of Sam's Gladiatoons. While preparing to compete against Wile E. Coyote, Taz replaces Wile and manages to beat Daffy. Daffy doublecrosses Taz and takes the reward for himself, but is quickly pushed away by Sam (sometimes, "despicable" just does not quite describe it). Voiced by Joe Alaskey.
• Wile E. Coyote - A super intelligent, but very unlucky coyote, Wile is set to compete against Daffy Duck in Gladiatoons before being replaced by Taz (who smashes into the arena and crushes Wile). Wile then returns to the Wile E. West to capture the Road Runner, but is crushed by Taz's train.
• Elmer Fudd - The referee of Gladiatoons, he is constantly crushed by the contestants' pods. Voiced by Billy West.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (PS2) 64.27%[1] (PC) 62.83%[2] (Xbox) 60.11%[3] (GC) 53.86%[4] Metacritic (PS2) 65/100[5] (Xbox) 62/100[6] (GC) 61/100[7] (PC) 58/100[8] Review scores Publication Score AllGame [9] GameSpot (PC) 5.1/10[10] 5/10[11] GameZone 7.2/10[12][13] (PS2) 7/10[14] (Xbox) 6.9/10[15] IGN (PS2) 6.7/10[16] (Xbox) 6.5/10[17] (PC) 6.2/10[18] (GC) 5.7/10[19] NGC Magazine 52%[20] Nintendo Power 3/5[21] OPM (US) [22] OXM (US) 5.6/10[23] PC Zone 66%[24] X-Play [25]

The game was met with mixed reception upon release. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 64.27% and 65 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version;^[1][5] 60.11% and 62 out of 100 for the Xbox version;^[3][6] 62.83% and 58 out of 100 for the PC version;^[2][8] and 53.86% and 61 out of 100 for the GameCube version.^[4][7]

The game was nominated for 2002 BAFTA award in category 'Best Children's Entertainment'.^[26]

References

External links

• Blitz Games
• Taz: Wanted at MobyGames