Tad The Lost Explorer Craziest and Madness Edition Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

by Jim Smale · Published July 7, 2023 · Updated July 6, 2023

For our Tad The Lost Explorer Craziest and Madness Edition Review, we are on a quest for the Emerald Tablet in this 2.5D / 3D action-adventure where we will visit iconic and exotic locations (Paris, Veracruz, Chicago, and El Cairo) in an epic journey to retrieve the emerald tablet while saving our friends. This time, Tad has found himself in a huge mess. During one of his expeditions, our beloved explorer unleashed an ancient curse, and now some of his friends have fallen under a wicked spell. To save them, and save the world, Tad will have to travel with his long-life friends, solve puzzles, overcome platforming sections, and climb buildings to solve the ancient mystery that pursues him.

Tad The Lost Explorer Craziest and Madness Edition Review Pros:

Decent cartoon-like graphics.
3GB download size.
Controller settings – Invert axis.
3rd person action gameplay.
Comic book strip style cutscenes.
Voiced characters.
Tutorial signs as you play via the Parrot character.
Collect paintbrushes.
Full 3D camera control.
Has an Indiana Jones feel.
It’s not just 3D, It has 2D side-on levels.
Hidden collectibles.
Every level has a completion percentage and a Collectibles counter.
The game is a series of tombs, you have an open area like a hub to explore and collect brushes and items.
Simple and easy-to-learn controls.
Levels can go into 2D or 2.5D sections.
A lot of decent platforming sections.
Slight additional puzzle elements.
Armed with a rubber duck that returns to you, hit enemies for brushes.
Infinite lives.
Generous checkpointing in the hub area.
Upon dying the game remembers all your collected items and brushes so you don’t have to re-collect them.
You play as Tad and are on the search for treasure! But a strange guy keeps trying to butt in and help?
Go to New parts of the world.
Fun cast of characters.
Swim underwater and collect bubbles to extend your air bar.

Tad The Lost Explorer Craziest and Madness Edition Review Cons:

Cannot rebind controls.
The performance is not as smooth as it needs to be.
No real game settings.
Doesn’t have any voice work in-game, only select cutscenes.
In the level (temple) checkpoints are not always great.
A lot of loading screens.
The mission marker is easily missed on the map and in-game it disappears and reappears at random it seems.
A lot of pop up and pop in.
Going from the bright cheerful cutscenes to dead silent gameplay makes it all flat.
The jump is very spongey and loose and can make precise jumps a real pain.

Related Post: Martian Panic Review (PlayStation 5)

Tad The Lost Explorer Craziest and Madness Edition:

Official website.

Developer: Media Sets

Publisher: Gamera Nest

Store Links –

Nintendo

7/10
Graphics - 7/10
7/10
Sound - 7/10
7/10
Accessibility - 7/10
7/10
Length - 7/10
6/10
Fun Factor - 6/10

6.8/10

Summary

Having played this before on the playstation, I knew what I was getting into, a chilled-out action-adventure game that is very much a platformer Indiana Jones game but with a rubber duck. You have a full 3D hub to freely explore and can jump into levels that can be 2D but either way, every level is a platformer with basic puzzle elements. I had fun with the PlayStation version as I traveled the world and got to know the characters, unfortunately, it’s not as smooth sailing on the Nintendo Switch version. Performance is not smooth even in big screen mode, the jumping sucked in the previous version and it’s just amplified here with the performance tag teaming. A lot of loading screens and general frustrating sections make this a letdown, it could be fixed and put into the same state as the PlayStation game but as it is, it’s a very tedious platformer with bad jumps and loose controls.