Tattoo Artist

I hope I never get a tattoo at this shop

Reviewed by Shawn from afro-ninja.com

Tattoo Artist is a game where you earn points for drawing tattoos on people. It sounds like a really cool concept- and to an extent it is. The final product however isn’t terribly fun, and seems to rely more on its polished presentation to win gamers over.

Each level in Tattoo Artist is essentially the same- you have ten seconds or so to ‘ink’ as much of the tattoo pattern as you can, and when time is up your performance is graded. Ink outside the lines too much and your career as a tattoo artist is up, otherwise you’ll continue on to do another tattoo. I was confused at first, because to me it seemed like I was supposed to ink the outline of the tattoo. Not so. Instead it’s more like a ‘color inside the lines’ kind of deal. The game is a little flawed in the fact that you never actually finish a tattoo. You get points as long as you’re inking inside the lines, and not re-inking somewhere you’ve already been. Every level the tattoo ends up looking nothing like what it’s supposed to, but you’ll pass anyway. There are increases in difficulty, since on some levels you must ink for a longer period of time while trying to ink inside of a smaller outline. However there’s no real set pattern, as the levels seem to go back and forth between easy and hard.

The graphics and overall presentation of this game are exceptional, and really boost the overall package. I can’t explain it other than saying that drawing with the tattoo needle is just ‘neat.’ Everything has a smooth, polished look to it, and all the tattoo designs are clean. There’s a nice guitar-riff soundtrack playing in the back, although no sound options to turn it off. I never found it annoying though. As nice as everything looks though, it’s fairly limited. Each level looks exactly the same aside from the tattoo design. Same torso area, same black ink. There’s 43 tattoos in all to buzz your way through, but the levels get a little repetitive.

You can play for highscores too, but unfortunately the only way to earn a competitive score is to get through all 43 levels. And if you mess up one tat, you gotta restart. Tattoo Artist is a really cool idea, but the limitations of flash and a one-man design team hinder it from being truly fun and original. Definitely still worth a play, but don’t expect to get sucked in.

Click here to play Tattoo Artist






Comments (1) [view all]

  Latest comment left by Jess:

I'm actually not too crazy about this game. When I saw it, I thought it was a cool idea but it's way too unrealistic. Tattoos don't happen in 10 seconds and the tattoo gun doesn't shake that much or else you'd really mess up. I think the game needs a lot of work but it's a cool concept.

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