Thank you Black Shell Media for sending us this game to review!

Uga and Buga from the Ukelele tribe wish to become great warriors and seek out to prove as much to their tribe.  They must fight and survive against various wild animals and enemy tribesmen.  Many only take one hit to go down, but not all of them do.  Both brothers must use their skills effectively to survive and become legends.

Buga is stronger and built heavier than his brother.  While he doesn’t carry a weapon, he does have a shield that can be used to protect from enemy attacks or bash down trees to create a bridge between platforms.  Buga can jump using the W button on the keyboard.

Uga is agile and fast.  He wields a spear that can be thrown at varying distances depending on how long you hold down the left mouse button.  To make Uga jump you have to press down the space bar.  

Both brothers can be moved using the A and D keys.  Double jumping is also possible for each of them.  The trick is keeping them close by each other, especially in boss battles.  Unfortunately, this game has no controller support or the ability to change their formation/order.  Perhaps a Steam controller will work in this game, but an Xbox 360/One controller is not supported.  

While there are checkpoints in each of the six levels, there are no hit points for the brothers and one missed jump or hit from an enemy and you’ll be transported to the latest checkpoint or the beginning of the level if you haven’t reached one yet.  Though there are a few check points in each level, I was hoping for more of them with some of the tricky and sometimes cheap jumps that took several attempts before I either mastered it or rage quit out of frustration.

The boss battles are tricky as well and they take several successful attacks before they go down.  Most of the enemies like wolves, cattle, rabbits, birds, and bats only require one hit to kill/hunt. Besides animals and tricky jumps to worry about, you’ll also have to contend with fire and opposing tribesmen.  You can tell the enemy fighters by their lack of clothing.  They’re male by the way.

The artwork is rather unique and this game boasts of authentic cavemen drawings being used in it. The main characters and animals are stick figures, but they’re detailed enough to figure out what they all are.  The game’s menu interface isn’t as intuitive though.  To exit the game, you have to locate the hand-drawn X to click on to leave the game.  An exit menu option would have been easier to find and navigate in my opinion.  

The background music is tribal in style and adds to the game’s aesthetics and atmosphere nicely.  There is no voice acting to speak of, nor is it needed. 

In the end, Stone Tales is a challenging platformer that’s a bit rough around the edges, but still enjoyable.  It’s relatively short with six levels that can be beaten within a couple of hours if you’re good at platformer style games.  If you’re not, this game may frustrate you more than entertain you.  The price is a reasonable $5.99, but it is probably best waiting for a sale before picking it up.