A game that could have used a dual joystick controller, Oratorio Tangram, nevertheless, comes in as a blast to play.
Coming from SEGA, Oratorio Tangram is a vibrant game where you choose one mech out of quite a selection and take it into one-on-one battles. Each mech has different attacks, but all have long-, mid-, and short-ranged attacks, as well as special attacks. Each mech differs in strength of each type of attack, so finding one that fits your style is a must for this game. The arenas are brilliantly colored, and are quite small, leading to some quick and furious battles. For those who want to explore the game before duking it out with a friend, the single player revolves around only one mode, that being the arcade mode. The arcade mode, like all other arcade modes in fighting games, has you pitted against a series of random bouts against the other mechs. The only pauses comes with two boss fights. Yeah, it is a shallow game of sorts, but it's a fun game.
When you first plug in Oratorio Tangram, you'll quickly come to a realization. This game wasn't meant for the regular Dreamcast controller. Oratorio Tangram is a great game, but only if you one of the rare Dreamcast controllers that has twin joysticks, or find a converter to plug in a PS2 controller. The game needs two sets of joysticks, or controllers of any kind. For the regular Dreamcast controller, both the joystick and d-pad are unfortunately located on the same side of the controller. Forget about the awkwardness of trying to control your mech with a joystick and a d-pad, doing so on the regular controller would be impossible. To say the least, those who don't have the two options menioned above will have to find new ways of maneuvering around. Sadly that brings down the fun factor, and creates a frustration factor as most players will lose the ability to walk around and turn their mechs to fire.
Another problem comes with the single-player itself. The arcade mode features two bosses. This game isn't for the beginner to fighting games. The bosses are hard to say the least for beginners, and a challenge still for everyone else. Frustration will settle in. Aside from that, the game is shallow. With really only one short single-player mode, the rest of the game banks on the multiplayer experience. It isn't that great of one.
Overall, Oratorio Tangram feels like it should have been better off being released on a different system. That could at least have cancelled out the controller issues. But with that said, Oratorio Tangram is a fun game while it lasts. There are ways to work around the lack of two joysticks, but the lack really hinders the way that players can explore the game. A lack of different modes also hurts this game. But for those looking for a different fighting experience, Oratorio Tangram is worth checking out.