The Biggest Game Project on this Planet

Back-log: Croc, Legend of the Gobbos.

Yeah, Legend of the Gobbos.
If that doesn't spell Gore, Mayhem and Carnage, I don't know WHAT does.

Gobbos are small cute, fluffy creatures, and by nature this kind of creature is prone to getting kidnapped, because in some way they are important to someone, you know, like Mice.
By the way, is it me, or is that the most disturbing Nintendo commercial EVER!?

Anyway, like I said, the Gobbos of Legend have been kidnapped by the Evil Baron Dante, and not the Demon-slaying Wise-ass with the Red Cloak we all know and love, but the rather hideous Frog-like Green Dude with a taste for small fluffy creatures.



So it's up to you, as the loveable Croc (he's a Crocodile! Get it!? It's insanely original!) to rescue these creatures and give Baron Dante the ass-kicking he deserves.
At your disposal is your tail, which packs quite a punch, and.....well, that's it really. No huge arsenal of moves in this game, just jumping and whacking.

There are 4 worlds each with 6 regular stages, 2 boss stages and two hidden stages, which can be unlocked by finding all six Gobbo Cages in every stage up to that point.
Find ALL Gobbos, and a new world will be opened, to give you access to the REAL final battle, and a totally crappy ending which is not worth your bother.

And a bother it IS, make no mistake. This game goes into the exact same category as Rayman, being the Platform game that looks deceptively cute, but sports an extreme difficulty and immense frustration. The fact that the controls are very rigid doesn't help in the least. Croc is not very versatile, but quick turning is often required, making for some very annoying bits in the game.
Throughout the levels you will find Crystals, which are Croc's Trademark collectibles, and very much like Sonic's Rings, they also act as a kind of Health Insurance, meaning that as long as you have at least one Crystal, you can be hit without dying.

I mean, it's fun and all, every stage is divided into several areas, which aren't so big, so exploring is easy meaning you won't easily miss anything. There's bonus levels and extra lives to be found, as well as those elusive 6 Cages you need to find in every level, and it would be fun if it hadn't been so TERRIBLY frustrating.
Of course in the beginning it's all nice and good, but later levels are VERY hard, and you'll die A LOT, mostly because of some unfair jumps and not so tight controls.

One particular problem is that Croc has a hipdrop. I think you'll find that MOST platform game mascottes have a hipdrop of some kind, but they are usually activated by jumping and then pressing an attack button or some other button, which is good, but in Croc, the hipdrop is activated by pressing jump AGAIN in mid-air.
Now, considering that there are some truely nerve-shatteringly annoying jumps in this game, you might imagine that sometimes you're pressing the jump button SO frantically that you accidentally hipdrop yourself into oblivion, which is just stupid. Awkward and unnecessary.

Like I said, it goes straight into the Rayman category, also because the main reason I bought it was because I had rented it before, and really liked the music. High quality synth and some live instruments make this game a joy to listen too at least, even when you're swearing at that Goddamn Crocodile for being a Total Asshole.

I'm going to give this a 7, which is my standard score for games that are good but too frustrating.




PS: blame the recent lack of updates on the fact that Namco x Capcom simply REFUSES to end. Damn, this game takes a SHITLOAD of time.
In other news, I pre-ordered Kingdom Hearts 2 yesterday, and I hope to get it in time for Christmas, because I payed the full smack of dough to get it here ASAP.
I haven't been this psyched by a new game since Resident Evil 4, which was almost a whole year ago (yes, it HAS been that long), and RE4 definitely didn't dissapoint, so I'm hoping the same for KH2.

posted by Ingen! @ 12:03 PM