well this is certainly one of the games of all time.
I gotta be honest, going into this game I feel like I wanted to like it more than I did - maybe not love it, but at least put it in the ballpark of 7/10 - especially as someone who's sort of into a lot of the different "mascot" platformers from the 90's, and truth is I do think the workings for a solid game are here. The art style, for one, is nice, especially for a PS1 game - just having a very "cute" feel to everything on top of being really colorful (and Croc himself is an adorable little fella), and the sound design is also surprisingly good. If you didn't already know, this was originally supposed to be a Yoshi game that was "outsourced" to Argonaut Games, and I gotta say - even if those plans fell through and took the form of a different IP, this game still manages to keep a similar vibe to Yoshi's Island.
The level design is also decent... at least for the most part. It isn't anything too special, but I do like how it adds a sense of "open"-ness and exploration while still keeping a more linear structure, with the addition of collectibles scattered throughout the level towards completion. I also like how the game spices things up with some new mechanics based off each world theme, albeit these mechanics can be a bit of a mixed bag. Some mesh well with the rest of the level design well enough, but others do just come off as pretty gimmicky to some extent. 4-6 is one example I can think of, where you progress through the entire level on these platforms that rotate and/or move as this Platform Pete guy bangs his hammer, and it just gets kinda... tedious, largely just coming down to memorization and pattern recognition. 4-5 also has two sections where you're going down an elevator sort of thing as enemies drop in and fight you, and you can basically just get through it by mashing the Square button (or whatever the Tail Attack button is for the other versions) over and over again. Overall though, with some exceptions, the level design is fine enough for what it's going for.
Unfortunately what brings this game down more than anything for me is the controls. I'm just going to be straight here - tank controls really do not belong in a platformer. While the controls are fine, I guess, for some of the more open-ended areas where you're basically running along a path, doing any sort of platforming in this game is basically a chore. Croc's air control is pretty floaty and stiff, and trying to turn around is a pain, especially when you're dealing with moving or disappearing platforms where you don't really have enough time to react. Doesn't really help that there's a few sections in the game full of small platforms in a game where the controls feel extremely imprecise and stiff. It's especially noticeable in levels like, again, 4-6 where in addition to the trial-and-error gameplay you need to keep that in mind while having enough reaction time to deal with these clunky controls. I do have a hard time putting how the controls "feel" into words, but if you've played any game with tank controls... well, I imagine you can get the idea.
I will give the game some credit for actually programming analog controls with camera movement with the DualShock versus just mapping D-pad controls to the analog stick like a lot of PS1 games seem to do, but unfortunately it doesn't really fix the overall issues I have with the controls as Croc's turn while moving is still extremely wide, and makes the game feel slippery, on top of adding a new issue on top of everything else where just trying to turn around on platforms sometimes led to my death because you have to be really precise with the analog stick. It feels better than the extremely stiff D-pad controls, but it's still far from ideal.
The hitboxes in this game also feel kinda wonky. It's not too bad with most of the stage enemies, but with the bosses in particular there were times where I felt like I hit them when I was able to, only for the game to treat it as if I just ran into the boss and took damage. Granted the bosses themselves are all... pretty pathetic otherwise (the only challenging thing about the final boss is trying to get the camera to stay on him), but it is an issue that I felt was worth mentioning.
Overall, while this game does feel like it has a solid foundation, the controls and some of the level design gimmicks just really drag it down for me, and I have a hard time recommending it unless you really like a lot of PS1-era 3D platformers. I will say that I only beat the "main" part of the game which ends at the second boss of World 4, and I could've gone ahead and grabbed all the Gobbos to unlock and play through World 5 which has the 'true' final boss and ending, but honestly I was already pretty much ready to be done with the game even before World 4 lmao. Apparently the 'true' ending isn't even anything to write home about anyway so, whatever.
As I was playing through this game though, I found out that there is an official remaster/remake in development, so if you are interested in playing this game... I'd probably just say to wait until whenever that comes out.
I gotta be honest, going into this game I feel like I wanted to like it more than I did - maybe not love it, but at least put it in the ballpark of 7/10 - especially as someone who's sort of into a lot of the different "mascot" platformers from the 90's, and truth is I do think the workings for a solid game are here. The art style, for one, is nice, especially for a PS1 game - just having a very "cute" feel to everything on top of being really colorful (and Croc himself is an adorable little fella), and the sound design is also surprisingly good. If you didn't already know, this was originally supposed to be a Yoshi game that was "outsourced" to Argonaut Games, and I gotta say - even if those plans fell through and took the form of a different IP, this game still manages to keep a similar vibe to Yoshi's Island.
The level design is also decent... at least for the most part. It isn't anything too special, but I do like how it adds a sense of "open"-ness and exploration while still keeping a more linear structure, with the addition of collectibles scattered throughout the level towards completion. I also like how the game spices things up with some new mechanics based off each world theme, albeit these mechanics can be a bit of a mixed bag. Some mesh well with the rest of the level design well enough, but others do just come off as pretty gimmicky to some extent. 4-6 is one example I can think of, where you progress through the entire level on these platforms that rotate and/or move as this Platform Pete guy bangs his hammer, and it just gets kinda... tedious, largely just coming down to memorization and pattern recognition. 4-5 also has two sections where you're going down an elevator sort of thing as enemies drop in and fight you, and you can basically just get through it by mashing the Square button (or whatever the Tail Attack button is for the other versions) over and over again. Overall though, with some exceptions, the level design is fine enough for what it's going for.
Unfortunately what brings this game down more than anything for me is the controls. I'm just going to be straight here - tank controls really do not belong in a platformer. While the controls are fine, I guess, for some of the more open-ended areas where you're basically running along a path, doing any sort of platforming in this game is basically a chore. Croc's air control is pretty floaty and stiff, and trying to turn around is a pain, especially when you're dealing with moving or disappearing platforms where you don't really have enough time to react. Doesn't really help that there's a few sections in the game full of small platforms in a game where the controls feel extremely imprecise and stiff. It's especially noticeable in levels like, again, 4-6 where in addition to the trial-and-error gameplay you need to keep that in mind while having enough reaction time to deal with these clunky controls. I do have a hard time putting how the controls "feel" into words, but if you've played any game with tank controls... well, I imagine you can get the idea.
I will give the game some credit for actually programming analog controls with camera movement with the DualShock versus just mapping D-pad controls to the analog stick like a lot of PS1 games seem to do, but unfortunately it doesn't really fix the overall issues I have with the controls as Croc's turn while moving is still extremely wide, and makes the game feel slippery, on top of adding a new issue on top of everything else where just trying to turn around on platforms sometimes led to my death because you have to be really precise with the analog stick. It feels better than the extremely stiff D-pad controls, but it's still far from ideal.
The hitboxes in this game also feel kinda wonky. It's not too bad with most of the stage enemies, but with the bosses in particular there were times where I felt like I hit them when I was able to, only for the game to treat it as if I just ran into the boss and took damage. Granted the bosses themselves are all... pretty pathetic otherwise (the only challenging thing about the final boss is trying to get the camera to stay on him), but it is an issue that I felt was worth mentioning.
Overall, while this game does feel like it has a solid foundation, the controls and some of the level design gimmicks just really drag it down for me, and I have a hard time recommending it unless you really like a lot of PS1-era 3D platformers. I will say that I only beat the "main" part of the game which ends at the second boss of World 4, and I could've gone ahead and grabbed all the Gobbos to unlock and play through World 5 which has the 'true' final boss and ending, but honestly I was already pretty much ready to be done with the game even before World 4 lmao. Apparently the 'true' ending isn't even anything to write home about anyway so, whatever.
As I was playing through this game though, I found out that there is an official remaster/remake in development, so if you are interested in playing this game... I'd probably just say to wait until whenever that comes out.