Klonoa is the scrimblo bimblo series I feel like a lot of people know about, but never really got around to playing (such as myself). While it is nice that they've finally made a way for people to easily play both of these games, I do wish a bit more care had been put into remaking them.
You can definitely tell a lot of soul was sucked out of the original games, especially Klonoa 1. I specifically played the original PS1 version to compare, and it is just a way better experience due to the better animations, excellent sprite work and low poly 3D models, and general atmosphere. Thankfully the music is untouched and still fantastic. And the controls are pretty much identical.
As for the games themselves, they're mostly unchanged other than an additional easier difficulty. I actually found Klonoa 1 the better of the two games. 1 felt like a more whimsical simple adventure with a surprisingly emotional twist while 2 felt like some weird Sonic Adventure-esque anime shit that clashed with the tone of the first game. Now I love Sonic Adventure, but it was strange going from the cutesy fantasy stuff in the first game to Klonoa riding a snowboard and being able to do radical aerial tricks.
2 just feels like a much more flawed game overall, while 1 is a very well paced, well designed experience all throughout. Short, sweet, simple, and to the point. Wasn't really a fan of how often the second game focused on its story in the middle of a level. The pacing was generally weird in 2. Same with the difficulty. The difficulty spike in the endgame is more of a difficulty mountain. Then after that, you have a pathetically easy (and underwhelming compared to the first game) final boss.
Anyway, I enjoyed my time with this collection overall. Both fun games, although I wish it didn't look so cheap. $40 is just a tad too high of an asking price for this. I'd say $30 would probably be more reasonable, but whatever. At least Klonoa is getting some attention again, for better or worse.
You can definitely tell a lot of soul was sucked out of the original games, especially Klonoa 1. I specifically played the original PS1 version to compare, and it is just a way better experience due to the better animations, excellent sprite work and low poly 3D models, and general atmosphere. Thankfully the music is untouched and still fantastic. And the controls are pretty much identical.
As for the games themselves, they're mostly unchanged other than an additional easier difficulty. I actually found Klonoa 1 the better of the two games. 1 felt like a more whimsical simple adventure with a surprisingly emotional twist while 2 felt like some weird Sonic Adventure-esque anime shit that clashed with the tone of the first game. Now I love Sonic Adventure, but it was strange going from the cutesy fantasy stuff in the first game to Klonoa riding a snowboard and being able to do radical aerial tricks.
2 just feels like a much more flawed game overall, while 1 is a very well paced, well designed experience all throughout. Short, sweet, simple, and to the point. Wasn't really a fan of how often the second game focused on its story in the middle of a level. The pacing was generally weird in 2. Same with the difficulty. The difficulty spike in the endgame is more of a difficulty mountain. Then after that, you have a pathetically easy (and underwhelming compared to the first game) final boss.
Anyway, I enjoyed my time with this collection overall. Both fun games, although I wish it didn't look so cheap. $40 is just a tad too high of an asking price for this. I'd say $30 would probably be more reasonable, but whatever. At least Klonoa is getting some attention again, for better or worse.