+pleasing, cartoony graphics that make a good showcase of the PSX's middle era of games
+I personally think the tank controls are pretty solid, about as good as I could expect for this era. it helps that you can move laterally during jumps, and that there's a quickturn as well
+there's a remarkable amount of extra content through bonus levels, multiple types of collectables, secret stages (a whole secret island!), and unlockable rooms in each level
+around the middle there really is a difficulty sweet spot where the challenges feel traversable within the bounds of the game's controls... brief but it's there
+lifting the "lose your coins" health system from sonic keeps the boss battles in particular from getting frustrating
-analog controls are godawful. I personally stuck to keeping digital mode on and using the stick
-during the first half of the game the levels are trivially easy, and very short without getting all of the extra goodies
-second half of the game is the exact opposite, with uncomfortably precise platforming, deaths from off-screen projectiles, framerate dips in tricky sections, and levels that can reach up to 10 minutes long
-to compound the above, the game uses a life system that forces you to restart the entire level when you lose all lives. it's frustrating to replay the beginning sections of levels in a relatively slow game over and over, especially since continuing at the game over screen gives you a measly 2 lives to work with
-the hit detection with croc's swipe move is really rough, partially because the move itself has no weight. boss battles especially suffer from this, since you can often collide with their hurtbox while you're edging close enough to hit them
-some of the design in the final world goes off the rails, with poor explanations for some of the puzzles, or stage designs that feel unfinished
as a document of early 3d platformer design, I think this holds up better than some other titles from the era, especially as this was originally in pre-production as a Super FX-enhanced SNES game. however, actually playing it is more a chore than anything, indicating that this evolutionary branch of 3d design was doomed to end here.
+I personally think the tank controls are pretty solid, about as good as I could expect for this era. it helps that you can move laterally during jumps, and that there's a quickturn as well
+there's a remarkable amount of extra content through bonus levels, multiple types of collectables, secret stages (a whole secret island!), and unlockable rooms in each level
+around the middle there really is a difficulty sweet spot where the challenges feel traversable within the bounds of the game's controls... brief but it's there
+lifting the "lose your coins" health system from sonic keeps the boss battles in particular from getting frustrating
-analog controls are godawful. I personally stuck to keeping digital mode on and using the stick
-during the first half of the game the levels are trivially easy, and very short without getting all of the extra goodies
-second half of the game is the exact opposite, with uncomfortably precise platforming, deaths from off-screen projectiles, framerate dips in tricky sections, and levels that can reach up to 10 minutes long
-to compound the above, the game uses a life system that forces you to restart the entire level when you lose all lives. it's frustrating to replay the beginning sections of levels in a relatively slow game over and over, especially since continuing at the game over screen gives you a measly 2 lives to work with
-the hit detection with croc's swipe move is really rough, partially because the move itself has no weight. boss battles especially suffer from this, since you can often collide with their hurtbox while you're edging close enough to hit them
-some of the design in the final world goes off the rails, with poor explanations for some of the puzzles, or stage designs that feel unfinished
as a document of early 3d platformer design, I think this holds up better than some other titles from the era, especially as this was originally in pre-production as a Super FX-enhanced SNES game. however, actually playing it is more a chore than anything, indicating that this evolutionary branch of 3d design was doomed to end here.
NOWITSREYNTIME17
2 years ago