Croc: Legend of Gobbos

Croc held my interest back in the day by being an endearing little guy with a backpack full of dreams and a single husk tooth that rivaled Jewel's. The world was immense by the limited standards of the 32-bit days of yore, and the controls were surprisingly adequate and forgivable. Today, the world is still fairly large, but I cannot recommend this insipid and hardly intuitive control scheme, adorable as the main character may be.

Croc takes many a cue from Super Mario 64; the style is nearly identical. The plot is as derivative as a platformer can be and still be enjoyable; bad guy enslaves a world and the hundred fuzzballs that live in it, a quirky hero must jump and climb his way through desert, ice, and lava zones to take it back. Not the stuff of legend, but not entirely important; it's really all about the gameplay. While the world is well rendered and the textures are remarkably smooth, those damned controls are a severe setback. Rather than simply moving with the D-pad in the direction of your choice, the left and right directions are used to pivot the character, and the up and down buttons do the moving. Example: if you are standing directly to the left of a doorway, you must press the left button to turn Croc toward the door then press forward to enter it. Perhaps an example wasn't required, but I need to vent a little frustration. This weird control scheme alone cost the game most of its otherwise A-ranking.

The actual gameplay is excellent. Croc utilizes the energy meter much like Sonic the Hedgehog, in that keeping orbs in your possession keeps you from dying. If you should take multiple hits in a row, Croc lets out a sad yelp and jumps into the air, signaling his defeat. His being an ultra-cutesy type of character makes this all the more sad. As I mentioned, all of the standard type of worlds exist; those lava, ice, evil castle, lush green beginner level, and desert styles. Since the game is designed so well I cannot complain about the hackneyed worlds, but I can mention it over and over as to fill space and wow you with my many synonyms for "derivative". Me loves Engrish langige.

The music has a slightly tropical feel, also somewhat like Mario, and it all fits very well into its respective zone. Croc uses a tail whip attack and a ground pound ass-stomp to take of bidness, and that aspect of the controls was implemented nicely.

Were it not for the frustrating control this would have received at least a 90%. While the overall package is trite, predictable, clich?d, and generic, it is done in a most appealing way, therefore giving the much-needed cred a platformer no one is still playing but me sorely needs, or needed ten years ago. The Saturn had many a game of this genre, but should you find this one curled up and shivering on a store shelf in 1997, please, for me, give it a go.