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A.P.I Review: | KLONOA | ||
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Developer: | Sony | OPTIONS: | SCREENSHOTS: No.1 No.2 No.3 |
Distributor: | Sony | 1 Player | |
Game Type: | Platform | Memory Card | |
Review Date: | June 1998 | Digital Pad |
Setting the Scene
In the land of lost dreams, the evil Ghadius has kidnapped the beautiful Diva who holds the key that will unlock a mystical hidden power. Klonoa witnesses this evil act and along with his spherical friend "huepow" sets off to rescue her.
Genre
If you are sick of solving taxing brain-teasers and in need of some stress free gaming, then this colorful 3D platform game from Sony may be just what you are looking for. The game is similar in style to the Pandemonium series of games, in that you are really playing a two-dimensional game with 3D backgrounds.
Graphics
Klonoa looks like a furry cat who's ears have been stretched to the point where they can be used to fly through the air. His little friend Huepow is even stranger - looking like a hairy floating golf ball on steroids! Many of the enemies look like those "space hoppers" that you used to bounce around on when you were a kid and when you capture them, they are inflated to the point of busting... Who else other than the Japanese could of thought of such a wacky set of characters for a game! While each of these characters are standard sprites, the backgrounds are huge complex three dimensional areas, filled with wonderfully animated objects. The camera angles sweep in and out of the various levels showing off these graphics perfectly and apart form a few instances where your character disappears for a moment, they work very well to enhance the gameplay.
Sounds and Effects
The sound effects are perfect for this type of game. All are crisp, clear and very arcade-like. The background tunes by contrast are all very uninspired and the best that can be said about them is that at least they are not annoying and irritating to listen to.
Playability
Its looks like the developers of this game took a good hard look at Pandemonium and then applied a whole host of Japanese influences to bring us something that both looks and plays very differently. For example, during various points in Klonoa the gameplay is brought to a halt while your character talks to various other people within the vicinity. This gives it a very story-like feeling that draws you further into the game. While you can't jump on your enemies to kill them, you can use your close range weapon to grab and inflate them. Once done, you can either pick them up and throw them at other enemies, or bounce on them to take you high into the air - allowing you to reach objects and areas that are otherwise unreachable. They can also be used to reveal various power-ups, such as additional lives. Many of the enemies are both slow and stupid offering little challenge as you progress through the earlier levels. Most of your lives will be lost by misjudging jumps and falling off the platforms themselves. The game also has many of the traditional platform elements. Picking up 100 of the many jewels scattered around each of the levels rewards you with an additional life, while shooting at the icons which are inside large bubbles will free them for your use. These icons range from health restorers to jewel multipliers. At the end of each level you will have to face a "boss" of some description. Our favorite was on the second world, here's a quick idea of what to expect... ...After freeing a little fish, it offers to carry you on its back to the castle on the understanding that you save it's mother who has been put under an evil spell by the owner of the castle - 'Sedoph'. No sooner has the small fish dropped you onto a pair of floating platforms within the castle, than all chaos breaks loose! large spiked balls start rolling towards you and sedoph himself appears riding on the back of the mother fish (Pamela), screaming at her to jump out of the water and knock you off the platform. To free Pamela you must grab and inflate Sedoph and then shoot him at the mother fish while she jumps out of the water trying to hit you. All of this must be done while jumping over the huge spiked balls which relentlessly roll towards you. While this may sound complicated, its actually very straightforward. However its all too easy to get yourself into a mess, forget which keys do what and lose a handful of lives in the process. To avoid frustration setting in, every level you complete will be saved to your memory card. When you finally run out of lives, you only need to go back to the start of the furthest level you made it up to. When restarting you are only given one life - so don't think that this feature will make the game much easier to complete.
Value for Money
There are six different worlds to navigate, with each world being split into two massive levels. The difficulty level is such that most competent gamers will complete it within a few days, however if you found the later levels of Pandemonium impossible, or have younger kids who love this type of game, then Klonoa would be a perfect purchase.
Opinion | ||
JIM | ||
GRAPHICS: | 18/20 | Namco
have produced a great stress free game here and the inclusion of hidden
features and timed bonus stages that will only be unlocked after the
game has been completed, helps to enhance the longevity of the game. Those you who completed the sequels of Tomb Raider and Resident Evil within a few hours will no doubt argue that this game offers little or no challenge, however for the rest of us mere mortals it offers a several days of enjoyable gaming. |
SOUND: | 4/10 | |
PLAYABILITY: | 48/50 | |
VALUE: | 14/20 | |
OVERALL | 84% |