During the era in the 1990’s when 3D polygonal graphics were the hot new thing, 3D platformers were gaining massive popularity, with the massive hype behind and huge success of Super Mario 64, it made other companies want to join in on the success, with games such as Crash Bandicoot, Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro, Donkey Kong 64, and Rayman 2: The Great Escape just to name a few. Super Mario 64 was big, which indirectly leads into our game today.
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos was originally designed to be a 3D Yoshi game, originally pitched to Nintendo by Argonaut Software helping to develop Starfox on the SNES, but Nintendo turned the idea down in favor of developing a Yoshi game on their own. After 4 years of developing a few other games, such as Creature Shock, FX Fighter, and Alien Odyssey, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos was released in 1997 by Argonauts Software for the Playstation, Sega Saturn, and PC, and was published by Fox Interactive.
Our games story begins with King Rufus, leader of the Gobbos, a small furry race of creatures, out on a walk, and just as he was passing a river, he notices a basket floating down it, containing a baby crocodile King Rufus and the Gobbos decide to raise the baby crocodile as one of their own, and it grows up to be named Croc.
One day, a bunch on Dantinis, and and their leader, Baron Dante, invade Gobbo Valley and kidnap all of the Gobbos, an turn all of the creatures into minions. Managing to escape with with the help of King Rufus, Croc sets out to help free all of the Gobbos.
It’s a pretty simple story, but you wouldn’t necessarily believe that reading the manual. The Sega Saturn versions manual has 4 decently sized pages full of just plot. Which is nice, but feels a little unnecessary because the opening cutscene feels enough to get the plot across, and does it without a line of dialogue.
The whole game is adorable, and everything is bright, colorful, and cartoony. Every enemy has a unique look, even the Dantini’s, which are kinda average in their design. The who games design isn’t 100% original, such as each world having a generic look, such as grass, ice/snow, desert, castle, and even a secret world that you can unlock when you’re trying to get a secret ending.
Croc’s soundtrack is the best thing about the game. Every song is incredibly catchy, and might enough of an ear-worm for some people that they might load up a Youtube playlist and listen to the soundtrack in the background, or have the song playing in their head as they’re trying to go to sleep.
While the game is fun to look at and listen to, the gameplay on the other hand, is a mixed bag. The PS1 version, the controller is the D-Pad, which means the game uses tank-like controls. While you can use the analog stik, it’s still pretty much the D-Pad, just with the stick. The games smaller levels don’t lend themselves to these controls, especially with how close the camera is to the main character.
You can switch over to the analog mode, but it feels a bit floaty, like the character is sliding around. The PC’s controls a lot better. They’re still only OK, but they’re still a step up from the PS1 version. Croc does have the ability to do 180 degree jump to go in the opposite direction. I suspect that it was included because of the controls, but it’s such a useful and welcome addition.
The boss battles feel like a hassle on the console versions. Every boss battle involves running around the boss, avoiding their attacks, waiting for them to tire themselves out so you can hit them with your tail whip attack. There have been times where you can accidentally run into the boss, losing all of your crystals. And the crystals feel like they don’t last long enough to collect enough of them back so you don’t lose a life.
Half of the levels feel like they’re there to just have a reason to have the game be a platformer, with platforms in giant voids. The ps1’s tank controls and exactly optimal, so the game gives you the ability to sidestep left or right so you can line up your jump. Too bad there and platforms that can either break or fall, and don’t last that long, and can cause you to lose a life. So you really have to memorize what you’re doing.
Located around each level are crystals, which are used to get extra lives by collecting 100 crystals for each life. The other way of getting lives are Hearts hidden somewhere in the level. The crystals function exactly like the rings from the Sonic games. When you get hit, you drop all of your crystals, and if you don’t have any crystals, you lose a life.
Each level has 5 colored crystals hidden in each level, and if you collect all 5 of them, you can unlock another area near the end of the level. This extra area gives you crystals, hearts, or Gobbos to collect. Gobbos are the third collectable, and you save them by collecting them in each level. Most of them are hidden away in boxes that you can double jump on and smash, and cages you have to find a key for.
But to get the true ending, you have to collect 8 total puzzle pieces, located in 2 hidden levels in each island. Unfortunately, the true ending doesn’t feel satisfying and isn’t really worth the effort. The ending you get when you don’t collect everything feels a lot more conclusive to the story. It’s pretty much there for people who like to 100% games.
Croc is a bit of a mixed bag of a game, but it has a ton of personality and charm, even if the controls aren’t that great on the console versions. But it is a N64/PS1 era 3D platforming game worth checking out if you’re a fan of that era of 3d platforming.
Cult Classic Corner - Video Games 