Croc

• Release Date: June 06, 2000
• Genre: Action
• Style: Side-Scrolling Platform
• Similar Games: Frogger (Game Boy Color), Gex 3: Deep Pocket Gecko (Game Boy Color), Croc 2 (Game Boy Color), Spyro: Season of Ice (Game Boy Advance)

Game Description

Some time ago, a group of small fuzzy creatures called Gobbos discovered a lone baby Croc on the river. Not knowing what else to do, the kindly fur balls took Croc in and raised him as if he were a Gobbo himself. Due to the furry one's lack of a frame of reference, Croc's crocodile heritage was ignored and he was given the total Gobbo treatment.

Baron Dante, however, had little tolerance for the idyllic lives of the Gobbos. To end that happy existence, he cast a spell that turned the island's animals against the kindly Gobbos. Not being used to such persecution, the hairy creatures tried to flee, but most were captured in the chaos by the evil Baron's henchmen.

Since the Gobbo king knew his people were outmatched by the Baron's might, he went to Croc and charged him with the mission of rescuing the missing Gobbos. Only Croc's unique nature can save the kindly but weak Gobbos now!

Croc's adventures will take him to four different worlds and through over 30 side-scrolling levels in all. In the tradition of Mario, he'll have to jump, swim and fight his way through hordes of enemies and other confused animals to restore things back to the way they were.

Review: Overall

Not all platform games are created equal. Some offer a wealth of cleverly designed levels and creative enemy designs, and some offer little of anything at all other than a character that a company hopes to make marketable. Croc for the Game Boy Color falls into the latter category.

Croc starts out slow, and the pace never recovers from there. As you play through the game, it's hard to get involved because the levels are so unrewarding. Worse, the levels are strangely pieced together presumably for the sake of variety, but it simply gives each level a feeling of sameness. Good platform titles like Super Mario Bros. challenge you with clever reflex puzzles and interesting enemy placement that you have to pay attention to, or you're likely to die.

In Croc, one hit loses you one crystal. With an average collection of 30 or more gems, your sole adversary is really the bottomless pit. Aside from that, you're always walking from left to right and doing about the same thing from one level to the next. Once the levels started bleeding together, I felt I was just going through the motions of playing the game rather than being rewarded for skillful play.

Croc falters in his quest when you need to take control. Croc's tail spin attack is also tied into the ability to run, so Croc will belt out a tail spin that has an obnoxious windup time and a long travel distance that frequently leads to taking a hit from an enemy as he's winding up. Croc's jump attacks are hard to line up, and he has the unfortunate problem of automatically jumping again if you're still holding down the button when Croc lands. That feature can get him past the point of no return far too often.

If I was forced to pick a bright spot, it's that the game is nice and colorful and Croc sports smooth animation for the moves he's capable of performing. If the levels weren't so disjointed, the vibrant background colors and detail would have meant more to me than it ultimately did. The music is upbeat, but poorly composed and there are few sound effects to help the game feel complete.

Anyone looking for a good platform game? Look elsewhere. Pick up any title featuring Mario or Wario first. If you want an above-average platform game made by a company other than Nintendo, look up Konami's old Tiny Toon Adventures. The game is on the short side and it is monochrome-only, but at least it is enjoyable. With the Game Boy Color being a platform enthusiast's paradise, Croc doesn't register on the depth chart.

Review: Enjoyment

The first rule in the employment of enjoyment is that the game must be fun. Croc isn't fun.

Review: Graphics

The nice color usage and animation is offset by the hackneyed level layouts and generic enemies.

Review: Sound

Upbeat tunes that you don't find yourself enjoying are complemented by limited sound effects.

Review: Replay Value

If it is a chore to wade through the first time, why on Earth are you playing it twice! Egads!

Review: Documentation

The instructions are helpful and offer a strong layout of the controls.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

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