Why I never got on well with Croc 2
Dec 5, 2009 1:34:34 GMT -5
Post by Forte Wily on Dec 5, 2009 1:34:34 GMT -5
I was reading an excellent article recently, in which the author laid out the differences they see between 2D Mario games, and 3D ones. In the process of reading it, I finally realised why it is that I never really got along all that well with Croc 2.
The reason is this: It's too similar to Super Mario 64. (I've often gotten odd reactions from people when I've said that I don't find Super Mario 64 to be a fun game. I've experienced similar regarding The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, too, but that's by the by.
)
That is to say, I feel that Croc 2 is focussed on 3D wandering and scavenger hunting, more than it is on platforming, and personally I don't find this to be very much fun. This is the difference between 2D Mario and 3D Mario, too, and in turn it is one of the big differences I see between Croc 1 and Croc 2.
For those who have played both Croc 1 and Croc 2, compare what you get: Croc 1 focusses on accurate controls, picking up a few things, and finding your way to the end of a level, whilst Croc 2 is more about running around and finding things in environments that are far too big and far too empty.
As an aside, Croc 2 being full of endless reams of (in my view) unnecessary dialogue and cinematics adds to this problem, because, when combined with all of the scavenger-hunting, it makes the game feel a bit chore-like to me at times. (I'm still a big fan of the Tom & Jerry-esque way in which Croc 1's minimal cutscenes were handled. No fluff, no nonsense, full of charm, and they don't get in my way.)
In fact, now that I think about it, Croc 1 is probably the only so-called "3D platform game" that really is a platform game. It takes 2D platforming values, and places them in a 3D environment, without forgetting about them as most "3D platform games" do.
Since Croc 1 apparently began as a Yoshi title for the SNES CD add-on, that means that its overall design was likely from an earlier time (namely, from before the time when people stopped demanding fun and instead started demanding badly-written movies where you move your thumbs a little bit every now and then), and that it probably wasn't really influenced as much by Super Mario 64 as people seem to think it is.
To my mind, this realisation certainly explains why I always found, and still find, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos to be much more fun than Super Mario 64. It's just a shame that there wasn't more of it, and that Croc 2 was nothing like it.
I wonder if I'm the only one who sees Croc 1 and Croc 2 in this way? What do you guys think?
The reason is this: It's too similar to Super Mario 64. (I've often gotten odd reactions from people when I've said that I don't find Super Mario 64 to be a fun game. I've experienced similar regarding The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, too, but that's by the by.
)That is to say, I feel that Croc 2 is focussed on 3D wandering and scavenger hunting, more than it is on platforming, and personally I don't find this to be very much fun. This is the difference between 2D Mario and 3D Mario, too, and in turn it is one of the big differences I see between Croc 1 and Croc 2.
For those who have played both Croc 1 and Croc 2, compare what you get: Croc 1 focusses on accurate controls, picking up a few things, and finding your way to the end of a level, whilst Croc 2 is more about running around and finding things in environments that are far too big and far too empty.
As an aside, Croc 2 being full of endless reams of (in my view) unnecessary dialogue and cinematics adds to this problem, because, when combined with all of the scavenger-hunting, it makes the game feel a bit chore-like to me at times. (I'm still a big fan of the Tom & Jerry-esque way in which Croc 1's minimal cutscenes were handled.
No fluff, no nonsense, full of charm, and they don't get in my way.)In fact, now that I think about it, Croc 1 is probably the only so-called "3D platform game" that really is a platform game. It takes 2D platforming values, and places them in a 3D environment, without forgetting about them as most "3D platform games" do.
Since Croc 1 apparently began as a Yoshi title for the SNES CD add-on, that means that its overall design was likely from an earlier time (namely, from before the time when people stopped demanding fun and instead started demanding badly-written movies where you move your thumbs a little bit every now and then), and that it probably wasn't really influenced as much by Super Mario 64 as people seem to think it is.
To my mind, this realisation certainly explains why I always found, and still find, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos to be much more fun than Super Mario 64. It's just a shame that there wasn't more of it, and that Croc 2 was nothing like it.
I wonder if I'm the only one who sees Croc 1 and Croc 2 in this way? What do you guys think?
