Argonaut and Titanium Studios’ remaster of Croc: Legend of the Gobbos promises revamped visuals and a modern analog control setup to replace the maligned tank controls of the original. Remasters can improve on an older game in many ways, but sometimes in doing so lose the charm that made it special to players in the first place. I was so excited to get my hands on Croc again and found out that this remaster has kept every shred of personality from the original while building it into a more flexible experience for old heads and new fans.
I love Croc. It was the first game I played on a PlayStation back in 1997, and it’s one I’ve revisited a few times in the years since when I’m feeling the need for some comfortable, mildly challenging platforming with a banger soundtrack. I also recognise that it came from a time when fully analog control in platforming games was a new frontier.
The original version of Croc uses the much maligned tank-style controls. The levels are built around this slower, more methodical style of movement. One of the big features of this remaster is fully rebuilt analog movement. Before playing I was worried that adding this new style of movement to a game not designed for it could be detrimental. Thankfully, the team have implemented analog controls wonderfully. They don’t feel out of place at all.
Weaving Croc through platforming challenges and puzzles is a breeze, the controls rarely feel like they get in your way. Admittedly this does make some previously quite challenging sections a bit of a cakewalk by comparison – but I don’t really mind. I was prepared to hate the analog controls, to the point where I didn’t even use them for the first few levels. But once I gave them a try I almost never went back to the old way. It’s really well done.
The development team have paid special attention to how Croc looks too, and it’s another highlight. The graphics menu gives a wealth of options, letting you mix and match to your preference. You can go for full remastered models, textures and lighting. You can go full retro style with original textures and models. You can add a nice CRT filter or VGA monitor emulation. You can do any combination of each! It’s quite extensive. I liked playing around and enjoying the nostalgic charm of the original look, but for the most part stuck with the fully remastered visuals. They’ve completely retained the charm of the world and characters that inhabit it. It looks pretty damn close to playing a game made of the pre-rendered artwork you’d have seen on the game’s cover. Despite the high resolution and detail, the remastered graphics retain the all important feel of the original era.
It’s not just the game itself that’s been overhauled, there are plenty of treats to be found under a new feature entitled ‘Crocipedia’. For longtime fans like myself, there’s a trove of cool digital photos of the office and team who made Croc a reality. There’s in-development cuts of the game’s music tracks and some fascinating concept art of characters that could have ended up the eponymous Legend of the Gobbos. These extra inclusions make this remaster into a captivating museum piece for Croc enthusiasts.
There are some things which haven’t changed though. Ultimately all of the level designs from 1997 are here – and while the analog controls make them far easier to play in they still very much feel like a series of spaces built at a time when the gaming world was working out how to design interesting levels in three dimensions. While you can finish the game simply by getting to the end of each level, the real juice comes from finding all the collectibles in each. There are six gobbos in each level along with five coloured crystals, and finding them all usually involves thorough exploration and a little bit of light puzzle solving. It’s nothing mind-bending (this is a game built with children in mind after all) but it was engaging enough to me as a child, and remains an enjoyable bit of light mental exercise as an adult.
Standards for 3D platformers have certainly progressed from 1997, but by keeping expectations in check there’s some enjoyable, if non-demanding puzzle platforming to be had here. I’d feel dishonest if I didn’t mention the occasional difficulty spike though. Going for full completion is generally not ultra-difficult but there were a few specific moments that had me trying over and over to get right.
One thing that I don’t think has changed is the music. The original game’s melange of various styles are all present here. From Addam’s Family-esque spooky tracks complete with finger snaps and gloopy theremin to delightfully horn-led pieces that soundtrack the desert levels. If these have been re-recorded or changed, I didn’t notice. But that’s fine with me, because the music in Croc rules.
All in it took me about 5 hours to reach the final boss, and another couple to go back for full completion. It’s pleasantly brisk and a great weekend game. There’s plenty of variety in levels, puzzles and gimmicks. The music is as great as it ever was, and the visual overhaul ties everything together into a delightfully fun package of light platform puzzling.
