December’s game for the retro game club I organise was chosen by @cameronreigle (check out his art!). Although I had to rush through it in four days late in the month, I found it a charming and well-put together platformer with much to recommend it.
At a time when gaming was moving to 3D, Namco found a way to marry 3D graphics with 2D gameplay: although Klonoa sidescrolls on a plane, the plane itself curves and shifts in a fun way that gives levels a dynamic and complex feel, not to mention making them feel more like real places in a world. This factor of the level design combines with Klonoa’s abilities to grab enemies to throw them or double jump, and his ability to face the foreground or background at will. With a relatively simple moveset, these methods of interaction make for a complex and interesting take on a platformer.
Being on the cusp between 2D and 3D gaming also means that the graphics themselves are a throwback mishmash in a way that pleases me: the player character, enemies and objects, etc. are pre-rendered sprites whereas the environments, bending and looping as they are, are modelled in chunky PSX polygons, flickery textures and all. It manages to mesh together, and I suppose the colourful art design helps with that. The game also features a couple of nice choppy CG FMV sequences, which hold up pretty well.
On that note, the plot starts out pretty stock and inconsequential for a childish fantasy-type game, but gets weirder until a headscratcher of a twist at the end. I don’t think it’s told very well is the problem, and Klonoa is a bit of a cypher—intentionally, I believe. I do prefer his innocence here to the personality he seems to have grown in later games, along with his later streamlined character design only lessening his appeal to me. But anyway, despite not particularly attaching to any characters here apart from the magical fish Karal and Pamela, I appreciated the regular cutscenes with their lovely gibberish voice acting: they very much give context to the levels as part of the game world and the adventure.
So yeah, recommended. It gets challenging with some later platforming sections and boss fights, but in a fun way. My main gripe is that Klonoa’s basic flutter jump kills your momentum and doesn’t help as much as I always think it will. But I do love the level of interactivity you have, how combat and puzzles are worked into the level design but it never gets out of hand. Also check out the official ShiftyLook webcomic illustrated by Hitoshi Ariga, which you can find archived here.
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