Review by: Pascal "Saturnman" Vellet

Rating: 6 (out of 10)

Summary:

Clockwork Knight 2 improves on the original with honed gameplay and even better graphics. However this platform game remains very much as flawed as the first CK.

The review:

I admit it. I'm a sucker for platform games. And with the advent of the 32-bit gaming, the promise and potential for future platformers seemed glorious. The original CK was the first next generation, platform game so obviously, I was looking foward to playing it. CK sure did a lot of things right for the sake of first impressions. It had high production values like dazzling graphics, great sound, nicely designed characters and even some singing! CK2 improves on many of the strong points of the original but when it comes to other key areas, well, it's another story.

Like the first CK, CK2 starts off by showing a FMV intro telling the game's story and introducing its main characters. And it's all accompanied by nauseatingly intoxicating singing that would make most people's "corny meter" go haywire. As for the story, basically, it takes place in a child's playroom where each night all the toys wake up and party. However one faithful night, the doll chelsea is kidnapped by a mysterious enemy. It's now up to the toy soldiers to rescue her.

The graphics are no doubt the game's main appeal. Every part of the foreground which includes toy houses, lego blocks or books are all in solid 3D and warp depending on the player's position effectively giving real 3D scrolling at 60 fps. CK2 improves on the original's graphics with even more 3D objects, more depth and increased detail. However, we can not talk about CK2 being a 3D platformer because the game still plays like a typical side-scroller. So it's perhaps more appropriate to call CK2 the most 3D of 2D platformers. The main character and enemies are sprites but SGI, rendered ones like in Donkey Kong Country or Killer Instinct while all the bosses are big, impressive, 3D monsters.

The sound effects are cute, nicely done and fit the game perfectly. The music is a lot like the original CK. It's basically those happy, Japanese tunes platformers are generally known to have. However, in some places, the game takes some obvious inspiration from salsa, mambo and even pays its respects to James Brown. It's also worth noting the music is almost entirely generated by the Saturn's sound chip. It's mostly impressive with various instruments like banjo, piano and harmonica but sometimes it's less impressive like for that constant pseudo-saxophone.

CK2 did try to improve on the flaws of the first one. The control seems indeed a bit tighter. As for gameplay, well, levels are not as straightfoward and seem to generally have more to do in them but not that much. Perhaps a more worthy improvement are the new riding scenes where you ride on a toy donkey and take on various enemies. Actually, the riding scenes are nothing extraordinary but they're great fun nevertheless. However, where CK2 fails is replay value. The game is still as short as the first one and despite some efforts to improve this deficiency with various options and decks of cards to search throughout the game, there's not enough incentive to get back to it and play it again and again.

So even though CK2 is a king of first impressions, lasting impressions are not the game's forte. Certainly, young kids will love the game (my nephews and nieces are crazy about it!). CK2 has the graphics, the singing, the charming characters and is actually easy enough for them to play and enjoy it. But older and more sophisticated players will most likely sigh and say to themselves: "if only there were more to this game..."