Thoughts by Mr Creosote (23 Jun 2016) – Mega Drive
A cartoon licenced game not made by Ocean… so there is hope that this one turns out to be semi-decent. Until you actually try it and have your hopes let down. No, shattered. And the remains then stomped into the ground, set on fire and then dynamited for good measure.
Set on a highly fictionalised version of the Australian island of Tasmania, in some alternate universe or at least in an unspecified age, a partially clothed family of Tasmanian Devils discusses meal plans. Prehistoric bird eggs sounds nice, so Junior sets out to find some.
This is all only very losely based on the 1990s cartoon series it acquired its licence from. An early episode there did revolve around finding a giant bird egg. Though the series had an urban setting, whereas the game mostly features wilderness levels. Beyond the introduction, other characters from the series are absent.
Keeping in the generic Looney Tunes theme from which the character originated, special powers can be gained through eating various items. Even enemies can be eaten if the timing is right. Other objects can be used in other ways to clear the way (and produce semi-funny animations, using way too few frames, if eaten). The character’s other special power is temporarily turning into a whirlwind. Because, you know, this was the Mega Drive, and that system had Sonic.
The levels, even if not particularly cartoon related, do try to introduce some variety. But none of them are fun. Riding through mines in a lorry turns into a frustrating reaction game. Traversing the underground on foot afterwards is a rather boring elevator affair. The auto-scrolling river level is all about timed jumping, a pet hate of mine. Finally, the temple is just so ultra-generic, it could have been in any other game.
Anyway, fulfilling the mission is not an easy task. And that’s putting it mildly still. The platformer’s good graphics are quickly forgotten between the very sluggish movement, the extremely unresponsive controls and the way too strongly articulated inertia. All that combined with a shoddy level design which relies almost exclusively on making exact jumps to avoid ever-present quicksand, spikes, geysers or slippery ice. Even using the special gimmicks is not really fun to try because of timing plus control issues. You’re better off not using them at all, which can’t have been the intention.
You may think at the beginning: “Surely it will get better, I just need to persist.” Though you’re not really missing anything not getting there. The Mega Drive’s iconic character was Sonic. His specialty was running super fast. Compare that to this yawner trotting across the screen at what cannot even be described as a brisk pace. Avoid, no matter what contemporary reviewers may have said!
