Klonoa (Review)

Klonoa (Nintendo Wii)

Rated “E” For “Everyone”

Originally a PSX game, Klonoa is brought back into the gaming community in a remake for the Wii. Will Klonoa’s romp in the “next-gen” era breathe new life into this franchise?

=====Story=====

Klonoa finds a mysterious ring in the woods. The ring comes along with a new friend, Hewpoe. The two friends investigate a nearby crash in their town. There they find an evil plot being developed by the dark Ghadius. Upon discovering the pendant that Ghadius could not find, Klonoa and Hewpoe gain some information on what’s going on and decide to put a stop to Ghadius’ plan. Can Klonoa and Hewpoe thwart Ghadius’ plans of revenge by bringing nightmares to everyone in Phantomile?

=====Gameplay=====

If you’re into classic platforming action, then Klonoa will satisfy you. You jump from place to place, catch enemies with your wind ring, and use those enemies to knock out others. Not only can you use the enemies you catch as projectiles, you can also (and you will) use them as a double jump technique. Klonoa’s float will only take him across so far, so having an enemy to serve as a second jump will be necessary.

While you do move in 2-D fashion, the world of Phantomile will take advantage of being 3-D at times. Enemies may sometimes attack you from areas beyond your left and right modes of travel and switches and secrets may be on that extra axis. It’s not too difficult, but you may sometimes forget that you can work in those directions.

Boss battles do require a little more strategy, but sometimes the tactics you need will be revealed before the battle begins. But once you remember the attack patterns, you can dispose of the bosses with little to no problem.

=====Difficulty=====

For any gamer that grew up playing platformers, this will not be a difficult game at all. The mechanics help make that happen. The controls are tight and never feel loose in whatever you do. Younger audiences that never played a platformer or that many at all will find this game simple to jump into and play through. This game does support all control types and each works well.

There is a level of difficulty after you beat the game. Beating the game does unlock a few extras including an Extra Vision and challenge rooms scattered across several Visions in Phantomile. Those will definitely test everyone in their platforming skills and their patience as they are definitely not for beginners. These challenge rooms consist of enemy double jumping and precise timing to traverse the rooms all to see how fast you can do it. While it adds to the longevity of the game, some may find it too difficult or too tedious to want to complete them all.

=====Content=====

The game is short. While there is enough to fill in the Visions, the bare bones of each level can easily be zipped through. There are villagers to rescue in each Vision, but finding them won’t be too tough especially since you can go back and find the remaining ones you might have skipped over. Veteran platformer players can find everything and go through the game in a solid 3-5 hour session.

=====Final Thoughts=====

Being a short and simple game doesn’t take too much away from it. The game has been remade very well and environments and characters are all colorful and very lively. The 2-D style of play in a 3-D world is done well and adds more to the charm of Klonoa.

A big complaint that most players have is the English voice overs. While you can keep the language spoken to Phantomile, there is something to be said about the English voices. For one thing, Klonoa goes through puberty in English. It’s not the worst thing. The differing voices do make some of the more touching scenes seem different in terms of delivery and the age you may perceive Klonoa to be. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s something that others may quickly discard.

Any platforming expert can appreciate this game and the nostalgic feel of how games were just that simple and fun to play. Speaking of nostalgia, those that played the original Klonoa on the Playstation will enjoy being brought back into the world of Phantomile. And those that already knows what happens story-wise, they can further appreciate it and once again be touched by the surprising ending of the game.

Rated 3 out of 5

GT Review