Klonoa - Game Review

Fans of the Original Will Love This, But What About the Rest of Us?

This is nowhere more evident than in descriptions of Klonoa’s story, which has been referred to as both endearing and charming. This is incorrect; the story is painfully tedious. After suffering through the early cut scenes, I started pressing the skip button to get past the dull dialogue and trite story. I did think that I might have found the drama more palatable when I was twelve, so it makes sense if a 22 year old game reviewer, caught up in a familiar story from childhood, failed to notice the story is one only a child could love.

While the story is best ignored, Klonoa’s gameplay is quite enjoyable. Klonoa is name of the game’s protagonist, and he is able to grab the odd monsters that block his way and throw them at other monsters or breakable obstacles. He can also jump into the air and then throw a monster down to force himself higher.

The game keeps this fresh by continually adding new monsters. Some carry shields and can only be attacked from the back, some can fly, some can be stunned and used as trampolines. Some are indestructible and can only be avoided.

The control scheme uses little of the Wii’s motion sensitive capabilities, instead relying on old-fashioned pushbutton mechanics. Push a button to jump, push one to grab or throw. You can use motion control to stun enemies with a whirlwind attack, but I never got much use out of that.

Klonoa is done in the 2.5D style in which side-scrolling gameplay is rendered in 3D. Visually the game is quite pretty, with scenic levels containing a wealth of goofy-looking enemies.

Klonoa is one of these games in which you can only die a certain number of times in a level, after which the game will end and you will be forced to restart from the beginning of the level you died in. I am a big fan of games that don’t force you to continually play levels to get to the point where you die over and over again, although I will admit some people feel unlimited lives make games too easy. I’m surprised though, to see this on the Wii, where barriers to enjoyment are generally lowered as much as possible; I suppose no one felt like altering the game’s original structure for the sake of Wii owners.

Klonoa is a fairly good example of an old-fashioned platformer, but it falls short of Wii greatness. If you have fond memories of the original game, you may very well fall in love all over again, but for others, fond memories are likely to come from other games than this one.