Croc: Legend of the Gobbos is perhaps, visually, one of the best games on the Saturn. Once you begin playing, you'd swear it was Mario64. In fact, not only the graphics of Mario64 and Croc are similar. The story line and actual gameplay are almost identical. You are Croc, a crocodile found and raised by the peaceful Gobbos. The game manual contains 4 pages of the story, and it's pretty funny. Anyway... the Gobbos have been kidnapped by the evil Baron Dante and it's your job to rescue them.

Following in the Mario64 foot steps, Croc features a behind-the-character view, although it changes often, like when your back is turned toward the wall. This makes gameplay confusing because you can't see in front and can't even adjust the camera angle. For some reason, the camera is programmed to stay the same distance away from Croc at all times. This is why you can't change the view when standing next to a wall. Tomb Raider perfected this technique by allowing the camera to be where Lara's eyes are in this situation, too bad Argonaut didn't use the same thing. The graphics are outstanding (despite the 15fps framerate). The levels are very colorful, and you almost don't see any pixilation. Basically, what stops this game from slowdown due to the rich textures is the fact that each level is divided into about 5 small "rooms". The only problems occur in underwater levels because Croc has to breathe, and when he does, REAL 3-D bubles appear everywhere, slowing down the game down to what might be described as the Dural stage in VF2 (slow motion). Slowdown is only the system's fault, not the game's.

Gameplay is probably what really harms this game. Although Croc supports the 3D Analog Pad, it's almost impossible to play with it. Whenever you want to turn, you almost always accidentally push the 3D controller forward or backward by just a few degrees, and immediately, if you're standing on the edge of something, you will fall off. Too damn sensitive! I suggest using the standard controls. Basically, what you do in this game is go through over 40 levels and try to rescue your friends, the Gobbos. Along the way, you encounter the evil Dantinis who you can kill with your tail. You also encounter special boxes with goodies inside, that your open with a butt-stomp. The levels, and especially the bosses, get tougher and tougher as you progress through the game. This game features the weirdest way to kill bosses that's I've ever seen. You basically run away from the boss until he gets tired, and when he's resting, you have about 3 seconds to hit him. Repeat this procedure 3 times, and you win. Even though there are over 40 levels, they are unbelievably repetitive.

Pretty cool music and sound effects can sometimes hurt a game. Not in this case. The music in Croc is similar to the NiGHTS theme and is enjoyable to listen, although it gets pretty repetitive and annoying after a few hours. The sound effects, such as Croc's childish voice, are fun too. It makes this game targeted more at the younger gamers, but some of the older game freaks might enjoy a little rest from their basic explosions, screams, and pointless techno-rock found in most games.

The bottom line: The game is not as hot as people might make you believe. The first 2 days of playing might be fun (this is the time period in which 95% of all reader reviews submitted to pages like this are written, which explains the above-average grades for even the suckiest games ever made (IMHO, if you mention atleast 1 flaw in your reviews, why the hell would you give the game an overall grade of A+? Just to show how much you enjoyed playing it??)). Rent, don't buy. It's a fun ride for a few days, but definetly not worth the game's price! I bought this for $40 the day it came out. What a "croc"!

RATINGS (Out Of 100%)

Graphics: 80
Sound: 80
Gameplay: 55
Replay Value: 25
*Overall: 60

Reviewed By: Ilya Gordon

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Ilya Gordon