Is it not rather peculiar how the oddest of games manage to find a way into our hearts? The case is usually with furry animals that go around beating the crap out of weird creatures. Sonic is another example. (And I too would be if I was spending my time breaking things instead of playing games) It would seem that not too many people (though still a fair number) have actually played this game and that saddens me. Namco has never really been a developer of interest to me, not even Pac-Man interests me. This however came out as something special. I shall elaborate, as I usually do.

These days, Klonoa is ignored for the most part. The last game was a remake of the first but on Wii. There have been other games, such as the ones on GameBoy Advance, but none compare to the original that was Klonoa: Door to Phantomile. I never actually had this game, or had even heard of it until I saw the Wii version in a shop. I had no money with me at the time but when I got home I looked it up. I was amazed by my findings. How could I have missed this when I had played such strangeties as Tombi? (or Tomba if you're a yank)

When I first played the game, I didn't know what to think - it was bloody weird, Not on the level of LSD Dream Simulator, but still weird. The game, like many games at the time, starts out with an FMV (a Full Motion Video for those who don't know) which shows off the characters and places in the game. A beautifully done video, setting the overall mood for the game. It's hard not to feel happy at this point as it's all so bright and cheerful. (mostly)

This game does what I think all games should make you do: it forces you to change the settings before the game starts. It may sound like a minor thing, but I always do it in a game as a way to make sure that my play experience is as good as possible. This game does not really go much in depth with the settings, having just moving the screen, speaker setup, and controls. It's usually PC games that go more elaborate with the settings.

I can get to TotalBiscuit level when I talk about settings. I'll move on.

Once the game starts, after another FMV, you get your first glimpse at the actual game. Something falls from the sky, hitting the top of a mountain (Or just a huge hill if you prefer) and awaking Klonoa from his sleep. Speaking of which, Klonoa is a black and white cat-like creature. He has long ears which flap behind him when he runs. He wears a belt around his neck because he's indie like that and wears a cap sporting Pac-Man because Namco clearly need to promote one of the most famous characters ever.



Anyway, back to the game. Klonoa is looking out the window at this, talking to his friend Huepow, who is the games main weapon and constant ally. Huepow is a floating blue ball who is seen only in the cutscenes. Klonoa first encounters Huepow in the intro to the game in a dream, pulling a huge ring out of the ground. (I am really ballsing up the order of this)



This talking scene is fully voice acted in some made up language that I am pretty sure does not exist. (Though if it does, let me know) At least this is one of those platformers that has the decency to tell you why you are going to where you are going.

Anyway, I have gone far too long without actually saying anything about the bloody game. The gameplay starts as something rather standard of platformers, only using two buttons; one for jumping and one for attacking. It's the attacking that is most interesting as instead of having an attack that kills the enemy in front of you like most games do, the attack captures them, inflating them into a ball and can be used as either a projectile attack or a double jump. The projectile attack can be fired to the sides, and into the foreground or background. The double jump is used for reaching high places (shocking, I know) and can be chained by capturing enemies in the air.

The game plays as a 2D platformer, with the player only moving left, right and jumping. Despite this, the games graphics are 3D, except for the characters which are pre-rendered 2D. The game plays with the 3D graphics by having split paths that turn into the background, making the camera rotate with the path. The game also shows off the 3D by having enemies and items in the background and foreground. The game also has some segments where the camera is going forwards as Klonoa rides on a kart/platform. I will go to say that the stage design, combined with the games use of 3D is brilliant.

Such enemies have quite a lot of variety to them, while all enemies have only one attack/walk pattern, they all have to be dealt with differently, be it timing, positioning, or dodging. The enemies AI usually compliments the stages, with them jumping out of the foreground or background a lot. The game introduces enemies in increments, and puts them first in places where it is more beneficial to the player so that he/she can get used to them. Unfortunately, because the enemies usually only have a single attack, they can get boring, but that is until the player encounters a boss...

The bosses in this game are, for lack of a better word, phantasmagorical. The imagination in the design of them was...no...IS amazing. All of the bosses are memorable, and highly fun to fight against. Each one employs a different strategy to beat, and have well thought out attack patterns. All of the bosses are in huge, well detailed arenas which make great use of 3D and are also 3D themselves.

The game isn't very long sadly, and on your first time, you will likely beat it in about 7 hours. but while it lasts, the game is incredibly fun. The games soundtrack is the kind that I love. Every song is perfectly fitting to the stage, giving the perfect feeling, keeping the player interested, as if the charming visuals hadn't done that already. The music ranges from slow, calm music to upbeat and epic music, and can switch these stage to stage without it ever coming off as strange.

My apologies for a painfully short review, but I little time to work on this as college has had me grasped tightly and many times, through the distractions that encompass my life, but I have tried.

I'm glad to finally have this finished, and I hope for...no...demand that the responses are honest, telling me where I have gone wrong. From a fox, too lax for his own demeanours, I shall slip back into the antagonising stream that is my life. And lastly, before I forget, thank you for reading.

Good review of a great game!  I've had a lot of fun playing this game, although I haven't beaten it yet.  The unique mechanic could have been better implemented, in my opinion, but nevertheless, it usually works.  I loved the graphics too!  The greatness of the game lies in its simplicity.  It takes something simple, and builds a whole game out of it.  Most of the best games do this, in my opinion.

It's often hard for me to get through reviews because they seem 'choppy' or not very well informed. However, I have to say that you caught my attention with the first sentence Tails, and managed to keep it for the rest of the review.  I LOVED how well this flowed, and how interesting it was. I hadn't even looked at the cover of the game and simply wanted to see what you had written.  However, you caught me off guard so well that I had to scroll up and take a good look at the actual game. I actually WANTED to know what I was reading about.  GREAT job.

The only real shame to this review is that your layout caused the images to be a little translucent.  I can see them a lot more clearly now that I'm on the new reply page, but they were definitely diminished by that transparent effect.