Rascal

"The commercial was more entertaining than the game."

The Playstation was at the peak of its life. Smash hits were coming out, some good, some over-hyped. Then, one fateful day, Travelers Tales decided to step into the scene, and forever stain my mind with this... Thing.

Story
Well, with all the hit games coming out with their big, involving stories, which stuck with our minds for ages, I was surprised this game had only about... Oh... Two minutes of story. It seems that your poor father, a brilliant scientist with a huge mansion and a time machine, got kidnapped by some evil guy with no real reason to do so. The scientist's kid, a very cool dude with a BUBBLE SQUIRTER see's this, and gives a laughable expression. Then he stupidly jumps into the time machine to save his dad. That's it. No more story the rest of the game. We don't even learn the kid's name. Apparently it's just rascal. Poor kid.

Graphics
I gave the score a three, because the graphics were okay. The characters looked alright, and the movement was okay for the time. The fire and water effects looked decent. Nothing bad here, really, except the facial expressions on the two characters who have them.

Music/Sound
The music is crap. I can't remember much of it, except some of the castle theme. It's really sad when a platformer doesn't have catchy tunes to hum along with as you run along the levels. The sounds... Well, there really isn't any. The kid sounds like a girl, when the game manual tries to make him sound like the hippest, coolest kid ever. The sounds are non-existent, as far as I know. A bubble pop, a ''Poomph'' when you hit the ground. That's all I remember.

Control
Controlling the kid is a difficult task, indeed. He tends to slip off of edges, and become fussy when you want to turn him around in the other direction. Jumping is a hard task, as the camera is usually always off, and your squirt gun doesn't have very good aim.

Gameplay
At first it looked like a Mario rip-off. It's hopping, jumping, looking for doors, exploring the area. It looked fun in the commercials. I was wrong. All you have at your disposal is this tiny water-gun. It has horrible aim, short range, and does low damage. The platforming is horrible, as you can never see where much is. Collision detection is off. One good aspect, though, is the ability to see the areas you've been changed from future and past versions of the level.

Overall
It could have been promising. If Travelers Tales could have polished it, it might have been the next Mario game. But no. Sadly, I had to give this game to a friend. For free. Yes, it was so un-appealing to him, that I had to give it to him for nothing in return. I don't think I ever regretted it.

Buy or Rent?
If you're really a fan of platformers, just rent it. It's very frustrating and hard, so it turns a lot of other people away. It has some good qualities, like good graphics (At the time) and some okay platforming and key-finding parts, but it's flaws are too many.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 06/14/03, Updated 06/14/03