"One of the SNES' missing gems..."

Ah... Plok. I can't believe how lucky I was ever to see this game here in Europe. Well, to be honest, some friend of mine had it imported... Or something... And geez, this has to be another of those WAY too underrated and overlooked games.

::: GRAPHICS: 9.5/10
Oh... my... GOD! Most astounding for a game of this age, the graphics are clean, colorful, the animations are fluid... The whole game looks and feels like being in a cartoon! The backgrounds and stages are extremely well done, from the beaches to the flea pit... As for Plok himself, seeing him walk and fire his arms and legs away is well... A really nice experience. It has to be seen to be believed, though. Trust me, you'll be positively surprised.

::: SOUND AND MUSIC: 10/10
Who thought CD quality music wasn't possible on a 16-bit console equipped with nothing but digital samples? If you're one of them, let me tell you: you're WAY wrong. Plok's soundtrack is one of my all time favorites, the music always fits the mood, and is a true blessing quality-wise... The title theme, complete with harmonica, immediately shows you what quality is to expect of the rest of the tracks. The whole soundtrack is cartooney, although the nice bass really sticks it all up, and gives it all a real modern, almost trancey feel!!

I promise, you'll end up listening to this music for hours on end... It's just that good. If you ever get your hands on the SPCs from the game, I can only recommend listening through all the tracks at least once, even if you don't like the music style, you're bound to find at least one that appeals to you!

As for the sound effects themselves, there's nothing to claim about... The samples are all of VERY high quality, surpassing even those of some recent games! Sometimes I still have trouble believing they were able to stuff all this on a single SNES cartridge... Oh well.

::: STORY: 7/10
Well... A real story this ain't, more like a backbone to it all. But... Why should platformers have storylines anyway? It'd just slow the pace and all...
Anyway, Plok goes out of his house to see that his square Plok flag has been stolen... And yep, he goes on a quest to recover it. You fight your way through Cotton Island, defeat the boss, and get your flag back. Now you happily stroll back to your place to see... That every single flag from your own island has been stolen by fleas. So now, you have to fight through even more levels, defeat all the fleas, get all the flags back, defeat a few more bosses... And that's about it.

Thus, not a real story, but it's nice enough to keep you going, and fits the game like a glove!

::: GAMEPLAY: 9/10
While it might look like your basic platformer, you'll notice after the first few stages on Cotton Island that there's much more than that to it. Plok fires off his limbs to fight his enemies, which range from jumping potatoes to heads sticking out of the ground. He can jump or do a spin jump, which allows him to reach further away places. There's not much else to say about this intro part to the game...

BUT! When you come back from Cotton Island, the whole game concept changes radically. It changes from basic platformer to a mix between platform, puzzle, and uh... frags? That's right, fleas have taken over the whole continent, and it's your mission to exterminate them all with extreme prejudice. The point of all these stages is to defeat each and single flea (which are small jumping creatures who need to take a few hits) to open the exit to the next one. And trust me, it's sometimes a pain to find them all... Which is a good thing, challenge-wise.

Now, I was talking about puzzles. See, you'll find small targets scattered around the island, which you can fire one or more limbs at. These targets are basically switches, and can for example cause land slides. Now the big trouble is that any limb you shoot into those targets is lost... or is it? Nope, they'll be on a hanger, sometimes close to the target and sometimes well... At the very opposite of where you are. This adds some strategy to it: you see, less limbs means less chances to defeat enemies, and well... once you're out of legs, you'll be hopping around, defenseless. Have fun!

Plok also gets an added move further in the game, which allows him to shoot shells (basically the golden coins à la Mario of this game) out of his head, turning him into uh... Pissed Plok? This changes his standard issue spin-jump into a lethal buzz saw blade, which makes him invincible, and kills anything in his way! When does he get this move do you ask? Well, after you play through a whole flashback sequence on Legacy Island, with no one but... Plok's Grandpa, complete with the mustache, and monochromous graphics! A REALLY nice feat!

Last, but not least, Plok can actually TRANSFORM as well!! Yep, he can gain some powerful weapons for a short period of time, found in well... presents. There's a total of 5 weapons he can gain: Boxing Glove, Rocket Launcher, Flame Thrower, Shotgun, and well... he can turn into a Cowboy as well. Each transformation has it's own musical theme, and fits perfectly!

Thus, rich gameplay like I love it, and levels that never get boring either... WEEEE!!

::: CHALLENGE: HIGH to EXTREME
Ouch!! Now this is what I call real challenging... The game is nearly impossible to beat!! There's two difficulty settings, but well... picking the easy one only lets you finish the first levels before sending you back to the title screen, and forcing you take the other one... Trust me, you WILL have a hard time finishing this game. It's pretty long, and the bosses are nighly impossible to beat... When you'll fight the boss(es) on Legacy Island, you'll see what I mean.

::: OVERALL: 9/10
How come this game never got the popularity it deserved? It's got everything you could dream of in a single platformer, from good graphics to astounding music, and from rich gameplay to a great challenge. This very challenge might be what draws the last straw, though... Plok is so HARD that it'll probably make a few too many gamers step away from it because of pure frustration. Other than that, it's really original, and should be tried at all costs!!

::: BUY OR RENT?
If I were you, I'd buy it, just for the sake of owning something really original! Plus, it must be really hard to find... Hell, know what? Just buy the thing!! And stop asking questions!!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/01/03, Updated 01/04/03