Croc 2

Croc 2
The game's cover art.
Developer(s)	Argonaut Software Natsume (GBC)
Publisher(s)	Fox Interactive THQ (GBC) JP: Koei
Director(s)	Hidesi Ito (GBC)
Producer(s)	Iku Mizutani Jon Osborn
Designer(s)	Sousuke Yamazaki (GBC)
Composer(s)	Iku Mizutani (GBC) Justin Scharvona Karin Griffin Kinuyo Yamashita (GBC)
Platform(s)	Game Boy Color Microsoft Windows PlayStation
Release	PlayStation NA: 30 June 1999 EU: 30 July 1999 JP: 2 September 1999 Microsoft Windows NA: 7 March 2000[1] EU: 9 June 2000 Game Boy Color NA: 25 January 2001 EU: 2 February 2001
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Croc 2 is a platform video game developed by Argonaut Software and published by Fox Interactive. The sequel to Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, it revolves around the title character going on a quest to search for his missing parents, as well as saving the Inventor Gobbo from a revived Baron Dante.

Croc 2 was released for the Sony PlayStation in 1999, and later for Microsoft Windows and Game Boy Color in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Ports of the game for both the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast were also planned and advertised but ultimately cancelled. The game's release was accompanied by a heavy advertising campaign, with Fox cross-promoting the game alongside Nabisco's "Gummi Savers" brand of candy. Croc 2 received mixed reviews, with critics particularly praising the game's graphics while criticizing its camera and difficulty.

Gameplay

A screenshot from the game.

Croc 2 features gameplay similar to its predecessor; the player controls Croc through various open-ended levels in order to complete various missions. The game's levels are split across 4 Gobbo "villages," and are accessed through an open HUB world.^[2] The missions involve helping other Gobbos with a certain task, such as rescuing another Gobbo who is trapped within a steel cage and chasing a Dantini through a stage in order to retrieve a stolen sandwich. After completing a certain number of levels in a village, a boss level is opened up, which allows access to the next village when completed. Certain levels feature involve riding a vehicle through a course, including a race car, a speedboat, a hang glider, a hot air balloon and a giant snowball among others.^[2][3]

Levels contain various collectible items, including 100 crystals and 5 multicolored crystals scattered throughout the stage. The colored gems are hidden in different places throughout the stage, and require completing a platform challenge or completing a puzzle in order to be retrieved. Finding all 5 colored gems makes a golden trophy appear at the end of the level that is collected by traversing through a small platforming challenge. Collecting every trophy in a village allows access to an extra level that can be completed in order to collect a Jigsaw puzzle piece; collecting these pieces is required in order to access the game's fifth and final village containing the final boss. Several items can be purchased at the HUB worlds from Swap Meet Pete, an anthropomorphic cat, some of which are needed to access certain areas and secrets within the game. Among these items are heart pots, which lengthen Croc's maximum life count, Gummi Savers Jumps, which can be used as a trampoline in order to reach certain ledges, and the Clockwork Gobbo, a small wind-up robot that can be controlled to collect items by being used on a certain pedestal.

Croc is controlled using the D-pad or the analog stick, and maneuvers levels by running, jumping, climbing and swimming; new to the game are the abilities to perform a triple jump and a flip jump, both of which allow Croc to reach higher altitudes than he can by jumping normally.^[3] Croc attacks enemies by swinging his tail in a full 360-degree motion, and can also perform a downward hit drop in order to defeat enemies as well as destroy wooden crates containing items.^[3] Croc's health is represented by a set life count that can be extended by purchasing certain items; upon running out of "hearts", he is sent back to the HUB world of the respective level he's in. Croc's life can be refilled by collecting large hearts located throughout stages, as well by collecting a certain amount of crystals in a stage. Croc 2 features an additional control option titled "OmniPlay," which gives two people split control over Croc's movements and abilities for cooperative gameplay.^[1]

Plot

Set several months after Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, the Dantinis plot the return of Baron Dante. Professor Gobbo is captured when he witnesses Dante's resurrection.

Back at Gobbo Valley, Croc is playing on a beach and finds a message in a bottle. The message explains that the senders are looking for their child. Croc is surprised and takes the message to King Rufus, who reads it and tells Croc that he needs to look for other Gobbos far off, who may be able to help him in finding the crocodiles who sent the message.

A large number of Gobbos make a see-saw. Croc stands on one end and a Gobbo pushes a boulder on to the other end to propel Croc to the distant mainland, where his search begins.

Development

A Dreamcast port of the game was planned,^[4] having been mentioned in the UK print of the Dreamcast Monthly magazine and touted for release in Q3 of 2000,^[5] but was cancelled in light of Argonaut's decision to stop developing Dreamcast games due to the poor commercial performance of the system.^[6][7]

Promotion and release

Croc 2 was originally advertised in the instruction manual of the original game for a release on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn for a Christmas 1998 release;^[8] however, the game was later delayed to a summer 1999 release,^[9] and Sega Saturn version of the game was ultimately never released for unknown reasons (possibly due to the Saturn's discontinuation in 1998), similarly a Dreamcast port was also planned yet cancelled in mid-2000.

The game was heavily advertised during its release, with a multi-million advertisement campaign entailing television commercials, retail support, and customer incentives.^[10] A cross-promotional brand deal was held with Nabisco to promote the game alongside the company's Gummi Savers line of gummy candy. Alongside the candy being prominently featured as a usable item within the game, over 6.5 million candy wrappers were printed with Croc 2 logos on them.^[11] A promotional sweepstake competition, called the "Croc 2 Down Under" sweepstakes, was held during the game's release, with the contest's grand prize consisting of a family trip to Australia, as well as a copy of the game, a PlayStation console, and a copy of the game's strategy guide being featured as the other obtainable prizes.^[12]

Reception

Croc 2 received mixed to positive reviews upon release. Aggregating review website GameRankings gave the Game Boy Color version 74.22%,^[13] the PlayStation version 69.65%^[14] and the PC version 67.17%.^[15]

IGN gave the game an overall 7.5/10 for the PlayStation version, praising the games voice acting, graphics, soundtrack and size but criticizing its difficulty and camera angles.^[16]

NowGamer also gave the game a positive review, giving it 8.4/10, only criticizing its difficulty.^[17]

GameSpot gave the game poor ratings, giving the PC version 5.8/10 and the PlayStation version 5.4/10, also criticizing the camera angles and the difficulty.^[2][18]

Matthew House of Allgame reviewed the PlayStation version of the game and gave it a 2/5, also criticizing the game for its camera angles and difficulty, while also criticizing the game's graphics.^[19]

GamePro was also negative, giving the game 3/5 and said "After weeks of playing Croc 2, I was praying each new level would be Croc 2's last, but it just kept dragging on and on". However, Mark Webson from CDPro stated that all allegations against the Croc 2 came from the people who haven't even played the first entry in the series. He also felt that the game was very full of content and praised the level diversity, voice acting and overall length of the game.^[20]

References