Croc: Legend of the Gobbos Remastered Review - Better Than The Original?

The original PlayStation is a treasure trove of classic retro titles which are so beloved that the majority of them have already been remastered, remade or re-released. It's honestly getting to a point where it's difficult to think of a single remotely popular title that hasn't made a comeback in some form, but for me there has always been one glaring omission from these revivals which is of course everybody's favourite anthropomorphic crocodile; Croc!

I'm happy to say that he's finally back in the brand new remaster of his original game; Croc: Legend of the Gobbos which was originally released in 1997 for the PS1, SEGA Saturn and PC but is now available in its remastered form for the Switch, PS4 & PS5, PC and Xbox One & Xbox Series X/S.

But in the 28 years (yes it's been that long) since Croc first appeared on our screens, the landscape of video games has changed, so what modifications has the remaster made to bring the game up to date?

The differences

The biggest differences with this new remaster are the new visual enhancements and the controls. The remaster features all of the modern-day tweaks you'd expect, it's in widescreen, it runs at 60fps (even on the Switch version) and the graphics have been upscaled and smoothed out which makes the game look more cartoon-like than ever before.

The loading times have also been massively improved with it being near instantaneous entering new areas or even loading into a brand new level. The only problem is that this means we no longer have the cute animation of Croc walking across the screen as the levels load, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make... I think.

There's some visual settings you can customise to make the game look more like the pixelated original PS1 version or even add CRT or VGA filters for some added retro authenticity. You can even quickly swap between the retro and modern graphics on the fly with the press of the select button which is great if you want to compare between what the game used to look like versus its new coat of paint.

However, I don't know if this is just me being biased towards the original game, but I honestly think that a lot of the environments actually look better in the retro mode than in the modern one which is surely the opposite of the developer's intentions. I feel like the retro graphics sometimes have better lighting and appear to have more texture and detail than the more rounded and smooth modern graphics. Maybe that's just me being overly familiar with the look of the original version but what do you think?

I also wonder if the jump to modern-day systems could have been more impressive if a little bit more work was put in to making the environments feel like an actual world rather than a series of floating islands and platforms in a void of space. There's a lot of times where you can look out into the distance of levels and there's literally nothing there apart from the skybox and maybe adding in some more decorative elements and scenery could have made the game a bit more visually pleasing and made the modern graphics look more distinct from the retro ones.

The controls

The other major change made in the remaster though is the controls, with us having modernised analogue controls for both movement and the camera and this dramatically changes the feel of the game, with it being much more responsive and fast paced due to being able to change directions freely and view the world from any angle you want. While the original PS1 version did support analogue controls to an extent, it never felt quite right, it was like this strange combination of modern analogue controls and retro tank controls and I always preferred using the d-pad because it felt like the game was built primarily with that control scheme in mind.

If you find yourself missing the retro tank controls in the remaster though fear not! By pressing a direction on the d-pad you'll find that you can actually control Croc exactly like in the old days with the game entering an automatic camera mode, activating tank controls and allowing you to use the LB and RB buttons to twist in mid air, exactly like in 1997!

I love that the original experience has been preserved inside of the remaster with a combination of the retro graphics and control scheme but it's completely optional and up to you to decide how you want to play it. I wish more remasters and remakes did this sort of thing because it almost feels like you're getting two games in one.

Additional Content

In terms of additional content there's not really much to separate the original game from the new version. If you were wanting any extra levels, cutscenes or any altered gameplay elements then you're not going to find it here.

Clearly the intention with this remaster wasn't to go in and fix too much that was wrong with the original game but to simply give us that original experience on modern platforms, which I appreciate because I'm a big fan of the series but I feel like there's a few quite major problems with the original game that could have been addressed here but simply weren't in favour of being faithful.

The boss battles are one example of something that maybe should have been tweaked.

Not only do I think that certain bosses attacks and general movements are poorly telegraphed to the player but I also think that once you do know what you're doing they're far too easy and can be over in a matter of seconds.

It doesn't help that the majority of them revolve around the same concept of waiting for them to attack and then hitting them while they recover. I really would have liked to have seen the bosses get some major upgrades to make them more challenging and distinct from each other but I suppose I'll have to wait for a full-on Croc remake for that now.

Another problem which is still present from the original game is that some levels feature splits in the path where one direction leads to a dead end with a collectible and another continues the level as normal. The issue is that if you take the path which progresses the level, you very often can't backtrack to pick up the collectible you missed in the other direction which results in needing to replay the entire level from the start.

Adding to the annoyance here is that when you replay a level it completely resets all of the other collectibles that you did pick up in the previous playthrough which means that you not only need to get the one thing that you missed but also pick up everything that you already got all over again!

Surely they could have done something to allow you to backtrack to previous areas of the level or at the very least not reset all of your progress when you re-enter a level?

Whether you think that all of this is a problem at all though depends on what you actually want from a remaster like this. If you want the original game preserved in its original form with only a few modern conveniences added, then this is perfect. But if you were expecting a full on revamp of the game with some tweaks to gameplay and more significant visual upgrades then this probably isn't quite the remaster you were expecting.

I'm a little bit torn because while I love the original game, I also recognise that it's quite heavily flawed and this remaster was a great opportunity to fix some of those flaws and potentially make it superior to the original.

Imagine if the game had been completely redesigned and was no longer laid out like a series of disconnected rooms which you teleport to by entering doors or jumping into wells and instead you just seamlessly walked from area to area.

Again, I think this would have made the levels feel like a more believable world as opposed to a somewhat generic video game area but obviously this would have required redesigning entire sections of the level design which clearly wasn't the plan with this remaster.

Something they probably could have done to bring Croc a little bit more up to date is removed the life system completely and instead had the crystal collectibles be used in a store to unlock cosmetics for Croc to wear.

That's probably a more controversial addition because I know a lot of people like the old-school life system but I don't really think it adds all that much in a game like this. I would have been more devastated to lose all of my crystals if they unlocked a cool hat than to lose them if all they do is give me an extra life. Look, I just want to give Croc lots of fancy hats to wear, is that too much to ask?

The great new additions

One amazing change made outside of the game itself though is the addition of the Crocopedia which is accessed on the main menu and offers an absolutely incredible amount of extra content for you to dive into, which for a fan of 28 years is amazing to see.

It feels like a celebration of all things Croc with you being able to watch video interviews with the original developers of the game and even content creators reminiscing on Croc, there's development artwork, and beta animation model viewers, a huge game design document used to pitch the game to publishers, videos of developer test levels (it's a shame these aren't playable though, that would have been an incredible 100% reward), you can listen to the full soundtrack and even some unreleased tracks and remixes, read through the cancelled TV series bible, access some Japanese promo materials, see images of vintage Croc merchandise and even view photos of the Argonaut team from back in the day.

This really adds a lot to the game even though it has nothing to do with the game itself and it does a good job at making the Croc remaster feel like a full on celebration of the series' legacy.

I do wish it was implemented into the gameplay a bit more though, maybe you could have unlocked pages of the Crocopedia by 100% clearing levels or doing them without getting hit or by completing them in a time limit or something, that would have given us a little bit more content to sink our teeth into that wasn't present in the original version but it's still very cool regardless.

Overall Opinion

The Croc: Legend of the Gobbos remaster is great, not necessarily as a remaster but just in terms of presenting what is effectively the original game to us but on modern platforms. It almost feels like it's embracing all of the flaws of the original experience and wanting us to play the game in a form that's close to as it was originally intended but while eliminating some surface level clunkiness like the tank controls.

Do I wish that more work had been done to fix some of the more egregious issues from the original game? Absolutely. But am I also happy that Croc has returned and is authentically playable on modern systems even with all of the warts and blemishes carried over from the original 1997 release? Definitely.

So, now that Croc is back, what's next? Gex and Bubsy making their way onto modern consoles too? What a ridiculous notion! Oh... Wait... They're coming soon too aren't they? Well, I suppose all that's left for us now is to wait for Rascal to make a comeback.