This is a childhood favourite of mine. Brutally difficult, but still am amazing platformer.
BEST GAME!
One of the hardest platformers to even try, but a good classic nonetheless
Masterpiece
It was my second favorite game when i was a kid.
This game has a good combat style and funny story that a non-native english speaker kid can understand.
This game has a good combat style and funny story that a non-native english speaker kid can understand.
Very underrated game that is fairly tough in some places and a smidge unfair towards the end (I had to use cheat codes on the 2nd half of Level 13 and the entirety of Level 14). That said, I had a blast with it and I wish it got more recognition back then considering the time it released.
Os 9,90 mais bem gastos até hoje
maaanooooooooooo nem acredito que esse jogo existe, eu pensava que ele era um delírio da minha mente pqp aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Got this on a floppy disk in 2002, I never finished it, but it was really fun.
Still fun even to this date
One of the best platformers ever created. Really meant a lot to me during my childhood.
Life Systems are the work of Satan.
My childhood game, I spent hours on this game on my old pc. Very cool 2D side-scrolling action game, unfortunately for the period of its release it had unsuccess. For me one little jewel.
Featuring Caleb from the Blood series
Lost but never forgotten
It had been a while since I played Claw all the way through, so I grabbed the most recent download from CaptainClaw.net (the game is abandonware, download the first and third listed files if you want to try it out) and plowed through it over the weekend. I kept thinking, “Wow, this really holds up! What a masterpiece!”
…and then I hit the 12th level.
I remembered that I had never made it past that 12th stage without using cheats as a kid, but I was confident that this time I could make it through the way the devs had intended.
GUESS WHAT!
NO!
For as long as I can remember, I've considered Claw to be one of my all-time favorites, but this replay made me see its issues a bit more clearly. The levels are still absolutely stunning, with the hand-drawn 2D backgrounds and sprites being some of the best of any game in the 90s. The variety in the areas is top-notch, with the cats vs. dogs, pirates vs. navy theme being portrayed in plentiful and charming ways throughout the game’s runtime. The powerups are still tons of fun to use, collecting treasure is enjoyable in and of itself, and the enemies and bosses are solid and memorable. Beyond all the praise I've lavished on Claw since 1997, there were two main sticking points that I had this time, one small and one huge.
First, the nitpicky realization: There is a vast gulf between the quality of the good voice acting and the bad, and I hadn’t really noticed when I was young. What’s weird is that every voiced enemy you encounter in the levels themselves is fantastic! From the sword-wielding Dobermans to the narcissistic Mercats (“Well, I’m no longer among the living, am I?”), there’s so much impressive dialogue during gameplay. The title character Captain Nathaniel J. Claw is especially well-portrayed, especially for a 90s video game. But the boss fights and cutscenes somehow have a 50/50 chance of maintaining that high standard. You might hear professional voice actors, or you might see a wonderfully animated character open their mouth only to hear the tired mumblings of one of the devs. This scene between Captain Claw and his nemesis Red Tail is particularly bad, with Red Tail being played by one of the sound designers. Really seems like they ran out of budget at some point and had to use some people around the office for the last few voices.
The second issue is the one that’s a legitimate problem. Claw isn’t the easiest game. It was clearly designed with challenge in mind, and it can be a struggle to make it through some levels without running out of lives, but it’s always doable without being frustrating… up to a point. When the 12th of 14 stages arrives, there is a STEEP difficulty spike. The first 11 levels all felt fair, but the final 3 are full of cheap deaths and platforming segments that feel like a bullet hell shooter. The falling stalactites in level 12 are seemingly unavoidable at times, and each of these final 3 areas will abuse their tendency of putting hazards beyond the screen limits where you can’t see them. Increasing screen resolution does help alleviate this issue, but for some reason you can only do this with a cheat code. (I’ll list the important cheats at the bottom of the review) In any case, levels 12-14 are a significant challenge even if you turn God Mode on, so don’t feel bad about typing that code in so that you can make it to the end, especially when it comes to the bosses of levels 12 and 14. That tentacle boss fight is pure hax.
I still love Claw a lot. It’s a beautiful, engrossing 2D platformer from an era when those were going out of style, and I firmly believe more people should play it. However, this playthrough did drop it from my 5/5 list because I can’t really justify the unbalanced masochism of the last three stages.
But it’s free and it’s still a great time, if you've got a PC, give it a try!
CRUCIAL CHEAT CODES FOR THE LAST THREE LEVELS:
MPKFA: God Mode (Unlimited health, lives, and ammo)
MPINCVID: Increases resolution
MPDECVID: Decreases resolution (use if you zoomed out too far)
MPVADER: 30 seconds of invincibility, stacks with repeated entry
MPHOTSTUFF: Fire Sword
MPPENGUIN: Frost Sword
…and then I hit the 12th level.
I remembered that I had never made it past that 12th stage without using cheats as a kid, but I was confident that this time I could make it through the way the devs had intended.
GUESS WHAT!
NO!
For as long as I can remember, I've considered Claw to be one of my all-time favorites, but this replay made me see its issues a bit more clearly. The levels are still absolutely stunning, with the hand-drawn 2D backgrounds and sprites being some of the best of any game in the 90s. The variety in the areas is top-notch, with the cats vs. dogs, pirates vs. navy theme being portrayed in plentiful and charming ways throughout the game’s runtime. The powerups are still tons of fun to use, collecting treasure is enjoyable in and of itself, and the enemies and bosses are solid and memorable. Beyond all the praise I've lavished on Claw since 1997, there were two main sticking points that I had this time, one small and one huge.
First, the nitpicky realization: There is a vast gulf between the quality of the good voice acting and the bad, and I hadn’t really noticed when I was young. What’s weird is that every voiced enemy you encounter in the levels themselves is fantastic! From the sword-wielding Dobermans to the narcissistic Mercats (“Well, I’m no longer among the living, am I?”), there’s so much impressive dialogue during gameplay. The title character Captain Nathaniel J. Claw is especially well-portrayed, especially for a 90s video game. But the boss fights and cutscenes somehow have a 50/50 chance of maintaining that high standard. You might hear professional voice actors, or you might see a wonderfully animated character open their mouth only to hear the tired mumblings of one of the devs. This scene between Captain Claw and his nemesis Red Tail is particularly bad, with Red Tail being played by one of the sound designers. Really seems like they ran out of budget at some point and had to use some people around the office for the last few voices.
The second issue is the one that’s a legitimate problem. Claw isn’t the easiest game. It was clearly designed with challenge in mind, and it can be a struggle to make it through some levels without running out of lives, but it’s always doable without being frustrating… up to a point. When the 12th of 14 stages arrives, there is a STEEP difficulty spike. The first 11 levels all felt fair, but the final 3 are full of cheap deaths and platforming segments that feel like a bullet hell shooter. The falling stalactites in level 12 are seemingly unavoidable at times, and each of these final 3 areas will abuse their tendency of putting hazards beyond the screen limits where you can’t see them. Increasing screen resolution does help alleviate this issue, but for some reason you can only do this with a cheat code. (I’ll list the important cheats at the bottom of the review) In any case, levels 12-14 are a significant challenge even if you turn God Mode on, so don’t feel bad about typing that code in so that you can make it to the end, especially when it comes to the bosses of levels 12 and 14. That tentacle boss fight is pure hax.
I still love Claw a lot. It’s a beautiful, engrossing 2D platformer from an era when those were going out of style, and I firmly believe more people should play it. However, this playthrough did drop it from my 5/5 list because I can’t really justify the unbalanced masochism of the last three stages.
But it’s free and it’s still a great time, if you've got a PC, give it a try!
CRUCIAL CHEAT CODES FOR THE LAST THREE LEVELS:
MPKFA: God Mode (Unlimited health, lives, and ammo)
MPINCVID: Increases resolution
MPDECVID: Decreases resolution (use if you zoomed out too far)
MPVADER: 30 seconds of invincibility, stacks with repeated entry
MPHOTSTUFF: Fire Sword
MPPENGUIN: Frost Sword
This game is my childhood. It's practically magical. It's fun and challenging, no matter what age you are. You can replay it countless times and there's always gonna be something you didn't do before; a portal you haven't found, a treasure you haven't collected, or a mob you haven't killed. That is, if you can manage to beat the game in the first place. The boss fights are the most gaming experience I've ever experienced. And I'd play it again in an instance.
Claw is the Treasure Planet of video games.
When the world was getting hyped about computer animation, people stopped going to see hand-drawn animated movies. The novelty of 3D models made audiences ignore Treasure Planet, despite it being a fantastic film.
Similarly, Claw came out in 1997, a year after Super Mario 64 and Crash Bandicoot. The Third Dimension was HYPE, and everyone wanted more. Unfortunately, that meant the gorgeous cartoon style of Claw didn't find a large audience.
(They're also both about pirates and feature a naval Captain who's an anthropomorphic cat.)
Claw filled a void for platformers on the PC, and it did so incredibly well. In the 90s, you pretty much had Commander Keen and a handful of more forgettable Apogee titles to choose from. There were some other obscure, more mediocre attempts, but Keen was the gold standard. Claw, the third game from a fledgling Monolith Productions, was on a whole other level.
While Keen was emulating the 8-bit look of platformers on home consoles, Claw looked more like hand-drawn animation. There were animated cutscenes and loads of speaking characters. Captain Claw himself has a bunch of charming little quips that make him an endearing and memorable protagonist.
The game handles like a dream and the designs ooze charm throughout the entire journey. Challenge areas are dotted across each level with fun bonuses to be found inside. There are plenty of cheats that can be entered at any time for some extra fun, but the game makes a point to let you know that your score will not be saved because you cheated, YOU CHEATER.
The game even featured custom levels, which anyone could make and then submit to the game's site for other players to download, beating Mario Maker to the punch by almost two decades. People are actually still making and uploading them to captainclaw.net!
When anyone uses the phrase "hidden gem", this game deserves to be in the conversation.
MAGIC CLAAAWWW
When the world was getting hyped about computer animation, people stopped going to see hand-drawn animated movies. The novelty of 3D models made audiences ignore Treasure Planet, despite it being a fantastic film.
Similarly, Claw came out in 1997, a year after Super Mario 64 and Crash Bandicoot. The Third Dimension was HYPE, and everyone wanted more. Unfortunately, that meant the gorgeous cartoon style of Claw didn't find a large audience.
(They're also both about pirates and feature a naval Captain who's an anthropomorphic cat.)
Claw filled a void for platformers on the PC, and it did so incredibly well. In the 90s, you pretty much had Commander Keen and a handful of more forgettable Apogee titles to choose from. There were some other obscure, more mediocre attempts, but Keen was the gold standard. Claw, the third game from a fledgling Monolith Productions, was on a whole other level.
While Keen was emulating the 8-bit look of platformers on home consoles, Claw looked more like hand-drawn animation. There were animated cutscenes and loads of speaking characters. Captain Claw himself has a bunch of charming little quips that make him an endearing and memorable protagonist.
The game handles like a dream and the designs ooze charm throughout the entire journey. Challenge areas are dotted across each level with fun bonuses to be found inside. There are plenty of cheats that can be entered at any time for some extra fun, but the game makes a point to let you know that your score will not be saved because you cheated, YOU CHEATER.
The game even featured custom levels, which anyone could make and then submit to the game's site for other players to download, beating Mario Maker to the punch by almost two decades. People are actually still making and uploading them to captainclaw.net!
When anyone uses the phrase "hidden gem", this game deserves to be in the conversation.
MAGIC CLAAAWWW
The fuck'n Mario level pc classic we deserve.
Claw is one of the best side scrolling platformers I've ever played, and I can't believe that this game kind of flew under the radar! I played this a lot when I was younger, and even now when I get time i'll jump back in.
You play as Captain Nathaniel J Claw, A CAT PIRATE! What more could you want? Among the 1997 cinematic cut scenes and fantastic soundtrack that gives you the feel that you're on a timer, Claw delivers a fun pirate adventure. With great level design of different locations, powers to use and enemies you fight off, it is also full of puns which is always welcome.
The story, voice acting and overall atmosphere of the game is one to be experienced. From memory it's between 6-8 hours depending on how you play. Do your self a favour and if you can find yourself a copy or an emulated version, check it out.
MAGIC CLAW!
You play as Captain Nathaniel J Claw, A CAT PIRATE! What more could you want? Among the 1997 cinematic cut scenes and fantastic soundtrack that gives you the feel that you're on a timer, Claw delivers a fun pirate adventure. With great level design of different locations, powers to use and enemies you fight off, it is also full of puns which is always welcome.
The story, voice acting and overall atmosphere of the game is one to be experienced. From memory it's between 6-8 hours depending on how you play. Do your self a favour and if you can find yourself a copy or an emulated version, check it out.
MAGIC CLAW!