US Saturn Release #002 - Clockwork Knight
Played on a real American Sega Saturn with the Fenrir ODE
Clockwork Knight is a platformer that does most things very well. The controls are responsive, the actual physics of your character are comfortable to work with, levels are designed well enough to not be frustrating and each contains enough to stand out. However, Clockwork Knight also lacks challenge, and is extremely short. That's not bad, per say, but it prevents this game from really reaching the heights of action platforming you see in Castlevania, Mega Man, and Mario.
The benefit of those issues is that this game is super easy to jump into and it's super comfortable to run through. Nothing feels unfair but for someone like me, nothing feels exciting either.
I really enjoyed the visuals. This game demonstrates early that the Sega Saturn was well suited for 2D games. This takes a lot of what Donkey Kong Country did and runs with it in 32 bits. more colors, fully polygonal boss fights and levels, and no slowdown. It's not the kind of game that immediately stuns you with its visuals, but definitely shows off the Saturn's 2D potential.
Despite my gripes about difficulty and length, I do appreciate how everything is designed. There really are no bad levels. The whole thing of playing as a toy is used rather well in designing both how stages look and how they play (for example, the kitchen level is like an ice level, with extra polished kitchen counters, and the sink provides as a rising-falling water hazard level).
Clockwork Knight is certainly creative and well designed for pretty much anybody to jump into, but as someone who loves platformers and has played many of them, this doesn't really compare to most others. This is definitely a game I recommend playing, and it's very good, but I wouldn't expect anything amazing.
7/10
Played on a real American Sega Saturn with the Fenrir ODE
Clockwork Knight is a platformer that does most things very well. The controls are responsive, the actual physics of your character are comfortable to work with, levels are designed well enough to not be frustrating and each contains enough to stand out. However, Clockwork Knight also lacks challenge, and is extremely short. That's not bad, per say, but it prevents this game from really reaching the heights of action platforming you see in Castlevania, Mega Man, and Mario.
The benefit of those issues is that this game is super easy to jump into and it's super comfortable to run through. Nothing feels unfair but for someone like me, nothing feels exciting either.
I really enjoyed the visuals. This game demonstrates early that the Sega Saturn was well suited for 2D games. This takes a lot of what Donkey Kong Country did and runs with it in 32 bits. more colors, fully polygonal boss fights and levels, and no slowdown. It's not the kind of game that immediately stuns you with its visuals, but definitely shows off the Saturn's 2D potential.
Despite my gripes about difficulty and length, I do appreciate how everything is designed. There really are no bad levels. The whole thing of playing as a toy is used rather well in designing both how stages look and how they play (for example, the kitchen level is like an ice level, with extra polished kitchen counters, and the sink provides as a rising-falling water hazard level).
Clockwork Knight is certainly creative and well designed for pretty much anybody to jump into, but as someone who loves platformers and has played many of them, this doesn't really compare to most others. This is definitely a game I recommend playing, and it's very good, but I wouldn't expect anything amazing.
7/10