This is a game I picked up a while ago for a couple bucks and heard it was neat, and my ability to pick up more Bomberman games has been temporarily interrupted due to renovations at the place I usually buy them at, so I decided to go through this game in the meanwhile. I knew it was short, but I didn't really expect to finish it in just a little over an hour ^^;. Granted, I only did 4 out of 6 stages, but this is a super short game that albeit has a neat gimmick.
Chameleon Twist is a somewhat early N64 game with a very simple (although somewhat baffling) premise. You're a chameleon (the game has 4 different colors to pick from), just chilling out on a log, when a white rabbit right out of Alice in Wonderland hops past you and jumps into a weird, magical pot. You, being a chameleon with nothing better to do, I suppose, jump in after it, and transform into a little humanoid with a long chameleon tongue! The rabbit then proceeds to tell you to more or less get going with the adventure and leaves. You go through a few more stages, with the rabbit unlocking doors or giving you little hints about bosses here and there, but that's it for the story. Even calling it a "story" seems a bit generous. It's more like an incredibly general premise, but that isn't a bad thing.
The game is a 3D platformer that goes through 6 worlds of which you need to go through at least 4 (you gotta play at least world 2 or 3, and then again gotta play at least world 4 or 5). There aren't really meaningful secrets, but there are collectible crowns in each stage to do some platforming challenges for. Each world is a series of rooms and your goal is to get to the end and fight a boss. The bosses range in difficulty pretty significantly (I thought the stage 2 boss was pretty darn hard compared to the rest of them that I fought in worlds 1, 5, and 6), but it's far from insurmountable challenge, especially for the N64.
The game's main gimmick is your big chameleon tongue, which you can use to grapple onto poles from a distance, spin around on those poles, suck up enemies to then spit them out, or even shoot it directly downward to do a higher jump at somewhat of an angle. The game controls alright, but especially the fancy tongue-jumps take a while to get used to. There are also some timed platforming sections later on that can get pretty brutal, and the combat and platforming overall have a somewhat uneven difficulty curve, but you just restart the current room when you die, so it's not big deal even if you fail.
The music is quite good even though the graphics aren't terribly impressive. I suppose the biggest flaw with this game might also be its biggest draw: it's a very simple experience. Sure it controls kinda funky, but there's just not a lot of content here, so if you're into getting all the crowns or getting through the game as fast as you can, there can be a lot to enjoy here, but if you're looking for something to sink your teeth into over the entirety of a weekend (or even a whole afternoon), there just isn't a lot here.
Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. Despite the fact that Bomberman gave me more frustration overall over a longer period of time, I would still recommend it over this game because at least Bomberman made me feel something XD. This game is just sorta "there," in a way that reminds me a bit of Snake Pass (although this game is way more actually enjoyable to play than Snake Pass is). It's very much just "a video game to be played" in a way that was of a dying breed in 1997, so it's somewhat remarkable in that regard, but it simply isn't my cup of tea at the end of the day. It's not a bad time, but it's so short and simple that I'd have difficulty recommending it if you had to pay more than a couple bucks for it.
Chameleon Twist is a somewhat early N64 game with a very simple (although somewhat baffling) premise. You're a chameleon (the game has 4 different colors to pick from), just chilling out on a log, when a white rabbit right out of Alice in Wonderland hops past you and jumps into a weird, magical pot. You, being a chameleon with nothing better to do, I suppose, jump in after it, and transform into a little humanoid with a long chameleon tongue! The rabbit then proceeds to tell you to more or less get going with the adventure and leaves. You go through a few more stages, with the rabbit unlocking doors or giving you little hints about bosses here and there, but that's it for the story. Even calling it a "story" seems a bit generous. It's more like an incredibly general premise, but that isn't a bad thing.
The game is a 3D platformer that goes through 6 worlds of which you need to go through at least 4 (you gotta play at least world 2 or 3, and then again gotta play at least world 4 or 5). There aren't really meaningful secrets, but there are collectible crowns in each stage to do some platforming challenges for. Each world is a series of rooms and your goal is to get to the end and fight a boss. The bosses range in difficulty pretty significantly (I thought the stage 2 boss was pretty darn hard compared to the rest of them that I fought in worlds 1, 5, and 6), but it's far from insurmountable challenge, especially for the N64.
The game's main gimmick is your big chameleon tongue, which you can use to grapple onto poles from a distance, spin around on those poles, suck up enemies to then spit them out, or even shoot it directly downward to do a higher jump at somewhat of an angle. The game controls alright, but especially the fancy tongue-jumps take a while to get used to. There are also some timed platforming sections later on that can get pretty brutal, and the combat and platforming overall have a somewhat uneven difficulty curve, but you just restart the current room when you die, so it's not big deal even if you fail.
The music is quite good even though the graphics aren't terribly impressive. I suppose the biggest flaw with this game might also be its biggest draw: it's a very simple experience. Sure it controls kinda funky, but there's just not a lot of content here, so if you're into getting all the crowns or getting through the game as fast as you can, there can be a lot to enjoy here, but if you're looking for something to sink your teeth into over the entirety of a weekend (or even a whole afternoon), there just isn't a lot here.
Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. Despite the fact that Bomberman gave me more frustration overall over a longer period of time, I would still recommend it over this game because at least Bomberman made me feel something XD. This game is just sorta "there," in a way that reminds me a bit of Snake Pass (although this game is way more actually enjoyable to play than Snake Pass is). It's very much just "a video game to be played" in a way that was of a dying breed in 1997, so it's somewhat remarkable in that regard, but it simply isn't my cup of tea at the end of the day. It's not a bad time, but it's so short and simple that I'd have difficulty recommending it if you had to pay more than a couple bucks for it.