Difficulty:

Very Easy

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Too short"

Nintendo has always been known for there far superior platformers. Whether they make them or house them on their consoles, Nintendo has always been the best when it comes to platformers. However, Sony has always had their counters and one of them was Klonoa. Out of Sony's many platformers on the PS1, Klonoa stood out for being original, innovative and loads of fun. Several years later, Klonoa has returned to consoles in the form of a remake of the classic PS1 platformer, but is it just as fun and entertaining as it was back in the day?

Klonoa tells the tale of, well Klonoa, a resident of the Breezegale village. Klonoa and his new friend Hewpoe, a ring spirit who resembles a big blue ball, hear a crash on a nearby mountain and decide to investigate. They soon find out that the source of the crash is a mystical songstress and that a evil spirit by the name of Ghadius is trying to use her powers to shroud the land in nightmares. The plot is more than you would expect from a childish platformer, but still nothing spectacular. There are some interesting twists and turns but it does its job by giving us a reason to platform throughout Phantomile.

Klonoa's first fault is in its cuteness. Now I am not a super macho gamer who flinches at the sight of color but Klonoa is so cute and childish that it may scare of the most accepting gamers. As the plot develops you meet more and more characters and each of them are more and more adorable, with very childish and cute backgrounds. it really didnt bother me that much, but there were times when I was thinking to myself "Seriously?" because of the cuteness in the characters appearance, dialogue, background, etc.

The Gameplay in Klonoa is similar to that of your average 2D platformer. You run, jump and avoid obstacles to get to the end of the level. What makes Klonoa unique from other platformers though, is the use of Hewpoe the ring spirit and the games "2.5D" gameplay. Klonoa is different from Mario and Sonic and many other platformers in the sense that he does not defeat his enemies by jumping on them, but rather, using his ring spirit to grab blocks and smaller enemies to hurl into other enemies. Klonoa can also use this ability to double jump and assist his platforming and extend his reach. other than that, the game is pretty much just standard platforming. There are some puzzles here and there but none of them are very hard to keep you stumped for too long. None of this is very incredible or revolutionary but it is a nice change from other games and remains to be a entertaining and diverting way of platforming.


The game is also presented in a "2.5D" manner, where you are platforming in a 2D fashion, but it is presented in a 3D manner. So if you are running along a circular structure it will look and feel like you are actually running along a circular structure, only you can only move left and right and not in 3 dimensions like you would in another platformer. At the time this was a relatively new idea and was very revolutionary, however at this point in time there are many games that utilize this feature and its novelty has worn off. But it doesnt stop it from being a cool feature.

One major flaw with Klonoa is its difficulty. Klonoa is extremely easy. There are seldom any platforming parts that are very hectic or difficult and bosses are a complete joke, even the final boss. Some of the more fun parts of the game are found when you keep using you ring jump and are in constant peril, however these opportunities come up very rarely and when they do you can usually get them on a second try if they catch you off gaurd. You also seem to just step over lives ever couple of minutes and the increased life bar from the original game doesnt really make things much better. With this being a remake and all, it is disappointing not to see something like a hard mode at all in the game but despite its difficulty it is still a ton of fun.


Graphically and Visually Klonoa looks great. Artistically the game is modeled in a very anime fashion. This combined with the character styling gives the game a very cute and pleasurable style and charm that many games just don't have. Graphically it looks pretty good. Great lighting effects and full of bright and vibrant colors that leap of the screen. The game is a pleasure to look it and it is certainly a step up from the original. While many people may complain about remakes taking away style from the original, the only thing that has really changed in Klonoa's case is Klonoa's character design, which is arguably better (never digged those yellow eyes). The environments are much more clear and much more colorful, but other than that, nothing has really changed, it helps the game look a lot better without loosing its charm.

One minor fault in the visuals, however, is the sometimes bland levels. There are only a handful of worlds in Klonoa and they can sometimes seem bland, boring and cliche. Really only one of these worlds fits all of these descriptions but when the game only has several worlds and one of them is very dull it makes the game seem less charming and less original.


Another flaw is in the enemies. There isnt a whole lot of variety in the enemies and the bosses can come off as being very bland and unoriginal too, at least in the beginning of the game. Some more variety would be appreciated but it doesnt really make that much of a difference, there is enough variety in the enemies to keep you from getting too bored and the Bosses do pick up in originality, especially at the end.

In the Audio department, Klonoa has some kinks. The music is very up beat and nice to listen to. Nothing especially catchy but it suits the game and it is not awful so you can't really complain. However, you will find the voice acting in Klonoa either adorable or incredibly annoying. The game gives you two options when it comes to voices, English or the Original Phantomile language featured in the other games. The English dub is just awful. Miscasted characters are very frequent, as well as obnoxious and aggravating voices. There is not one voice in this dub that is good or even nice to listen to. The Phantomile language however, is very debatable. If you find high pitched, japanese-esque and cutsey voices obnoxious or annoying, than you will find yourself wanting to punch the screen at every time someone opens their mouth. However the language sounds much more natural to the series and it is what the series has had since the beginning. If you arent a fan of japanese voices, there really isnt much to love hear but if you are ok with that you will find the voices extremely adorable and very nice.

It is very disappointing to see a complete lack of useful new features. After you beat the game you can unlock a mirror mode which allows you to replay the game mirrored, but this is nothing to get ecstatic over. There is also a character museum level which allows you to view all the characters and enemies in the game and get brief description on them. However Klonoa's plot isnt very involved so this feature is very lewd point. You can unlock new costumes for Klonoa as well, but none are really that drastic and most of them look pretty ridiculous and dumb,

Klonoa is not a very long game by any means. There are around 14 levels all ranging in length, most being around fifteen minutes long, if you know what you're doing. The games short length is made up for by its cheap price tag. At $30, Klonoa is perfectly priced and well worth any platformer fan, Klonoa fan or even Wii fans money.

Klonoa is a great platformer, there is no way around it. Its got a great and interesting twist that makes it unique along with some very charming characters and graphics. The Voice acting can get annoying though as can the cuteness and the lack of new content, incredibly short length and extremely easy difficulty hold it back from being a truly spectacular game.