Reviewed: March 19, 2005
Reviewed by: John Wekluk
Publisher
Namco
Developer
Namco
Released: February 22, 2005
Genre: Puzzle Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Everyone
8
8
7
8
8.0
Supported Features:
Klonoa, complete with Pac-Man baseball cap, is back in Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament. Namco’s sequel to 2001’s Klonoa: Empire of Dreams is the second Klonoa adventure to hit the Game Boy Advance. Three years after its original release in Japan, Dream Champ is here and ready to scroll.
Klonoa, along with several other adventurers, has been invited to participate in the ultimate test of physical and mental skill, the Dream Champ Tournament. The promoter of the Dream Champ Tournament, Garlen, addresses the assembled crowd of adventurers and gives them the low down. Klonoa, along with pals, Lolo, Popka, and Chipple are all set to duke it out to see who has what it takes to become the “Greatest Hero.” Oh, there’s a cash prize, too. Perhaps the winner can pick up some more Namco swag. Also along for this adventure is Klonoa’s greatest threat, the “Golden Killer”, Gantz. Who will become the “Greatest Hero?” Does Garlen have an ulterior motive? What the heck is Popka? Only time will tell. Let the tournament began.
The gameplay in Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament is fairly typical for a platform game. A player uses the A button to jump and hover and the B button is used for action, which in this case, is the act of shooting a wind bullet. Klonoa uses these wind bullets to grab and throw enemies and also to grab and throw boxes. The main screen shows Klonoa’s three units of health, number of moon stones, sun stones, dream stones, keys collected, and the remaining lives that Klonoa possesses.
There are three basic types of stages, or Visions, in Dream Champ Tournament: the puzzle stages, the action stages, and the boss stages. The controls are near perfect and the puzzles are extremely clever.
Most of the activity in the game takes place in the puzzle stages. These are the stages in which a player tries to clear the various puzzles by using blocks, enemies, ladders, vines, pinball flippers, wind drafts…basically anything and everything that is within reach. A vision is cleared when the player collects three moonstones and opens the moon door. A handy feature is the ability to look around the entire board by using the R button and the control pad. This allows a player to plan ahead and players will have to plan ahead for some of these puzzles. Grabbing an enemy and using it to double-jump is also a skill that must be learned. The puzzle stages flow nicely and the control response is top notch.
In the action stages the game takes on a 3-D view. This may take a player by surprise at first, but once the stage is played a few times it becomes fun while also providing a challenge. The action stages that have Klonoa facing the screen do have a bit of an awkward feel to them, though. This is mainly due to objects just popping up in front of you with little warning.
Finally, a player will encounter the boss Visions. In these stages the player will either have to escape the boss or beat the boss to the goal. This gets a little frantic and the player will probably have to try these stages out a couple of times to get the hang of it.
Dream Champ’s graphics are very lush. Literally. Along with the bright and vibrant colors that are delightful to the eye, there is no shortage of background and foreground vegetation in this game. The vines, flowers, grass, and leaves are all very well presented. The animated background environments help give the game a very full feel, while at the same time they successfully avoid a cluttered mess on the screen.
This is yet another side-scrolling game with cute characters. Cute usually equals colorful, and this is no exception. The characters are easy to see and they are animated with bright and vivid colors. Players will enjoy the visuals and they won’t have to worry about straining their eyes to see any objects.
On the downside, a lot of the bigger objects tend to be blocky and choppy. This mainly comes in the form of the bosses. The boss of the Western Jungle is a prime example of the blocky graphics. He almost looks out of place rolling after Klonoa. The cut scene graphics have a certain blandness to them, too. At times, they are not as bright and vibrant as the graphics are in the rest of the game. Aside from those two minor flaws, Dreams Champ’s visuals are quite pleasing and colorful.
The music is quite forgettable in this game. It’s not horrible; players just aren’t going to find themselves humming any of the songs on their way to work. The game contains your typical side-scrolling, cute character adventure music. La la la. The sounds Klonoa makes while jumping and shooting his wind bullets are exactly what you would expect: skip and snap. Very typical stuff. The songs and sounds do have their charm, they just fall a tad short of being exceptional and memorable.
Any moderate gamer will blow(get it?) through this game in a few days. The puzzles do get quite challenging as you progress, but at the same time the repetition might start to wear on a player. That is not to say that this title is not fun, because it truly is an enjoyable game.
Dream Champ Tournament’s greatest asset is its replay value, which is quite odd for a side-scroller. If you are one of those moderate players who is going blow through the game in a couple of days, you are going to miss a lot. For example, when a player collects every sun in the game, some new EX levels will open up. These levels are much more challenging than the regular levels. Truly devoted players will eat this up.
If you like games of both the puzzle and side-scrolling platform genre, then you will adore Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament. If you are one of those players who can not stand to leave a game only 99% completed, then you should definitely pick up Dream Tournament. The game is easy to learn, fun to play, and quite challenging. There aren’t too many quality platform games currently being issued for the GBA, and this fills the void nicely. Join the tournament today.
