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As part of the
strict community service sentence given to me after my little
"incident"
at the public park, I promised JGR I'd deliver reviews for the entire
Disney/Capcom/Duck trilogy (see my reviews of
Darkwing
Duck and DuckTales.
With that in mind, I bring you the final installment: DuckTales 2.
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If you don't
remember Disney's 1980's Saturday morning duck-themed TV blitzkrieg,
then go look at those previous reviews because I'm tired of
explaining it. DuckTales 2 marks the return of the previous
game's main characters that fans will remember fondly from the
show. This time around, Scrooge's li'l nephews have stumbled
upon an old treasure map that reveals the location of a nifty
keen hidden treasure. Again choosing to senselessly endanger
his family's lives, the incredibly wealthy Scrooge embarks upon
the quest for more surplus riches! Yeah, it's pretty silly that
the "richest duck in the world" has starred in two
videogames wherein the main goal was to get MORE money, but
I guess an adventure where he found true love and inner peace
would have been kinda boring.
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Louie has inferiority issues.
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The classic theme
song is here once again, and so is Scrooge's mysterious winking eye
at the title screen. After choosing one of three difficulty levels,
the player is taken to a map and questioned by sidekick Launchpad
as to which one of five treasure-laden locations Scrooge should visit
first. Niagara, Scotland, the island of Mu, Egypt, and Bermuda are
all available for your gold-diggin' enjoyment, and according to the
map, they're all conveniently located in the same 3 mile radius. I
recommend the WWII island-hopping strategy. Players of the two previous
games will note that Launchpad acts not only as a guide, as he did
in Darkwing Duck, but as a safe point within levels, as he did in
DuckTales 1. Nice combo.
Uh, Gyro,
you don't have to give me whatever's in your pockets everytime
we meet.
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In the actual
levels, Scrooge plays pretty much as he did in the first game,
but with one important difference. Now, one only needs to hold
the A and B buttons to perform the pogo-cane attack. In the
previous title, the down arrow was also part of the process.
Apparently I wasn't the only one who was annoyed at having to
figure out three different buttons without a manual. Kudos to
Capcom for correcting this. Similarly, you can now whack things
with your cane while in mid-air, and even pull things with it
once you've collected a special gadget from Gyro, the inventor.
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Speaking
of Gyro, the occasional cameo character shows up to help you
and give you advice along the way. Huey, Dewey, and Louie are
much more important in the sequel than in Scrooge's first outing.
Their obvious suggestions have been replaced by puzzle-solving
clues. That's right. Puzzle-solving. Sure, they're all no-brainers
(this is a kid's game after all), but the occasional series
of levers and hidden passages are a welcome change from D1,
where the only challenge was the fabled
"Dear-Lord-Stop-Sending-Me-Back-To-Transylvania"
puzzle. End of the level bosses are also more of a challenge.
You may have to actually pay attention to patterns of movement
and develop a strategy this time around. Power-ups are exactly
the same as in D1, although they are less readily available.
One notable addition to the system is an item shop you can visit
after each level where you can buy life-giving cakes, safes
to protect your money, good "mojo" (eww...), and even
a piece of the treasure map.
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This is
either a puzzle clue or Tourette's Syndrome.
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-- the
HELL?!
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It's all
pretty neat. Capcom actually took some time to try to improve
a game that could have been a cheap clone of its predecessor.
But, even with these additions, D2 just isn't as cool as D1.
The levels in D2 are richer than D1, offering the puzzle-solving
as well as the multi-tiered vine climbing, and yet D2's stages
aren't as interesting. Everything in D2 seems more complicated
but less engaging. One reason might be that most of D2 is a
drab brown, while D1 offered lots of color. Or perhaps the human
body just doesn't need TWO DuckTales games. For whatever reason,
I found myself skipping puzzles out of disinterest (though I
still beat the game, more on that below). Don't get me wrong;
it's a good game, just not great. Despite the new elements,
that intangible "grab-your-interest factor" seems
absent.
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...On second thought,
maybe I'm just bitter over the lack of a Gizmoduck cameo...
Anyway, at the
game's climax, we learn that the evil Flintheart Glomgold has kidnapped
Webby!! Scrooge is forced to meet Glomgold back at the pirate level
(mercifully an enemy-less shortened version of the level, unlike Transylvania
in D1) and trade all his treasure for Webby. But of course, Glommy
double-crosses him and...well...I don't really know how to put this...
He brings out a cyborg. Yes, as Arnold would say "likvid meduhl".
In fact the thing is even called the "D-1000" as a clever
reference. Cute...but damn weird... As if that weren't exciting enough,
DuckTales 2 actually has two endings! There's something you wouldn't
expect from a Disney kiddy game. If Scrooge beats all of the level
bosses but doesn't find all of the map pieces, the player sees the
first ending: Scrooge and the boys narrowly defeat Glomgold, and get
to keep the cash they've collected, but they never find the big mama
treasure they were searching for. This a real drag, because they don't
even tell you to play again for a different outcome, so you're left
wondering if the game was just leading you on all this time. If, however,
you solve all of the puzzles and collect all the pieces, a new area
called "Underground" appears on the map. Beat this level
and you get the second ending wherein you discover the wondrous, magical
secret of the game, which I can't tell you because I didn't really
bother to do that. Hey, as I said, not that engaging. And of course,
in the third ending, Meryl dies and Snake marries Otacon.
-reviewed 3/1/02 - game copyright 1993 Capcom
Capcom fixed the
controls for us, and threw in the item shop, multiple endings, and
a proper pre-title intro sequence. And best of all: NO TRANSYLVANIA!!
Bless me bagpipes!
I swear this isn't
a bad game, but it just won't hold your attention like the first one
did.
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5
- Same as D1, but lots of brown |
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7
- Can't get enough of that theme, but the level
tunes aren't as good this time |
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7
- Thank you, Capcom |
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6
- It's not quite D1 |
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60% |
DuckTales 2 on MobyGames
Gameplay video at NESGuide
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