Games for Lunch: Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil
In a nutshell: Selective double jump.
1/12/2009 8:36 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Namco
Release Date: July 25, 2001
System: PlayStation 2
ESRB Rating: E
0:00 I've been hearing excellent things about the Klonoa series of platformers for years, but I only purchased this one because it was $8 at GameStop. And I'm only playing it now because a Twitter friend gave it a high recommendation. I am cheap and easily influenced, apparently.
0:01 A big-eared, black and blue bunny thing with red sneakers runs down a dirt road in a green clearing as the camera pans dramatically around. A little ditty plays and he jumps, crying out "Yeah!" as he does. The title appears. Alrighty then! New game!
0:02 The game gets early bonus points for allowing me to toggle which button is "shoot" and which is "jump." Obviously X should be jump, but it's nice of them to offer the option...
0:03 Very gentle, somewhat discordant music plays in the background. It sounds a bit like someone playing on a recorder. I'm not a fan.
0:04 "Klonoa Works Presents
Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil -- There's a forgotten dream. Was it a dream I can't remember, or a dream I won't remember? Have I got the dream or has the dream got me? Surely, there was a dream." The black and blue guy is falling upside-down through an inky void with some small white lights. DreamVoice: "Help... help me." Now he's fallen in the ocean on a quiet, rainy night full of clouds. "There he is," says the crew of a red biplane passing by. "Okay, okay... leave it to me!" They swing by to pick him up, but then think twice because of some witnesses on the beach. "We can't risk losing the Ring." They fly off to menace another day, I suppose.
0:07 The black and blue guy is named Klonoa, obviously. He's washed up on shore. "Oomph..." Red-haired human Lolo asks if he's all right. She's a priestess in training. Her companion is a demented-looking teddy bear thing with claws named Popka. I can't tell if the voice work is in Japanese or just some gibberish cutesy language. Either way, the text is too slow. I miss voice acting. Even bad voice acting.
0:10 In the middle of some backstory, suddenly a huge shark monster jumps out and almost devours the trio. "M, maybe we should wait until later to talk." Sounds good to me!
0:11 Lolo turns into a white ball of light and flies into a ring in Klonoa's hand. "Let's get this show on the road!" says Popka. "Huh? What? What the...?!" responds Klonoa. Those two statements accurately capture my current thinking.
0:12 "Vision Start: Sea of Tears, The Encounter" Quite a dramatic name. The music is filled with bells now... it sure beats the recorder. I like the ever-present rain effect.
0:13 Despite the 3-D characters and environs, the gameplay seems distinctly 2-D. The analog stick doesn't seem to work -- I need to use the d-pad to move Klonoa. When was this game made, 1986?
0:14 There are some little red enemy things walking around. I try to jump on them, like a good platform game player, but I get hurt. Three tries and I'm dead. You'd think I'd have learned from the first jump, huh?
