Back Seat Gamer: Disney Duck Tales Remastered
Intro:
As a young girl who was born in the 80’s and grew up in that and the 90’s I have fond memories of watching Disney cartoons that were awesome. In fact I watched more cartoons then I did live action shows - I was a dork. I love that these shows are on DVD now so I can rewatch them, though I’m still waiting for some like Aladdin. Duck Tales was a lot of fun to watch and it was interesting how they managed to make a greedy jerk into a lovable character who really did care about his family in spite of his flaws. I especially loved the spin-off which became Darkwing Duck, but that’s another subject.
Summary:
It’s just another day in Duckburg as the Beagle Brothers are trying to rob the moneybin and kidnap Huey, Dewey and Louie. In the process of saving his nephews, Scrooge McDuck discovers a secret in one his paintings which will lead him to even more treasure and riches. Unless, of course, someone else gets there first.
Thoughts:
From the opening screen through the entire game, this game makes you think of the show. They have everything! All the voices, as far as I can tell, are the same. All the characters you vaguely remember from a childhood of being glued to the Disney channel are there and they all have a moment to themselves, reminding you about their various loves and plot points. Gizmoduck, Launchpad, Webby, Duckworth… even Bubba Duck! The team that made this game obviously know the show and make places for these characters that are useful and add to the fun, rather then just having them be part of the set in the background.
The music is catchy as heck and seems to be this perfect marriage between 8 bit midi sounding notes and remixes of the original show scene. If you listen closely you can catch the main refrain in that techno theme and then it will never leave your head. But it does a good job of walking the line and never quite becoming annoying. You won’t mind having these themes in the back of your mind while you’re eagerly awaiting work to be over so you can play more. (This actually means a lot coming from me as I have a tendency to get annoyed with traditionally sounding video game soundtracks.)
Apparently an added bonus in this game - my partner was sure it wasn’t in the original - you can swim in the money bin! Also, as you go through the levels, your collected treasure is added to the money bin too. My only wish is that the level of coins would have changed, just because it would have been amusing.
How Much I Played:
Pffft. You don’t know me too well, but this is the sort of game I royally SUCK at. Anything that involves the simple mechanics of having to time jumps onto villains’ heads and the next platform spell out doom for me even at the simplest setting. Sonic the Hedgehog tortured me with this as a kid and I just know from watching this game that I would have died so many times in the first level I would have given up from pure frustration. So yeah, I didn’t play any of this one, sorry. Instead I was sewing and watching and occasionally doing the backseat driving of “Jump there, that thing, hit him with that!” It’s still a very enjoyable game to watch, especially if you’ve seen the show and have fond memories of the characters.
Grade:
Old school remastered fun!
(Hmm, maybe I should come up with some sort of rating system….)
