Gargoyles: Remastered Review – Review

It wasn’t uncommon for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis to receive slightly different versions of the same game; Mortal Kombat is a famous example of this. In other cases, like that of Disney’s Aladdin, the two versions were actually quite different, with one focusing more on combat and the other on platforming and movement. In some cases, like with the Lion King, the two games were essentially the same. Another Disney property was also going to see two entries come to the predominant 16-bit platforms of the ‘90s (no offense, Bonk), but it’s not hard to see why it ended up only hitting the Genesis. Based on the Gargoyles cartoon, Gargoyles Remastered is a short, frustrating, and unsatisfying video game, and while it includes the Genesis game packed in, neither the remaster nor the original are worth your time.

Across five stages with smaller individual areas within them, you guide Gargoyles protagonist Goliath through a castle, across rooftops, and into the depths of a subway. There’s a combination of horizontal and vertical spaces to navigate through and a smattering of enemies to take out along the way. The first two stages have about three different types of basic enemies and then a boss fight at the end, the second of which is laughably easy if you just stand beside them and mash the attack button. What makes the levels so frustrating is the combination of awkward combat and the way in which you’re constantly knocked down when scaling walls or jumping across gaps and pits.

Goliath can perform a swiping attack, a throw, a downward stomp, and a double jump. None of these feel particularly good; there’s a stickiness to the controls and a lack of feedback when it comes to your blows landing on their target. The Genesis version is a little bit better in this regard but not by much. I spent my first run of the game swiping dozens of times at one particular enemy before realizing I could defeat them easily by simply picking up and tossing them. Later stages require incredible precision and timing with your jumping, and Goliath’s jump and double jump don’t work nearly well enough for the types of obstacles and challenges you need to overcome. Fortunately, one of the few highlights of the Remaster is an added rewind button (although even that isn’t implemented well), and I can’t imagine rolling credits on this game without it. The final stage is laughably tough, and that’s only compounded by collision glitches and falling through solid walls and floors.

Both the Remaster and the original offer three difficulty modes, and gluttons for punishment might opt for anything other than the easiest one. Goliath has a weird life meter that can be restored in miniscule amounts by collecting the items left behind by defeated enemies. Other than that, there are rare extra lives to snag and (very) temporary invulnerability pick-ups. While you do have a handful of lives depending on the difficulty, the number of continues is limited. It’s great that losing a life or continuing basically starts you off at the same place where you died, but I’ll reiterate just how hard it is to finish either version without extensive practice or skill, or just making ample use of the rewind feature.

The Remaster deserves credit for how its visual design brings the game more in line with the cartoon. That said, there are still too many moments where it’s not readily apparent how to progress; destructible walls blend in too well, air pumps to be smashed don’t stand out from the background, and even objects to cling to aren’t obvious enough. The sound effects range from ear-splitting to inaudible, and little about the music is at all memorable. It’s clear that there was an effort made to bring Gargoyles to modern platforms, but I’m at a loss as to the reasoning for why.

One of the pretty clear indications that Gargoyles Remastered is a failure is in its lack of achievements, a feature promised by its eShop listing. Another broken promise is that of seamlessly toggling between graphics styles; you can either select the original Genesis game or the Remaster, but there’s no switching between them unless you go back to the main menu and start over. Worse than any promises unfulfilled is that the game just isn’t very good at all, and it’s mired by bugs, lacks basic options and tutorials, and only spans five total stages. Gargoyles is a relic that should have remained set in 16-bit stone, sealed away never to return. I’m normally very supportive of the effort to bring back old and forgotten games, but even superfans of the TV series shouldn’t be tortured by this unnecessary re-release.