Gargoyles was a show that interested me as a kid, but I rarely got to sit down and watch. It was another “darker” Saturday morning cartoon that came about in the wake of Batman: The Animated Series’ success. In fact, the first season was penned by writers from that series. It was the thing at the time. What I remember liking best about Gargoyles was the comfortable feeling of danger and tension that was unique to this particular brand of cartoon.
I’m actually more familiar with the 1995 Sega Genesis game based on the property, which, as it turns out, isn’t entirely faithful. It’s also not very good. It’s okay at best. So, it’s interesting to see Disney revisit the title, though it’s likely got a lot to do with the planned Disney+ live-action adaptation. But does a remaster fix all the issues with the Genesis original and make it a game worth playing?
No. Don’t be silly.
Gargoyles Remastered (PC, Switch [Reviewed], PS4, Xbox One)
Developer: Empty Clip Studios
Publisher: Disney
Released: October 19, 2023
MSRP: $14.99
If you’re unfamiliar, the premise of the series is that the eponymous race of mythological creatures have been kept dormant in stone and awakened in the present day. They sort of become super-heroes in a way, specializing in dealing with things from the past causing problems in the present. Along the way, they try to hide their existence from the public and learn about all the ways the world has changed in the last century.
The game starts in 994 AD with Goliath dealing with the humans before it jumps ahead on the third level to the present day. It focuses on “The Eye of Odin,” an artifact of incredible but largely undefined power.
In the game, you’re stuck playing as Goliath, since he’s the hunkiest, while all the other gargoyles are nowhere to be seen. That is, aside from Demona, who makes an appearance at the very end. There are cutscenes in between levels, but they do a very poor job of telling any sort of coherent narrative. Really, if you’re unfamiliar with the cartoon, it might look like a really angry Gargoyle wakes up and goes on a rampage. As I mentioned, it’s not incredibly faithful to the plot of the series, largely just sticking to, I don’t know, the spirit of the narrative. Kind of.
If you played The Lion King, I’ve got bad news for you: Gargoyles is sort of similar. Goliath can double-jump, but his slash attack is similar to Simba’s, complete with iffy collision detection. He’s also got a move where he picks up and throws his foe, but it’s extremely picky about how close you are to an enemy when attempting it. A throw is usually an instant kill, but attempting it can cost you a lot of health. However, some enemies take a lot of swipes to bring down, so it’s sometimes worth the risk. There’s always the rewind button if the game isn’t playing fair.
The movement system is difficult to get the hang of. That’s mostly a charitable way of saying it’s way worse than the best platformers on the Genesis, but it’s not completely awful. The biggest problem is having to swing on things, which a lot of games that use cartoon animations seem to love for some reason. The second level is the worst for it since its “hooks” open and close. When they’re open, they cause damage and make you fall backward, so it leads to an obnoxious difficulty spike. The third level also has a lot of swinging, but it’s a lot simpler because the hooks don’t abruptly turn into obstacles.
The bosses are horrible. The second one, in particular, you can just stand inside of and keep on swiping. It stunlocks him until he just drops dead. The third boss is probably the best, but that’s largely because it takes place on a free-falling elevator. Being the best boss in this game is a really low bar to step over.
In terms of the upgrades in this remaster, the biggest one is a graphical overhaul, which is a mixed bag. One of the best parts of the Genesis original is its moody use of the limited color palette. The new style is more true to the cartoon, but it completely loses that atmosphere. The inconsistency is hard to ignore.
The fourth level, which takes place on a subway train, looks worse in the remaster because it removes the train’s back wall. Likewise, I prefer the city skyline of the Genesis version, but that might just be my love of 16-bit cities. On the other hand, the third level features a lady sleeping on the couch in front of a TV, and this looks better in the remaster, and I really love it. That’s sort of damning with praise, I suppose.
The legibility of the graphics is similarly inconsistent. There is one part in the third level where you need to break open a steam valve. I walked in circles and couldn’t figure out where to go until I switched back to the 16-bit graphics and noticed the valve actually stands out as something that’s interactive. Enemy attacks are somewhat more legible in the newer art style, but only in some rare cases.
You can switch graphical styles at any time, which I always love to see in remasters. However, each time I did, I realized I appreciated the Genesis-style graphics better because of how they utilized the hardware. Within the context of the era, they’re fun to see, but when you go into higher-quality visuals, that’s entirely lost.
Thankfully, you can still play a mostly faithful port of the Genesis game, but while I was playing through it, the game suddenly reset. There’s a button combination in the original version that would do this, but I wasn’t even close to hitting it. Not sure what that was about. One moment, I was batting an enemy like a cat with a toy mouse. The next, I was looking at the Buena Vista logo.
Even beyond the graphics, the entire package is pretty rough. One of my first experiences with the game was falling through the ground during combat in the first level. Not sure if that was a bug in the original release. There are also areas where the modern widescreen perspective goes beyond the level boundaries, but rather than extend the background or something, the developers just put a black strip there, which looks awful. These things might be fixed with a release update, but I’m not sure that’s worth counting on.
I’ve said it before, but Gargoyles is… fine. I’ve played worse. There are even far worse Disney games on Genesis, but there are also much, much better platformers. The remaster really doesn’t do anything to elevate the game above that, aside from modern comforts like rewind and save states.
Speaking of which, you should also probably keep in mind that Gargoyles is a ridiculously short game. You only get one continue on medium difficulty, so depending on how much you fail and how willing you are to accept that failure, it might take longer for you to actually complete the game. However, a successful run can be accomplished in less than an hour. Five levels. Not great.
Truly, this is one for the fans. It’s a remaster for people who have fond memories of renting it for the Genesis back in the day. Fans of the cartoon might also find some value in it, as much as it tends to be an unfaithful adaptation. For everyone else, there are a lot of other games you can play before you need to reach the depths of Gargoyles. It’s not terrible, it just isn’t good. But at least it hasn’t been left sleeping for one thousand years.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]
