When the Gargoyles video game for the Sega Genesis was announced to be getting a remaster, there was a lot of interest from fans. The cartoon was a true classic from Disney in the 90s and a remaster that promised visuals closer to the cartoon and with new music seemed like a must-play game. Well, the game looks nice, but some issues need to be addressed.

While many have hailed the game as a classic, many others have called it mediocre and bland as well. So is it a classic, or a game best left alone? Well, the answer is a bit complicated.

Gargoyles is a game that comes from an era where games were deliberately made more difficult to discourage rentals and encourage purchases instead. The game has everything it needs to be a classic, great IP, a good plot and concept and good set pieces, but the issues rear their head very quickly. Gargoyles can be difficult to the point of being unfair, and some sections genuinely feel poorly designed.

Enemies can damage you far too easily, and many of the platforming sections have collision detection issues. It was hoped that the remaster would include a version that was tweaked a bit, but that didn’t happen. There were new difficulty modes added, but the overall issues were not addressed.

The remastering itself is a bit of a mixed bag. The new music that is straight out of the cartoon is truly excellent and some of the best music in a video game. The visuals on the other hand do not work right with how the game plays, since while the look is much closer to the cartoon, there is a bit of visual dissonance when in play due to using the animations based on the original game.

There is also not a lot of extra content here, especially compared to other re-releases of classic Disney games, and that feels like a missed opportunity. And to be honest, the remaster overall feels like a bit of a missed opportunity because of what could have been done instead. Rather than just a new set of visuals and music, there could have been many adjustments to the gameplay to make Gargoyles Remastered a much better experience.

What we have in the end is a game that still feels difficult without being rewarding and still has the problems of lacking excitement from the original release. In many ways, Gargoyles Remastered is a confusing release since it clearly has work done to it and switching between the original and new visuals is great, and the addition of a rewind option does help with the difficult situations, but it just doesn’t click. The rewind feature feels almost like a bandage on a deeper issue rather than fixing the problem and the game feels unsatisfying as a result.

Ultimately, we cannot recommend Gargoyles Remastered as it is just not enough of a value to justify the purchase. Maybe if it was part of a collection of remastered games based on the Disney Afternoon lineup, but on its own, it falls short. Too many other Disney classics are more worthwhile than this, so save your money.

 

Disclaimer: A review key was provided

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