DUCKTALES REMASTERED

Christmas 1990... Back in a time when we didn’t have mobile phones or the internet, where movies, TV shows and even commercials meant something and were full with boobs, where we all still read videogame magazines as well as instruction manuals for the games we played. It was a time when Christmas itself was special because we got videogames as presents. But you know, whatever game you got was yours to play for a very long time. It wasn’t like today that you could afford a new game every month or week, unless you had super rich yuppie-parents like in those commercials I mentioned before. So in my case I was lucky to get an average of two games per year, one for Christmas and one for my birthday. Maybe that’s also one major reason why games just meant more back then… because they actually were rare. We had to enjoy every last bit of it. This included reading the manual over and over - especially during long car trips, when visiting relatives. We even had to socialize with other people in real life, so that we could exchange games for a while! But who am I kidding? These days won’t come back. Even the manuals are dying because publishers obviously deem them unnecessary while realizing how much money they can save and keep in their own pockets instead. Now I am crying again! Thank you very much… DuckTales - uhu-u!

After this rather nostalgic introduction... how in the world am I supposed to write something objective about this game? I just can't... but maybe that's good and that's what Ducktales Remastered deserves. I loved the game on the NES when I was young, no, I still love it and it will always remain amongst the best games every made. And this new one is a remake - actually a good one. A real remake, which means it's the same game just with modern graphics and sound. Most of the items are on the same place and the levels play almost exactly like in the original version! I love remakes like that. Seriously, I can't get enough of them. Do you remember the great remakes of Monkey Island by Lucasarts? - I tell you: We need a lot more remakes!

If you liked the old one, you definitely need to check out this remake! Unfortunately, besides the point that I think it's a bit overpriced with almost 15€, the game is also totally overloaded with dialogues. That's a nice gesture and I think especially the younger audience will appreciate it, but in reality all this talking is not necessary. How much talking was there in the old one? The dialogues and scenes pop up so frequently there is almost no flow in the game. Yes, you can skip the scenes but given the frequency and above all the restart of the stage music after each dialogue you will always feel completely ripped out of the game. Sorry guys from WayForward but how could that have happened? Why restart the music every other minute? Please ask me next time, ok? I am not the only one who feels the experience is destroyed by the dialogues, but I am probably the only one who could have told you this nice trick to keep the song playing in the background of most dialogues in advance. You could have simply turned down the volume a bit. That way - and especially with such a great and catchy soundtrack - people wouldn't feel to be taken out from the game so easily. Yes, I know the original voice acting (unfortunately only in English!) must have cost you a lot, but that's no reason to kill the gameplay and wipe it in our faces every single minute! Also I think it's pretty much misplaced to skip ingame-dialogues in platformers by pressing start and then selecting "Skip Scene". How about just holding down a button and simply fast-forwarding the dialogue and the scene?

Anyway, overall this is a great old game brought to life again with modern clothes. For me it's more the nostalgic value that remains. Check out the beautiful piano arrangement of the Moon-Theme (YouTube), which is played during the credits... close your eyes and get back to those days of your childhood. When we were as much innocent as the games we played, when every day was an adventure and even the smallest games meant everything to us. When we tried and fought until we beat them. Thanks for every remake that's out there. I've played this one, I will continue to play it, and I also have just setup my old NES and play the original right now!

What to do? Just grab on to some...