There's just not much to do in this overly-simplistic and overly-saccharine platformer remake.
Klonoa begins with its title character relaxing in his village with his floating friend Hewpoe by his side. What begins as a normal day turns into a rush for power when the nightmare lord Ghadius rears his helmeted head, out to eliminate the peacefulness of Klonoa's world with some old-fashioned evil-doing. Klonoa follows the wise advice of his grandfather and the local village leaders, while also getting ambushed (and frequently annoyed) by Ghadius's lackey Joker. The story has the atmosphere of a pound of sugar, never letting up on the "becoming-a-hero" and "it's-your-destiny" themes that have invaded so many platformers before it, along with being filled to the brim with saccharine characters. The story does pick up at a decent pace and there are a fair amount of plot twists throughout, but the story never pulls itself away from the typical storybook narrative that exists in many, many platformers.
Klonoa for Wii is actually a remake of the Playstation game, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, and follows the original's formula remarkably well. While Klonoa has all of the visual trappings of a 3-D game, the game mostly plays in a 2-D plane. Controlling Klonoa in the 2-D plane is extremely accessible, offering only a few techniques. Pressing the A button on the Wii Remote lets Klonoa jump, with a second press and hold allowing him to float for a short time. The B-Trigger lets Klonoa use his Wind Bullet attack, which is the basis for a tremendous amount of the actions in-game. Attacking an enemy with the Wind Bullet lets Klonoa hold the enemy with wind. A held enemy can be used as a projectile weapon against another enemy by pressing the B-Trigger again, or by pressing the A button while holding an enemy, Klonoa can double-jump to access higher areas. Combining different Wind Bullet attacks and double-jumps takes some practice, but the end result offers some strong platforming techniques. The 3-D graphics allow Klonoa to access items in the background along with the foreground, and while this is a cool idea, it doesn't change the gameplay much. It feels like a gimmick and isn't used to its fullest. What's even stranger is that the controls are so simple that you may wonder why you even need the Nunchuk at all, since it's only used for the analog stick (and an odd wind attack by shaking it). Couldn't the Wii Remote alone work just as well? Apparently not. The overall gameplay of Klonoa is accessible, but you may find the simplicity to overstay its welcome, resulting in a game without a ton of depth.
Each level, or "vision", follows traditional side-scrolling design, but occasionally the game will offer some branching paths for extra lives or items. While these branching paths do demand some degree of platforming prowess, the reward doesn't feel substantial enough. Exploring every nook and cranny of the levels isn't hard or rewarding. The use of the Wind Bullet, though, is actually a pretty cool idea, and the overall implementation has a surprising sense of flow. The more advanced moves, like triple-jumping off of multiple enemies, flow together and do give the gameplay a bit of an identity. The enemies respawn frequently, so there are many opportunities to try again if you mess up. That being said, the game never seems to shake off its simplistic nature. The design never seems creative enough, especially compared to modern side-scrollers like Wario Land: Shake It. The reason other side-scrollers have survived in such a deprived genre is that they've taken the simple abilities of its characters and done many different things to make the moves creative and versatile. Klonoa, despite having its moments, doesn't accomplish that feat, making the game feel overly simplistic and repetitive.
The main quest of Klonoa is a sparse six hours, relying on barely a handful of levels. The levels can be pretty lengthy, but the overall longevity of the game relies on an unlockable Time Attack and Reverse Mode. You can also look for hidden locals trapped throughout the levels, but once again, this isn't very complex or interesting. The simplicity and low difficulty of the game most likely won't draw the average gamer back in, which is a disappointment considering that the overall level design has its challenge. Klonoa has its charm, but the game doesn't have the strength to be worthy of anything more than a rental.
Being originally released as a Playstation title, it's definitely apparent that the Wii remake has an increased presentation. The result is an incredible graphic update, with plenty of bright colors and hues to show off the game's light-hearted nature. The levels look great and the different environment-specific actions capture the adventurous nature of the game's characters. It could've been better if the levels had more of such actions, but that doesn't stop Klonoa from being a great-looking Wii title. The sound design on the other hand is hit-or-miss. The music is pretty generic, but it's family-friendly and light-hearted enough to hold the atmosphere of each level. The voice acting, despite having plenty of top-notch voice talent like Laura Bailey and Wendee Lee, will wear on your patience. The writing is pretty cheesy and the overall performance feels forced and overly-saccharine. Hearing Klonoa going "Let's go!" over and over is lame. Graphically, the game is a shining example of a family-friendly design that can appeal to both kids and adults, but the voice acting will no doubt leave you groaning at its overly-sweet performance.
Pros
+ Lush and colorful graphic design
+ Accessible controls
+ Level design has its share of challenge
Cons
- Lame voice acting
- Gameplay is too simple
- Short length
I really wanted to like Klonoa, but the end result is too simplistic and uncreative to hold gamers' attention for more than the six or so hours the story provides. The controls are tight and responsive, and the different abilities do have a small bit of smooth flow, but they are just too basic to capture the attention of hardened platformer fans. The graphics are beautiful and bright, but the presentation seriously suffers from the cheesy voice acting. Klonoa's Wind Bullet gameplay is inventive and can lead to a few complex challenges, but it lacks versatility and never feels fully fleshed out as a gameplay mechanic. The short length also prevents the Wind Bullet gameplay from reaching its potential as a prime ability. Klonoa has a huge amount of competition in its genre, so it's admirable to see Namco Bandai go at it with another Klonoa installment. However, Klonoa's family-friendly image cannot mask the overly-simplistic gameplay, painfully brief length, and annoying voice acting. At the end of the day, Klonoa is a rental. This remake is a decent presentation upgrade from the Playstation and it has just enough longevity to keep a gamer, young or old, satisfied for a short while; just don't expect much else.