Klonoa is a short, if passé, adventure. Although you'll be too mesmerised by its artistic advantages to notice
The story is about a dweller of the Wind Village under the name of Klonoa. One day, Klonoa remembers a certain dream that turned into a terrible nightmare. Coincidently this dream comes true as an airship crashes nearby his home and he, alongside his childhood friend Hewpoe (a ring spirit) investigate the site. What follows is a tale of heroism. Klonoa and Hewpoe try to stop the evil Ghadius and his assistant Joker in their plot to turn the heroes' home into a nightmarish landscape and stop the people of Phantomile from having pleasant dreams.
Klonoa plays as a classic adventure and features all the familiar characteristics of a retro 2D platformer using the luxurious 3D effects possible from the Nintendo Wii hardware. The aim is to reach the end of the level by beating your foes, collecting keys and saving captured villagers dispersed throughout the game. Because of this, Klonoa features some very simplistic controls and can even be played with a horizontal Wiimote on it's own as if a standard Nes controller. Other control methods include the Wii classic controller, Gamecube controller and the Wiimote + Nunchuck combo.
Klonoa is able to jump with a touch of a button and able to fly if kept hold of it, a lot similar to how Yoshi played in the later Mario games and Super Smash Brothers series. Klonoa can also attack using the spirit power of Hewpoe in his ring and this grabs the enemy which you can either throw by pressing attack again or use to double jump by pressing jump and jump again while in mid-air. Both methods are vital to finding secrets in the game and can be used inventively to take out groups of enemies in the game. And if some enemies prove too sneaky to catch then you can slow them down by shaking the Nunchuck or Wiimote (depending on control scheme).
There are many different level types in Klonoa and numerous types of foes to take out along the way. And much like in any other platformer you have to take advantage of your new enviroments like lava or water to progress further in the game. Each level set is split into acts with a boss at the end of each one. The bosses are your typical "find a flaw and exploit it" types. Perhaps the best thing about Klonoa is the puzzles featured throughout the game which are generally satisfying and not the usual feature of a platformer such as this one. Like there is one towards the end of the game that requires having two switches pressed at once to open a door and you need to sequence jumps and attacks perfectly in order to do it in time.
However with that said, Klonoa isn't exactly the hardest platformer ever as it is actually quite easy to play and complete. The game can also be finished relatively quickly in around ten hours or less. For an average gamer, it would probably take about a week or two in total to finish. Although the game does feature a few unlockables in the form of extra costumes and a reverse mode for replay value.
And also, while the gameplay is still very fun and addictive as it was in 1997, it doesn't level up to the depth of modern day, and fully 3D, platformers such as Super Mario Galaxy or Ratchet and Clank. This would perhaps make it less of a game worth buying for a younger generation of gamers that aren't used to those types of games.
Though that isn't to say it doesn't match the competition's high quality FX or aesthetics. Klonoa is one of the most appealing games on Wii and has impressive presentation qualities. There are real time cut-scenes featuring full voice acting (though not the best), very distinctive visual effects and details that make true use of the Wii's hardware. It has a memorable soundtrack too that matches the moods of each "vision" of the game. Being the same tracks they'd undeniably be nostalgic for fans of the original Playstation version too.
So if you're in need of a memorable Wii title, consider Klonoa a short, if passé, adventure to make up for the lack of classics on the machine otherwise. Fans of the original will be satisfied by the up-haul in presentation and newcomers alike will be mesmerised by its artistic advantages in terms of sound and graphics.