Legend of the Gobbos Remaster Review

In the mid to late 90s, 3D platformers were experiencing a massive spike in both quality and popularity. With the original PlayStation and the Nintendo 64 having just been released, developers were getting to stretch their legs into a whole new dimension that was largely unexplored on previous consoles.

This new tech led to some truly prolific titles for players to jump into. Things like Mario 64 and Crash Bandicoot in 1996, followed by Spyro and Banjo-Kazooie in 1998, put 3D mascot platformers on the map for millions of gamers, and the medium would never be the same afterward. These games were seminal moments in gaming that rippled throughout history.

10 Most Memorable Platformer Characters

In video games, platformers are full of notable and iconic characters. Here are the best ones of the bunch.

Smack-dab in the middle of those other titles that would go on to create massive, long-lived, and beloved franchises, was the original Croc: The Legend of the Gobbos, dropped in 1997. While the game would ultimately garner praise from some outlets and fans, even at the time, it was a bit of a polarizing experience overall.

Croc‘s tank controls and basic level design weren’t up to par with Mario 64 (an unreasonably high bar to follow, to be sure), and while the game did end up with one sequel, a couple Game Boy versions, and a handful of mobile titles, the franchise ultimately fizzled out and has remained completely dormant for 20 years.

Because of all of this, it was a little surprising to learn that a remaster of the original title from 1997 was coming back in 2025. Would a game that got left behind in the 90s really be able to have a renaissance and capture modern audiences?

I jumped in to find out.

A Respect For Its History

The most enjoyable experience I had with the Croc remaster was with the truly lovely historical “Crocipedia” that the devs included with the title. Much like other retro remasters and collections we’ve seen in recent years, the team here went the extra mile to include nostalgic looks back at the original heyday of the series in the 90s.

You get to read little snippets about everyone involved with the project, watch goofy and endearing Japanese TV commercials from the time, browse a collection of fun merch, and flip through old magazine coverage from publications long defunct.

Sly Cooper, Psychonauts 2, And A Hat In Time

10 Best 3D platformers

3D platformers make up a large portion of games produced, but which ones are the best? Here are some of our favorites.

There’s even a step-by-step tutorial on how to crochet your own Croc plushy, which is truly adorable and endearing. It’s very clear that the team has so much love for the original title and the mascot they birthed into existence, and all this gathered material was genuinely heartwarming to look at.

I went through the whole Crocipedia before jumping into the actual game. It gave me hope that this remaster would somehow translate to the modern era in ways that I wasn’t expecting, and I’d ultimately end up having a good time with the title even in the likely event that it hadn’t aged the best over the last 28 years.

I can be a little naive at times.

Mild Modernization

Croc took an interesting approach with its levels of remastering. We’ve seen other throwback titles be revived and look like from-the-ground-up recreations of their previous iterations. Games like Spyro Reignited and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane trilogies clearly come to mind as great examples of this.

In extreme comparison, Croc opted for a much more low-key approach to the term “remaster.” The game is still polygonal and basic looking, just with a fresh sheen that brings the game to the 4K era and runs much more smoothly from start to finish.

Still, I couldn’t help but think that this also ultimately felt like a pretty low effort endeavor.

On the one hand, it’s kind of neat to see a game brought back in a way that looks on screen how you always imagined it as a kid in the 90s. Every gamer has had the experience of going back to a childhood title and thinking, “Whoa, this looks way worse than I remember,” so it’s cool in some ways that Croc really just aimed to bring the game to the standards of our memories.

On the other, I couldn’t help but think that this also ultimately felt like a pretty low effort endeavor. The game gives you menu options to flip between the original and remastered version of the graphics, even with the ability to throw a VGA or CRT filter on top for extra nostalgia. It’s here that you can also really see just how similar this game still somehow looks to the 1997 version.

It all kind of ends up feeling like remastering for the sake of remastering. It wasn’t necessary, and the result is largely underwhelming in the modern landscape. From a historical preservation angle, this is a cool idea. But it’s also likely not enough to entice most players to give Croc another look.

The Same Boring Gameplay And Levels

Possibly the most notable feature of 1997’s version of Croc was the game’s tank controls. Devs at the time were still figuring out how to get their characters to move around a 3D space most effectively, and the result for Croc was a super-clunky and bad-to-handle version of movement in comparison to pretty much anything else at the time.

It’s nice that in 2025, we can now play Croc with typical joystick controls and a camera on the right stick to reposition as you please. The tank controls are still available on the d-pad if you want to experience what the game was like back in the day, but… don’t do it.

Level designs are extremely basic and now painfully easy with modern controls.

While this updated control scheme is obviously nice, it doesn’t do anything to hide the fact that Croc really has never been a fun game in comparison with… almost anything else in the genre.

Level designs are extremely basic and now painfully easy with modern controls. The health system of Sonic ring-like crystals that scatter when you take damage feels terrible when you’ve collected around 80 and then are only able to recover 2 upon taking a hit.

Enemies are super generic and annoyingly respawn after a short timer. None of the collectibles feel rewarding to find, aside from gaining access to a short bonus ending to each level, that is usually not fun either.

Croc skates around a bit like he’s always on ice. Platforming is imprecise and rarely fun or interesting. Puzzles are never more than pushing a box or dangling from the bottom of a chain-link platform to cross a gap.

Boss fights are truly abysmal, boring, basic, and frustrating, weirdly lacking sound effects for incoming attacks and simply anticlimactically ending with a “level complete” screen once you land your third, awkward-feeling tail-swipe on your foe.

LittleBigPlanet on left, Banjo Kazooie in middle, Fez on right

10 Best Platformer Games

This list can give players a good idea of what to play if they are looking for a great platformer game to sink their teeth into.

At the end of the day, Croc really has next to nothing that is fun to complete or worth going back for. I found myself often just completely skipping a collectible Gobbo in a room because I knew it wouldn’t be rewarding to get to, and it wouldn’t matter if I collected it anyway.

I love platformers, and I love many collect-a-thon variations of them. For me to just want to beeline directly to the exit of every single level because nothing optional was ever fun or worthwhile is simply not a good sign.

Only For The Extremely Nostalgic

At the end of the day, I can’t see Croc remastered landing with anyone outside the select few that played it as a kid in 1997 and need a quick shot of nostalgia to make it through their day. For this audience, I’m sure they’ll love what’s been packaged together for them to time travel back into.

Longtime fans of platformers that still haven’t played Croc by 2025, however, will find nothing here worth experiencing. I don’t really even think kids of the day will find much enjoyment from the quick 5 or 6-hour journey, either. There are plenty of other modern contemporaries that will hold their attention more successfully.

What sucks the most is that it feels bad to come to these conclusions after playing the game, too. I know there are people that loved this title as a child. I know the devs are proud of the product and wanted to bring Croc back to celebrate the fun history they were a part of. All of that is a bummer to think about as you’re playing through a clunky, boring platformer that really doesn’t need to exist in the modern landscape.

Not every retro game needs or warrants an encore-type remaster to bring it back into the spotlight, and I cannot imagine that exposing a modern audience to this title will have people clamoring for a genuine reboot of the franchise. By the time I beat the final boss, I had been waiting for the game to end for hours, and I really don’t think I’ll be alone in that sentiment.

Still, you likely already know if this game is for you, then by all means, enjoy your trip down memory lane if you choose to check it out.

Unfortunately, Croc: The Legend of The Gobbos really never needed to come back. Even in 1997, it was a title plagued by cumbersome controls, generic worlds, and uninspired level design that were left behind by its more prolific contemporaries. While a nice sheen of extra polish and modernized movement does make this the best way to experience Croc in 2025, you still really just… don’t need to. Those that loved the game back in the day and know what to expect will be happy, but this is truly just a remaster for the nostalgia-starved. It’s clear that the developers have a lot of love for their green, reptilian hero, but it’s simply not enough to make Croc a fun 3D platformer for anyone else.