Game #949: Disney's Hercules

  Ah yes, a classic 9. L .G. , a 90's Licensed Game.

 I'm not the biggest Disney fan, but I've a small Animated Disney movies marathon planned for one of these months, regardless, they have two movies I absolutely adore: 101 Dalmatians and Hercules, no wonder I love being strong so much. But I digress, Disney's Hercules is one of the games that convinced me that, despite having grown up as a Nintendo kid, the PS2 was the way to go, since I played a bit of it at a friend's birthday, and since the PS2 was backwards compatible... sign me up.

 The game lasts about two hours, and it covers the entire movie, we even get a few clips which was pretty cool. It's a very pretty 2-D action game, albeit using 2-D sprites over 3-D backgrounds, and trust me, it's quite a looker. Just the first boss' fantastic defeat animation shows you how much they cared about making Hercules into a videogame. Most of the scenes that could be adapted into a videogame were, and they took some liberties with others, overall I'd say it worked. I want to single out the Hydra fight as one of the best things this game did, as the fight is true to the movie.

 On the other hand... control can be a bit clunky. If you get hit while on air you won't be able to swing your sword, and if you get hit mid-animation it gets cancelled. Hercules' movement is a bit floaty, and for whatever reason you're give the option of punching things...but why would you when the sword is much faster and reaches further? Interspersed through the game are a few stages in which Hercules is constantly running forward and you have to dodge left and right. By themselves they are fairly mediocre, but as breathers every now and then they were alright.

 The game is a bit challenging. A bit very challenging. Everything and everyone is out to murder Hercules, to the point that some damage seems completely unavoidable. To add insult to injury, the save system is downright diabolical, you can't save your game unless you find the four well-hidden mystery password urns. You don't get to save onto your memory nor do you get a password unless you find them in a stage. And I thought Crash 1 was bad about saving.... And don't try to play the game on easy, otherwise the game will cut short before its final two stages. Lame!

 Disney's Hercules hasn't aged very well, but when I look at this game as a whole... I think it's very charming and I also feel like it did a great job at adapting the movie. I mean, it makes more sense if you have previous knowledge of the movie, for example, the Medusa fight just comes out of nowhere, no context, no nothing, but the rest of the game feels more cohesive.

6.0