You may or may not know this game. It was released back in 2004 on the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube. I'm reviewing the Playstation 2 version and this will be my first game with images. Woo hoo.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/93/Scaler.jpg/256px-Scaler.jpg
So we should start with the plot. A twelve year old kid called Bobby Jenkins is transformed by his evil neighbour (Looger) who is planning to take over the world. It's overall a simple plot and kind of dumb but it's not the end of the world. Besides the simple plot works quite well here. Insulting this game's plot is like insulting the plot of a Mario game. There's so little that there isn't any point. Now, time to move onto the gameplay.
http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/5462/2h/images.gamezone.com/screens/23/0/5/s23005_XB_28.jpg
The most interesting feature Scaler boasts is the ability to transform in to five different creatures. I thought this mostly worked quite well. One of the transformations is used for flying. It wasn't that bad but I, personally, found it very tedious. The currency is Klokkies. You use these to buy new powers such as the ability to turn invisible which allows you crawl over dangerous, muddy areas and to confuse enemies. The last thing I want to talk about here is the ability to ride on vines. While it works perfectly fine it feels very similar to Ratchet and Clank which came out two years earlier. The main difference is that riding these vines gives you electric bombs which can kill enemies in one hits. These work on at least some of the bosses and are incredibly overpowered. Overall the gameplay is good but too easy with a few more difficult parts scattered in between.
The combat is simple but not too bad. Your main form has two moves. A swipe with your claws or a tongue lick (yes a tongue lick). Each other form has different moves as well but I'm not going to go in to too much detail here. It doesn't do much new but what it does do is done quite well.
http://www.gamechronicles.com/reviews/xbox/scaler/scaler6.jpg
The game looks ok. It's hard to talk about the graphics when I've gotten used to my 360 but as far as I can remember I was impressed back when I first played it. I might be wrong though just ignore me f you don't agree here. Most of all though the game worlds look great. They're extremely varied in look and add a nice feel to the game . In the end though my main problem with the levels is that while the look different they aren't. There's some racing, flying and boss levels but the rest are all the same simple platforming.
Scaler's a surprisingly good game but it's not better than most of the other platformers of the last generation. If you're looking for a good sixth gen platformer then get Ratchet and Clank or Jak and Daxter (PS2), Super Mario Sunshine (Gamecube) and as for Xbox. Well, there's bound to be something. Scaler does what other games have done but better. Not better enough sadly. 7 out of 10.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/93/Scaler.jpg/256px-Scaler.jpg
So we should start with the plot. A twelve year old kid called Bobby Jenkins is transformed by his evil neighbour (Looger) who is planning to take over the world. It's overall a simple plot and kind of dumb but it's not the end of the world. Besides the simple plot works quite well here. Insulting this game's plot is like insulting the plot of a Mario game. There's so little that there isn't any point. Now, time to move onto the gameplay.
http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/5462/2h/images.gamezone.com/screens/23/0/5/s23005_XB_28.jpg
The most interesting feature Scaler boasts is the ability to transform in to five different creatures. I thought this mostly worked quite well. One of the transformations is used for flying. It wasn't that bad but I, personally, found it very tedious. The currency is Klokkies. You use these to buy new powers such as the ability to turn invisible which allows you crawl over dangerous, muddy areas and to confuse enemies. The last thing I want to talk about here is the ability to ride on vines. While it works perfectly fine it feels very similar to Ratchet and Clank which came out two years earlier. The main difference is that riding these vines gives you electric bombs which can kill enemies in one hits. These work on at least some of the bosses and are incredibly overpowered. Overall the gameplay is good but too easy with a few more difficult parts scattered in between.
The combat is simple but not too bad. Your main form has two moves. A swipe with your claws or a tongue lick (yes a tongue lick). Each other form has different moves as well but I'm not going to go in to too much detail here. It doesn't do much new but what it does do is done quite well.
http://www.gamechronicles.com/reviews/xbox/scaler/scaler6.jpg
The game looks ok. It's hard to talk about the graphics when I've gotten used to my 360 but as far as I can remember I was impressed back when I first played it. I might be wrong though just ignore me f you don't agree here. Most of all though the game worlds look great. They're extremely varied in look and add a nice feel to the game . In the end though my main problem with the levels is that while the look different they aren't. There's some racing, flying and boss levels but the rest are all the same simple platforming.
Scaler's a surprisingly good game but it's not better than most of the other platformers of the last generation. If you're looking for a good sixth gen platformer then get Ratchet and Clank or Jak and Daxter (PS2), Super Mario Sunshine (Gamecube) and as for Xbox. Well, there's bound to be something. Scaler does what other games have done but better. Not better enough sadly. 7 out of 10.
