"Life is like a hurricane... here in... Duck Burg. Race cars, lasers, air-o-planes: It's a... duck... blur! Might solve a mystery... or rewrite history" If you sang this in your head, you already know you need to come on inside. You're childhood awaits.
Story: The Beagle Boys are at it again, meddling in the affairs of Scrooge McDuck. This time, it's an all out assault on his Money Bin. With no time to lose, Scrooge makes his way to the building to find his riches are not the only things in danger, but so are his nephews captured as hostages!
Still this clan of criminals isn't usually the brightest bulbs and won't take long for the world's richest duck to take care of business... but in the conflict, a secret map is found, leading to five international treasures! It's time to go hunting!
Yes, there is a little more to the story then this but really, not much. Duck Tales was originally a release on the venerable Nintendo Entertainment System and the games of it's time never really focused on plot. With few exceptions what you got was just enough excuse for your character to be in the thick of their situation explained in the booklet that came with the cart. This remaster gives you more or less that kind of experience, if explained in the game itself instead, so don't expect a lot of depth here.
6/10
Graphics: What can I even say about the look of this game? If you remember the original 1987 animated series you have a good idea of the look this game is going for, and man does it deliver! From the opening scene forward, every character looks and moves with the same smooth animation you would expect from the show.
Still not everything is exactly the same and the game won't hide what it is by trying to convince you otherwise. The animation and look really is right out of the cartoon, but at the same time, these animations can be limited. For example, while many characters talk, no one has animation for it: just expressions during, making cut-scenes a lot more "game-like" then the animation might suggest it should be. But considering how much this game does it's best to deliver a look that still feels like the game of old, the choices here work.
Which the game does exceptionally well with the world itself as well. Anything that is not one of the characters is 3D rendered to capture the feel of the original. It's all bright, colorful, and fitting of the area in the world you will find Scrooge exploring. From ancient Transylvanian castles to the moon and back, expect to cover a lot of different places.
8/10
Sound: I have nothing but good to say about what this game brings to your ears. While the game is a modern title, it makes it's point quickly as the title music sticks to it's chiptune history. And while the rest will be more modern, you will basically be listening to remixes from the original title to more modern sources. I suspect there is still midi-work keeping the "game" feel and spirit of the original in check, but it does so amazingly.
And in the same tone, you are going to recognize several of the common sound effects just about directly from their 8-bit days as you climb, and pogo bounce your way through a lot of the world. It really is a tribute to the music and sound teams behind this game that such old-school sounds from a time when the technical limits reduced your choices fit in so perfectly with something so modern.
But the competition does not change what is so often the case in these games. The real star for your ear is the voice-work. The original cast from the TV series came back together to voice their characters and brought their A games... all of them. If you are nostalgic for an 80s childhood, this game is going to hit every note perfectly.
9/10
Gameplay: While a modern release, Duck Tales wears its NES origins on it's sleeve. You will play Scrooge McDuck in this 2D platformer that was lovingly crafted to take the look and feel of it's predecessor into the modern world, and you will start by deflecting the invasion of Beagle Boys at the money bin mentioned in the story section. This level is completely new to this version of the game and serves as the tutorial to show you the basic controls. This may make your eyes roll at the thought, but the developers did it right as it blends neatly with everything else you are going to play, only distinguishing itself with a couple texts when a new control is needed (which are very few and far between). Other then that, it employs everything you expect from the rest of the game with obstacles to climb (and pogo-stick-bounce around), enemies to avoid, and even a few environmental puzzles to both show you how objects you can whack with your cane react as well as how those same maneuvers you are told the buttons of work around the maps themselves. You will also notice how few buttons you actually use since the game harks back in these controls to the NES as well with a simple jump button and action button controlling everything in-game itself.
Once you finish this, you will be given a selection of 5 levels where the treasures you seek wait that you can play in any order you choose and replay at your desire. And depending on how much you want to complete the game, you may choose to do this several times. Unlike in the original, your money in this version buys access to extras like character portraits, artwork, and even renditions of the Duck Tales theme song you can open between levels at will. For some, this will be a fun romp through memory lane which will warrent several replays to earn. And while I am not part of that crowd, it is a replay functionality worth at least mentioning.
But the first time you enter one of these maps, you will get your final "instruction" window which will introduce you to a few quality of life updates to go with the graphics in the form of your "start" menu. In the original title, you could leave a level without finishing it if you could find Launchpad McQuack (Scrooge's rather crash-prone pilot), but that is no longer necessary for that is now in the start menu, as well as a map of the level you are in and a check-box set of the items you need to find to be able to reach the end of it. There are even a few ways to tweak how your controls work, but the most important update here is that you are no longer going in blind.
But that is not to say every update to the gameplay was a great idea. Do not get me wrong, it was fun right through, at least until the very end of the game when it introduced it's other new level.... the final one. Do not get me wrong, it was definitively worth adding something considering the original game just made you go back to Transylvania again to find the final boss. But at the same time, it seems like it was made to try to be more exciting in general and stumbles at times... mainly in the grand finale. In essence your hit-block is going to get you killed in the last section a lot as you learn the jumps that should be fairly easy without this complication. Between that and some of the precision rope/chain grabs at the end and expect a great experience to actively frustrate you at the very end.
7/10
Bugs: I can not say there were any real bugs in the game itself and in fact once I got it running it ran great for me. Unfortunately I have to say this with a caviat as my WiiU proved to be having issues that required me to redownload this game from the store to get it working at all. So... if you find something I missed, I missed it for good reason.
Overall: This game clearly came out for the nostalgic audience... nostalgic for both the NES game and original cartoon sharing it's name. And if they missed out, they REALLY missed out. Not having the same starting point (I had never played the NES game and while I remember the cartoon, it was more my brother who was into it then I was), I can not deny what is here is really good and for the most part a fun afternoon romp.... much like what it is calling back to.
Score:
8/10
Source: Originally picked up in the WiiU digital store, it seems to no longer be available there. However, codes and physical discs still exist in the wild.
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