Everything is getting remastered or remade these days. From the game you played as a kid that no one else has ever heard of, to five-year-old triple-A blockbusters with differences that only those playing on a $700 console connected to an 80-inch OLED screen are ever going to notice, everything is fair game. Next up to the plate is Croc: Legend of The Gobbos, a PS1 classic lost to time that is truly deserving of the remastered treatment.
Croc rocked up during the golden era of PlayStation platforming that some would argue has never been topped. The original Crash Bandicoot and Spyro trilogies still hold up to this day, as evidenced by their own remasters. So for Croc to leave a lasting impression was an impressive feat. For that impression to have lasted long enough that people are excited for a remaster more than two decades later, even more so.
Croc’s Revival Is Everything You Could Possibly Want From A Remaster
Given it’s been a good 25 years since I last played the original Croc, I took it for a spin before getting started with the remaster, and I had a lot of fun. While it didn’t reach the lofty platforming heights of Crash or Spyro, it was as good as I remembered. However, what became abundantly clear within seconds of playing the remaster is that the game was in dire need of a fresh coat of paint.
Fresh paint might be the wrong way of putting it as that implies the original Croc looked bad. It didn’t, and still bears an early 3D charm that, to this day, is unmistakable. Croc’s remaster looks better, of course, but it’s not how the new version looks that makes it such a good remaster – it’s how it feels.
If you don’t have a spare copy of the original Croc handy, you can flick between the old graphics and the new ones by hitting the touchpad on PS5. There are also options that let you toggle between the old and new graphics for the levels and their models in the game’s settings.
The original Croc had tank controls. I know there are a few sickos out there who love that kind of thing, but I do not. The remaster thankfully leaves them to rot in 1997 where they belong. The freedom to move the camera at will is a game-changer, and while you can still hit circle to make Croc do a 180, which was a huge help in the original, I only used it once during my entire playthrough.
Thanks to the removal of tank controls and smoother moment-to-moment gameplay, the remaster feels more reactive while your movements and attacks are more accurate and measured. I flew through the first world and enjoyed every second of it. After only 45 minutes, I made it further into the game than I ever did as a kid. A little embarrassing and I’m unsure if I’m going to leave that bit in. I guess if you’re reading this, I did. Give me a break, I was eight. I completed Aladdin on the Mega Drive all by myself when I was six. Have I earned your respect back now?
I tried going back to the original after I was done with the remaster and yeah, that’s not happening. Sorry, old Croc, you’ve officially been replaced.
When it comes to what you’d typically grade a remaster on, Croc checks all the boxes. It looks better, it feels better, it just is better. This is the definitive version of Croc. Given it wasn’t made available on any modern platform before now, it’s also the only way to play it unless you resort to emulation.
Looks Better, Feels Better, Same Croc
As for the game itself, it’s still Croc. Other than being given the dictionary definition of a remaster, nothing has changed. This is a highly polished version of the Croc you played in the late ‘90s, and while on some levels that’s all it needed to be, it would have been cool to see some added extras. A new world, maybe even just a couple of new levels. I get that this is very much a testing the waters situation for Argonaut, though. The studio has already made it clear that if the remaster performs well enough, a Croc 2 revival will follow. After that, we might get the third Croc game that never was.
Even though there isn’t any new content, there are a lot of behind-the-scenes extras about the original Croc and its remaster. Dubbed the Crocopedia, it includes interviews with devs who worked on the games, both the original and the remastered soundtrack, and a weird Croc ad that aired in Japan in the late ’90s. There’s also concept art for what I’m assuming were other ideas had Argonaut not settled on having a crocodile as its protagonist.
As for the game itself, it being nothing more than a modern-day revival of the original Croc also means this is still a platformer that doesn’t quite stand tall alongside the genre leaders. While its worlds get increasingly challenging, and there are some fun ideas to keep things relatively fresh, it’s all still a little basic.
That’s particularly true of the boss fights, which don’t really change until the end of world two. Even then, they’re not all that inspired or difficult. I didn’t lose a single life on any of these battles, and remember, that’s coming from someone who never made it past the second one as a kid. Damn, now I’ve mentioned that twice. I guess it really is staying in.
If you love Croc, and love the idea of playing a polished version of the original game in 2025, that last part doesn’t really matter. All that matters is the remaster is faithful to the original and improves upon it. If you want to play the best version of Croc you’re ever going to play, this remaster is exactly what you’re looking for. If you never played the original and you’re on the hunt for a new platformer, you should absolutely take Croc for a spin.
Platformer
Action
Adventure
- Released
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April 2, 2025
- ESRB
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Everyone
- Developer(s)
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Argonaut Software
- Publisher(s)
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Argonaut Software