Disney's The Emperor's New Groove [U] ISO
Description :
Take on, self-absorbed Emperor named Kuzco. Add a devious royal advisor
named Yzma, her brawny assistant Kronk and their potion that turns Kuzco
into a llama. Introduce a good-hearted peasant named Pacha, to help
Kuzco. And, what do you get? Al-paca trouble!
The Emperor's New Groove video game was released just months after the
movie was released. Combine this fact with this being a Disney game and
it becomes hard to believe that TENG could be any fun. I thought the
same at first, but after my young cousin bought this for me I decided to
give it a spin so as not to get her disappointed. I discovered that
this game is surprisingly entertaining and humorous. I lost this game
many years ago but found it on the Playstation Network. Deciding to try
this game out again to see if my enjoyment was warranted, and boy it
sure was.
Graphics
The graphics in this game are pretty
simple. The character animations are not the most detailed in the world,
but they are by no means bad. Textures are okay and I cannot think of
any graphical problems to speak of. The best part about the graphics are
the variety of colors used. With the exception of the first chapter in
the village, every chapter afterward is filled with a variety of colors
that make environments quite nice to look at. The backgrounds look
great, particularly in the jungle levels. A nice touch is that the
distant environments that serve as wallpaper are nicely detailed.
Instead of seeing plain blue for sky or a single dark color for
nighttime the developers were more detailed and brushed in what look
like hills in the distance or mountains depending on the level. The
jungle levels do a great job in this aspect as well because the
wallpaper art is filled with gigantic trees and plants that just make
you feel the jungle is a whole lot bigger than it really is. The
graphics for enemy design are great as well. The enemies in this game
ranging from spiked bugs that hop, giant spiders, scorpions, hornets,
plant monsters, crocodiles, guards and even the occasional mutated guard
due to Yzma's potion all have a great look to them. The enemy design is
surprisingly good and varied.
Story
The story in the game
is exactly like the one from the (great) Disney movie. Vain, pampered
and spoiled rich Emperor Kuzco goes about another day in which he is
bowed and scraped to by myriad servants. After being unable to find a
suitable bride from the regiment chosen by one of his staff, Kuzco finds
his advisor Yzma sitting in his throne. Even though this upsets him,
Kuzco decides to fire her from her position due to her age, causing Yzma
to storm off in a rage with her assistant Kronk following close behind.
Kuzco
then meets up with Pacha, who is the head of a nearby village. Pacha is
shown a model of his village, and asks to know where the most sun is.
When Pacha gives his opinion, Kuzco horrifies the man when he places a
large structure on top of the model that he dubs "Kuzcotopia." Kuzco
then explains that the next day at his Birthday celebration, the entire
village will be destroyed for his new summer home. Upset at such a
thing, Pacha tries to interject, but is taken away.
Meanwhile,
Yzma is still upset over being fired by Kuzco, and decides to do away
with him. As there's no apparent heir to the throne, she figures she can
easily take over, and going to her secret lab, finds a potion she
intends to poison Kuzco with at dinner. However, at dinner, Kronk picks
the wrong potion, and instead uses 'Extract of Llama,' which turns Kuzco
into one. Yzma sends Kronk out to kill Kuzco, but unable to bring
himself to do so, the bag containing the Emperor ends up falling onto
the back of a cart belonging to Pacha.
Pacha returns to his
village, but is unable to tell his family what Kuzco said about the
destruction of their home. Eventually finding the bag containing Kuzco
as a llama, Kuzco then demands that Pacha take him back to the palace.
However, Pacha refuses to do so unless Kuzco moves his summer home to
another place. Kuzco refuses, and wanders off into the nearby jungle. He
is attacked by a gang of panthers, until Pacha comes to his rescue.
Back
at the palace, Yzma has taken control of the kingdom, but grows irate
when Kronk lets slip that he did not actually kill Kuzco. Yzma then
accompanies Kronk to find Kuzco.
The game starts off from the
point that Kuzco is discovered in his cart by Pacha and Kuzco realizes
that he has turned into a llama. From there the story continues exactly
like that of the movie. In between chapters a clip from the movie will
play that will prepare you for the situation ahead of you in the next
few levels.
Gameplay
The gameplay for this game is pretty
nice and only has a few issues. Firstly, the Emperor's New Groove is a
platformer, much like Crash Bandicoot or Mario. Throughout the levels
there will be gaps to jump that will send you spiraling to your death
below if you miss, random enemies that will attack you, and various
puzzles to solve to open doors. Most chapters will have a door that is
represented by a red image of Kuzco's face. The only way to open the
door is to obtain one or two (depending on the door) red idols. These
red idols are found by completing puzzles that will get you to new
areas. However, the areas are not completely safe. Along the way random
enemies will try to block your path and attack you. Some environments
can not be entered normally. In front of some areas there will be one or
multiple switches on the ground. Standing on a switch will open the
door but running off of it will close it again. Therefore, Kuczo must
pick up pots and other heavy objects that he can throw onto the switch
which will open a door keep it remaining open. Some areas will have a
piece or pieces missing from a statue and Kuzco will have to search the
levels to bring the pieces back and put the statue together in the
correct order. Some environments cannot be entered into by llama's due
to a 'no llama' sign or simply by the environment being too small or
ledges being to high. That's where the potions come in. In certain
levels Yzma's potions can be found. Running over the potion icon will
change Kuzco from a llama into whatever animal is necessary to complete
the environment. Throughout the journey Kuzco will be turned into
multiple animals from a turtle that can move fast by sliding on its
shell to a frog that can hop exceptionally high. This brings welcome
variety in the gameplay element.
The enemy variety is pretty good
and there are different ways to deal with different enemies. Kuzco has a
number of attacks in his arsenal that will deal with his opponents.
Some enemies are immune to certain attacks and will hurt Kuzco
automatically if hit by one, so it is important to discover what attacks
they are vulnerable to. The most basic attack is done by pressing
circle, where Kuzco will hit the enemy with his hooves. By pressing a
directional button along with circle, Kuzco will do a rolling spin that
can knock down certain enemies. By pressing X, Kuzco will jump. If you
press circle while in the air, Kuzco will do his 'Karate Jump Kick' to
smash the enemy from above. Some enemies need to be attacked twice to
get rid of. For example, the giant spiders need to be knocked down by a
rolling spin and while they are on their backs they must be smashed with
the karate jump kick afterward. Another attack Kuzco has that works
against certain flying enemies or provides a way around the
indestructible plant monsters is his 'Demon llama spit". By collecting
grapes scattered throughout certain levels Kuzco can do this attack.
Pressing Triangle will bring the screen into first person view. Using
the analog stick will enable Kuzco to look around. A circle in the
center of the screen will provide Kuzco with his aim and it will stay
centered no matter where Kuzco looks. By pressing circle Kuzco will spit
a grape seed at the target. This knocks down flying enemies, helps with
many boss fights and provides a way around the plant monsters while
they are chewing on the grape seed shot at them. By collecting llama
icons scattered throughout levels you will fill up a charge bar. By
holding square with the charge bar filled Kuzco will run really fast and
knock down whatever is in front of him. This ability comes in handy
during races, knocking down certain enemies, and making it to other
areas in time when the timer is activated.
Kuzco has a health
bar that depletes every time he is hit. He can be hit a total of five
times before getting knocked out. If Kuzco is knocked out or falls to
his death by running over the edge of an environment/falling in a pit he
will start at the nearest checkpoint. Checkpoints are fairly common and
sprawled out all over the environment so dying is not to much of an
issue as simply touching the checkpoint nearest you will activate it.
Falling over ledges or missing a jump can be somewhat troublesome in
this game, so thankfully falling to your death doesn't take your whole
health bar but rather takes away one health out of the five and starts
you back at the nearest checkpoint. If all five health bars are depleted
the level must be start over. Fortunately, there are some secrets
called 'Whompy' that look like pink stuffed animal monkeys. If a whompy
is found it will give you a continue and be depleted if the continue is
used.
Multiple coins are spread throughout the levels and the
beginning of each level tells you how much coins can be found. Secret
rooms will contain hidden coins, or whompies and coins or just one or
the other. Speaking of coins, silver coins can be found that act as 1
credit and gold coins can be found that equal 5 silver coins. Certain
things can be unlocked by collecting coins so it is a benefit to find as
many as possible.
Boss fights are quite creative and enjoyable.
One will have you dodging explosions strategically to have them land on
switches that will open the door to escape, one has either exploding
balloons or crocodiles that will try to hit you from all corners and
must be repelled by the demon llama spit. There are three recurring
bosses in this game. One of them is obviously Yzma who will try to kill
you with potions usually. The other is Kronk, who will usually try and
race you to a finish line or race you in collecting a number of
something before he does. It is possible to die in these races from
falling over a ledge, but if you lose without falling you can simply
challenge him again. Another recurring boss is an annoying kid with a
surfer accent that will only give you the key to the next area if you
can destroy his toy llama. He gets slightly more difficult each time you
face him, and each time you face him you will need to employ a new
strategy. The boss variety is pretty good. There's even a boss where you
have to escape a pack of panthers after you, a "boss" which is Yzma's
roller coaster (and I put boss in quotes because it's pretty hard even
though it's a level in itself) and a 'mini-boss' which is basically a
hide and seek game where you can't let Pacha see you as you follow him
out of the village, otherwise you are brought straight at the beginning.
The
humor in this game is fantastic. Kuzco has a wonderful sarcasm and the
characters play at the fact that they have a 'script' and that it's a
videogame. Every character has voice acting and you can interact with
them throughout the levels, whether it's Pacha's kids or an old man, a
moron who thinks he's a condor or a creepy talking fly.,The gameplay is
the meat and potatoes of this game and it does not disappoint. The only
problems with it are the easiness in which you can fall off a ledge or
miss a jump. Sometimes the puzzles can be cumbersome as well, but
overall it's incredibly varied and entertaining.
Sound
The
sound is excellent for this game. The enemies all have their own sound
effects, as well as Kuzco when he runs, rolls, does his attacks.
Waterfalls, rain, thunder, fire and all the elements sound realistic.
The voice acting is the best part of this game. Every character has
voice acting in the game and Kuzco's sarcastic remarks and interaction
with others is quite hilarious. Though not voiced by the same voice
actors as in the movie they sound close enough so that it isn't a
disappointment or a distraction.
Music
The music is mainly
like that of the instrumental version of the opening song for the
movie, minus the lyrics. It sounds very similar to jazz and is composed
by various horn instruments. It's different for each chapter and it
isn't bad, but it certainly isn't memorable. It won't have you turning
off your tv but it isn't the most exciting music. This would probably be
the weakest aspect of the game.
Conclusion
So overall The
Emperor's New Groove videogame is surprisingly fun and enjoyable. It is
on the Playstation Network for $5.99 and I recommend that people give
it a whirl. It will provide a decent amount of hours of entertainment.
The game is not too long but the levels are by no means short,
especially in the later stages. Adults should like this game due to the
humor and also the nostalgia of the move. Kids should enjoy this due to
the subject matter, and they would also be able to use their brains due
to the puzzles around the area.
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