Skullmonkeys

Skullmonkeys is a platform video game developed by The Neverhood, Inc. and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation. It is the sequel to The Neverhood, and rather than being a graphic adventure, it is a platformer.

Skullmonkeys
Developer(s)The Neverhood, Inc.[1]
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Designer(s)Joseph Sanabria
Vanessa Jones
Nicholas Jones
Programmer(s)Brian Belfield
Kenton Leach
Tim Lorenzen
Artist(s)Stephen Crow
Mark Lorenzen
Ellis Goodson
Composer(s)Terry Scott Taylor
EngineThe Neverhood, Inc.
Platform(s)PlayStation
Release
  • NA: February 6, 1998[2]
  • EU: February 20, 1998
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Terry Scott Taylor composed the soundtrack.

Plot

The evil Klogg was banished from The Neverhood at the end of the first game, but has now ended up on the Planet Idznak, which is inhabited by creatures known as Skullmonkeys and an insect race known as YNT. Klogg becomes the leader of the Skullmonkeys and sets off to make "Evil engine number 9" to destroy the Neverhood, while Klaymen is brought onto the scene to stop him.

Gameplay

In the single-player platform game, the player controls Klaymen, a resident of the Neverhood who is kidnapped in order to prevent the destruction of the Neverhood. He can jump, duck, look up, and grab a wide range of items such as a halo (allowing him to withstand more than one hit) and a wide range of quirky and crude projectile weapons. Aside from the assortment of weapons, enemies and bosses can be destroyed by jumping on them, and there are several secret levels (set to 1970s easy-listening music) where bonus points and extra lives can be earned. The levels are in a sidescrolling format, unlike the point and click format of The Neverhood.[3]

Throughout each of the levels, clay balls can be collected to earn points, with extra lives being awarded upon collecting 100. Several bosses are stationed throughout the game to be defeated. The game was noted for being hard to complete,[4] but the game's password feature keeps things from being unreasonably difficult.

The bonus stage is accompanied by a slow acoustic ballad, with lyrics about "guiding" the player like a "dad" or a "mom".

Development

Skullmonkeys was a strictly two-dimensional game developed at a time when this format was seen as increasingly outmoded. Project lead Doug TenNapel, however, preferred the 2D format and believed that 3D platform gaming could never work, being always plagued by depth-perception problems.[5] Besides TenNapel, star creators who worked on the game included Mike Dietz (inventor of the animation process used in Disney's Aladdin and Earthworm Jim) and Mark Lorenzen.[5]

Klaymen's motions were penciled first, then used in tandem with a model to record the animation.[5] One method used by the designers to create the creatures in the game, was to take children's toys and cover them with clay to see what shapes were formed. A boss in the game, Joe-Head-Joe, is actually the face of Joseph Sanabria, one of the game's designers.[6] The cutscene clips were created by applying stop motion animation to the modeled clay figures.[7] TenNapel commented, "When I sculpt [clay], I feel very relaxed and comfortable, compared to doing art on the computer where you'll find me scowling and squinting a lot."[7]

During development TenNapel said that composer Terry Scott Taylor "[is] coming up with this Hawaiian shit, like Don Ho. And we're like 'Go! Go!' because it's so stupid and so nongaming that we have to embrace it."[5]

Reception

The game received favorable reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.[8]

The game was widely praised for its graphics, music, sound, and humor. However, many video game websites panned it for its high difficulty, replacing the saves with passwords and technical problems which affected its playability. Some video game critics compared the game favorably to other successful platform games such as Earthworm Jim or the number of successful platform games produced by Virgin Interactive.

GameSpot said, "What is most frustrating about Skullmonkeys is that it just wears you down after a while."[4] Next Generation said, "As a concept, Skullmonkeys works. But in practice, the idea has been squeezed into a monotonous series of simplistic levels that drone on and on with little variation between them. [...] If this started out as either a nostalgic tribute to great 2D platformers of old or as a parody of cliched gameplay conventions, it fails on both accounts, simply because the game hasn't been constructed solidly enough to keep the gamer's attention in order to prove either point."[18] In Japan, where the game was ported and published by Riverhillsoft under the name of Klaymen Klaymen 2: Skullmonkey no Gyakushū (クレイマン・クレイマン2 〜スカルモンキーのぎゃくしゅう〜, Kureiman Kureiman 2 〜Sukarumonkī no Gyakushū〜, lit. "Klaymen Klaymen 2: Skullmonkey's Counterattack") on August 13, 1998, Famitsu gave it a score of 26 out of 40.[12]

References
  1. "Skullmonkeys (Preview)". GamePro. No. 108. IDG. September 1997. p. 64.
  2. GameSpot staff (February 6, 1998). "VGS Game Calendar [date mislabeled as "April 24, 2000"]". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on February 18, 1999. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  3. EGM staff (July 1997). "Skull Monkeys [sic] (Preview)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 96. Ziff Davis. p. 108.
  4. Dulin, Ron (February 25, 1998). "SkullMonkeys Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  5. "NG Alphas: Skullmonkeys". Next Generation. No. 31. Imagine Media. July 1997. pp. 120–21.
  6. EPNdotTV (November 30, 2015). "Diddy Kong Racing / Skullmonkeys - S1:E2 - Electric Playground". YouTube. Google. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  7. EGM staff (December 1997). "Skullmonkeys: Back for More Claymation Action". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 101. Ziff Davis. p. 98.
  8. "SkullMonkeys for PlayStation". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 21, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  9. House, Michael L. "Skullmonkeys - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  10. Edge staff (March 1998). "Skull Monkeys [sic]". Edge. No. 56. Future Publishing. p. 103. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  11. EGM staff (March 1998). "Skullmonkeys". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 104. Ziff Davis.
  12. "クレイマン・クレイマン2 〜スカルモンキーのぎゃくしゅう〜 [PS]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  13. McNamara, Andy; Storm, Jon; Reiner, Andrew (March 1998). "Skullmonkeys". Game Informer. No. 59. FuncoLand. Archived from the original on September 30, 1999. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  14. Mylonas, Eric "ECM"; Jevons, Dan "Knightmare"; Ngo, George "Eggo" (April 1998). "SkullMonkeys". GameFan. Vol. 6 no. 4. Metropolis Media. p. 10. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  15. Tony V. (April 1998). "Skullmonkeys Review". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on June 13, 1998. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  16. Buchanan, Levi (January 28, 2008). "Skullmonkeys Review". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 1, 2008. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  17. Douglas, Adam (February 3, 1998). "Skullmonkeys". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  18. "Skullmonkeys". Next Generation. No. 40. Imagine Media. April 1998. p. 98. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  19. "Skullmonkeys". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. Vol. 1 no. 6. Ziff Davis. March 1998.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.