DuckTales Remastered (PS3) Review

DuckTales Remastered (PS3) 8.5/10

“C’mon lads. We’re going on an adventure!”

What’s up everybody? Today's review will be on DuckTales Remastered for the PS3. This game was originally made for the NES back in 1989 and then remastered by WayForward on August 13, 2013 for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and mobile. This was one of the hardest games I’ve ever played. Not as bad as [PROTOTYPE] on hard mode, but this was still very fucking difficult. No, it’s not Dark Souls' level of difficulty. You can fuck off with that bullshit. Let’s jump right into this.

Our story follows Scrooge McDuck as he embarks on a world wide treasure hunt for 5 valuable treasures. He first discovers these treasures when the Beagle Boys break into his Money Bin to steal a painting that he recently procured. Each treasure hunt is a level for Scrooge to play through. After he gets all 5 treasures, Magica De Spell pops in and steals them so that she can resurrect the vampire lord Vlad von Dracula Duck. After you defeat her, you then have to escape the exploding volcano and retreat to safety.

I like this story. It’s very reminiscent of the show. I’ve never seen the show, but I’ve seen clips of it. The only reason why I played this game was because it’s WayForward. Anyway, I like all the character’s personalities and how they help drive the plot for the game, especially Scrooge. I love how he’s such an asshole to everyone that’s not his nephews. This is a very simple story considering what the source material is, but there’s nothing wrong with that. I wasn’t expecting a deep, enriching story, so I’m glad that that’s not the case. I love the interactions between all the characters. Launchpad (Scrooge’s pilot) is such an idiot, the nephews were only really here as side characters for Scrooge to go and rescue, and Gyro (a scientist/engineer) is kind of the opposite of Launchpad. All the characters were enjoyable. I will say though that I wasn’t too fond of Magica. Other than this, the cast is fine.

I love what the Remaster did for the game. So the original DuckTales game was for the NES, meaning everything is 8-bit pixel art. In the Remaster, the game got the Shantae treatment. Hand drawn character models and 3D model background sets with painted backdrops. Everything looks really good while keeping with the original Disney art style for the characters. The levels look great too.

I also like the music for the game.  Each level has a unique tune crafted to fit the setting. My favorite themes are Transylvania, The Himalayas, and Mount Vesuvius. The music for your office (where you choose which level to go to) got really annoying really fast. The voice work here is great too. All the lines are voice acted by the original cast of the show. Because I never watched DuckTales before, I was not expecting Scrooge’s voice to sound the way it does. I eventually got used to it. I will say though, I’m not a fan of Magica’s voice. I can barely understand her. Thank God there are subtitles. The rest of the voice acting here is great, with my favorite voice probably being Launchpad.

So the gameplay is fairly similar to every other 2D platformer. With DuckTales, you will be tasked with collecting items in order to continue with the level (as shown with The Amazon Jungle and the Himalayas). You have 3 hearts, but you’ll be able to find heart containers to increase your health. All throughout the levels, there’s hidden gems for you to find to increase your currency. Yes, there is currency in the game. The more money you collect, the more you can spend in the Art Gallery. This is just character models, pencil sketches, and music for you to check out. Scrooge only has two attacks to his name: Pogo Jump and Cane Swing. With the Pogo Jump, there’s two ways to do this. The original version from the NES where you have to jump and do down + square and the new version where you just jump and press square. I played with the original version because I was already subconsciously doing it. The Cane Swing only works when you walk into a block and press square. He swings his cane like a golf club and sends the thing flying. You can hit enemies with blocks if they are in range.

This game is hard af and has a learning curve. The prologue mission is there to get your feet wet but once the game starts, it throws you right into the deep end of the pool. The second level I played was The Amazon and there are A LOT of enemies in this level and a lot of searching for those dastardly coins to proceed. I was not expecting the game to throw so many enemies at me from the get go. The main thing that made this game so difficult is the lives system. Once you run out of lives, the game will boot you out of the level, meaning you’ll have to restart the level all over again. I knew this game was going to be difficult because it's from the NES era, but holy shit this was ridiculous. Beating this game is a gaming achievement for me lol. As you continue to play the game, it feels like it gets easier. Idk if the game let up a little bit or if I just got better at it, but it was very interesting to see this change. A little thing I liked about the game is Scrooge’s vault. You can actually dive into his money pool and it’s an actual trophy. As you collect the treasures, you can see them in the vault as you dive in. I love this little attention to detail.

I do wish there were more rewards for your troubles with the game. All you ever get for beating the game is a trophy and art work that you can unlock in the Art Gallery. Idk, maybe I’m just spoiled from Shantae’s rewards, but I think DuckTales should give you more rewards for playing and beating through such a difficult game.

Overall, this is a great game, but fairly difficult. You can’t rush through this game otherwise you will rage quit. If you have the patience for games like Megaman and Cuphead, then you’ll love this game. This game is certainly not for everyone because of its learning curve. If you do hate yourself enough for those games, then you’ll certainly enjoy this game.

Thank you for reading and I’ll see you on the next grand adventure.

This is Zorgak, signing off.