Scaler

Ever since Mario 64 hit the Nintendo 64, we have seen platform games out the you-know-what. There have been some that succeeded and some that just downright sucked. The market has become saturated with platforms, and it is really hard to separate the diamonds from the turds. Now we have Scaler for the Xbox, Playstation 2 and Nintendo GameCube systems. And I must admit that this game is actually very good. I am not sure if Scaler will be able to give platform greats Mario and Sonic a run for their money, but he still manages to stand on his own. Not only is it pretty good but the game also clocks in at $20 brand spanking new. That’s the kind of games that I like, good platform games at a good price. So how does Scaler play? Is it worth the twenty clams? Read on my friends.

Rarely do I ever pick up a game that I've not already read extensively about, or at least picked through a number of screenshots to get some semblance what I'm getting myself into. However, with Scaler, I did just that. When you come across a game with no expectations or idea of what you are in for, it can often be a disappointment, but that's not the case at all with this game.

Admittedly, Scaler doesn’t really bring anything new to the genre. But what it lacks in innovation it more than makes up in style, humor and solid game mechanics. Controls feel smooth and responsive and the action is always brisk. The inclusion of evolutionary transformations is an especially nice touch. Each plays a pivotal role in level progression and each boasts solid control and snazzy graphic effects. Had Scaler cost 50 bones, the score might have been lower. But coming in at a mere 20 bucks, Scaler offers a dozen or so hours knee-deep in platformer goodness. Recommended.

Truth be told, there's never been a shortage of platform games on the market, and the majority of them have been pretty average at best. Now Global Star and Artificial Mind and Movement are trying to push their way into a crowded market with the release of Scaler. Surprisingly enough, however, this budget-minded game may just have what it takes to carve out a nice little niche for itself.

Ever since Mario 64 hit the Nintendo 64, we have seen platform games out the you-know-what. There have been some that succeeded and some that just downright sucked. The market has become saturated with platforms, and it is really hard to separate the diamonds from the turds. Now we have Scaler for the Xbox, Playstation 2 and Nintendo GameCube systems. And I must admit that this game is actually very good. I am not sure if Scaler will be able to give platform greats Mario and Sonic a run for their money, but he still manages to stand on his own. Not only is it pretty good but the game also clocks in at $20 brand spanking new. That’s the kind of games that I like, good platform games at a good price. So how does Scaler play? Is it worth the twenty clams? Read on my friends.

The platform genre has seen its share of rough times. Between innovating titles such as Mario 64 and the umpteen clones that followed, gamers saw the rise and fall of several three dimensional worlds and the heroes inhabiting them.

Ever since Mario 64 hit the Nintendo 64, we have seen platform games out the you-know-what. There have been some that succeeded and some that just downright sucked. The market has become saturated with platforms, and it is really hard to separate the diamonds from the turds. Now we have Scaler for the Xbox, Playstation 2 and Nintendo GameCube systems. And I must admit that this game is actually very good. I am not sure if Scaler will be able to give platform greats Mario and Sonic a run for their money, but he still manages to stand on his own. Not only is it pretty good but the game also clocks in at $20 brand spanking new. That’s the kind of games that I like, good platform games at a good price. So how does Scaler play? Is it worth the twenty clams? Read on my friends.

Rarely do I ever pick up a game that I've not already read extensively about, or at least picked through a number of screenshots to get some semblance what I'm getting myself into. However, with Scaler, I did just that. When you come across a game with no expectations or idea of what you are in for, it can often be a disappointment, but that's not the case at all with this game.

Truth be told, there's never been a shortage of platform games on the market, and the majority of them have been pretty average at best. Now Global Star and Artificial Mind and Movement are trying to push their way into a crowded market with the release of Scaler. Surprisingly enough, however, this budget-minded game may just have what it takes to carve out a nice little niche for itself.

The platform genre has seen its share of rough times. Between innovating titles such as Mario 64 and the umpteen clones that followed, gamers saw the rise and fall of several three dimensional worlds and the heroes inhabiting them.

For the past few weeks, there has been tons of new games that have been unleashed upon the gaming world. It seems like the majority of these games have been platforming games. Even though this seems to be the case, the latest game by Global Star Software, is a solid entry into the fold, and even gets more points for being a budget friendly title. Read on to find out more about this quirky platforming game.

Scaler can be commended for trying to add variety to what is some pretty straightforward platforming gameplay, but at the end of the day the levels and challenges just aren’t hugely interesting. To be fair, the game is aimed at kids and it’s by no means poor – the fact that it’s available for less than twenty quid doesn’t exactly hurt either.

That’s what we like – a game with a nice short and to-the-point name. Okay it may sound like some kind of bathroom cleaning fluid, but it sure beats ‘Lizard Boy: The Reptile Conspiracy’, which this game could all-too-easily have been called. Although as far as descriptive names go, something along the lines of Weird Psychedelic Platform Adventure would also fit the bill. Not quite as catchy though.

Insofar as Scaler touches upon the real world, it tells the story of a mouthy lizard-loving kid known as ‘Scaler’, who just happens to come across a conspiracy to create a mutant lizard army. A brief interrogation later (the intro isn’t exactly heavy on exposition) and Scaler is ‘accidentally’ transformed into an equally mouthy (and a lot more tounguey) blue lizard with the ability to leap, slide, bash, claw, climb and lick his way out of danger.

Thankfully, despite being a so-called "budget" game, Scaler's production values are more in line with full-priced software. The graphics are sharp, the polygon count is high, the sight distance is far, the bosses are large, and there's a goodly amount of animation to see (not just in the characters, but in the environment as well). Scaler's jungle environments have a passing resemblance to the levels found in games like Rayman and Klonoa 2, except that they're much more detailed and lively thanks to the advancements that have been made in PS2 graphics coding in the intervening years. Likewise, the soundtrack is enjoyable, assuming you like kid-friendly voice acting and rainforest style music (which many people do).

Bobby's a boy whose nose for trouble and his thing for lizards got him in for a little more than he bargained for. He's stumbled into his crazy next-door-neighbor's plot to take all the lizards from earth and turn them into his mutant army with the help of lizards from another dimension. Bobby ends up taken to that other dimension and in the process is transformed into a lizard himself. It's up to him and his newfound lizard abilities to retrieve the stolen lizard eggs and stop this fiendish plot. The story is right out of the head of a ten year old boy. If you're looking for a deep and moving plot you took a wrong turn at Alberqeque. That's okay. Sometimes you're not looking for War and Peace here.

Whether you've noticed it or not, there has been a bit of a surge recently in the quantity of kid-friendly platformers hitting store shelves. Games like Crash Twinsanity, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2, and Tak 2 have all come out within a fairly short span of time, and though none of these games have been anything spectacular, none of them have been especially bad either. Enter developer A2M's Scaler, another cute and colorful platformer of generally middling quality to join the fracas. What's this one's hook? A shape-shifting lead lizard that hops and claws his way past a bevy of nasty reptiles on a quest to save the world--all at a $20 price tag. While the latter certainly makes Scaler a slightly more appealing product, ultimately, this just isn't an especially engaging game, so it's unlikely that anyone past the youngest of audiences will have too much fun with it.

Scaler just isn't an especially engaging platformer, so it's unlikely that anyone past the youngest of audiences will get too much fun from it. Whether you've noticed it or not, there has been a bit of a surge recently in the quantity of kid-friendly platformers hitting store shelves. Games like Crash Twinsanity, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2, and Tak 2 have all come out within a fairly short span of time, and though none of these games have been anything spectacular, none of them have been especially bad either.

Whether you've noticed it or not, there has been a bit of a surge recently in the quantity of kid-friendly platformers hitting store shelves. Games like Crash Twinsanity, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2, and Tak 2 have all come out within a fairly short span of time, and though none of these games have been anything spectacular, none of them have been especially bad either. Enter developer A2M's Scaler, another cute and colorful platformer of generally middling quality to join the fracas. What's this one's hook? A shape-shifting lead lizard that hops and claws his way past a bevy of nasty reptiles on a quest to save the world--all at a $20 price tag. While the latter certainly makes Scaler a slightly more appealing product, ultimately, this just isn't an especially engaging game, so it's unlikely that anyone past the youngest of audiences will get too much fun from it.

Sorte de mélange entre Gex pour le côté lézard du héros capable de grimper à la verticale sur certaines plantes et Spyro pour l'ambiance générale très colorée, Scaler est un petit jeu de plates-formes bien sympathique. Certes, on est loin des références du genre comme Rayman 3, mais le jeu d'A2M est disponible à petit prix, alors on lui pardonne aisément le fait qu'il soit un peu court et que l'on doive souvent recadrer manuellement la caméra. Si vous aimez le genre vous pouvez investir : à moins de 20 Euros, c'est un titre qui ne vous décevra pas.

Sorte de mélange entre Gex pour le côté lézard du héros capable de grimper à la verticale sur certaines plantes et Spyro pour l'ambiance générale très colorée, Scaler est un petit jeu de plates-formes bien sympathique. Certes, on est loin des références du genre comme Rayman 3, mais le jeu d'A2M est disponible à petit prix, alors on lui pardonne aisément le fait qu'il soit un peu court et que l'on doive souvent recadrer manuellement la caméra. Si vous aimez le genre vous pouvez investir : à moins de 20 Euros, c'est un titre qui ne vous décevra pas.

By the end of the game I started to wonder who this title was targeted at. Adults will hate the characters so much they'll probably never get past the second world, whereas the children will be turned off by the games dark look and steep challenge (especially towards the end). Even for a budget price, it seems like Scaler is going to be a tough sell. He's certainly not the worst mascot character I've ever seen, but if this is where developers have been forced to go, then I fear for the future of this genre.

I have played some strange games in my life. For example, I played Infacide, an Apple II GS game with premise of Frogger, only with babies instead of frogs. I have played the Southpark shooter, a game were the alt fire mode for the snowball involves yellow snow. Scaler, while not on the scale of Infacide or Southpark, is an intrinsically strange game.

It's not me getting older that's the problem, neither is it the fault of the PS2 for its advancing years. The fact is platform games just don't have the mass-market draw they had a decade ago. It's not that the quality has dwindled - far from it - it's just that other genres are far better suited to the 3D game playing environment. Action adventures like the all conquering GTA series instantly felt at home with the extra dimension, as did the driving game, and the first-person shooter never really felt right until then. The platform game, on the other hand, really suffers and for a variety of reasons.