Croc 2 Kingdom of the Gobbos - Review of a Remaster That Could Have Been Avoided

If you ask any gamer over thirty to list the games of their childhood or adolescence, you can be sure they'll mention at least a couple of platformers – Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time and Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers for me.
This is because platformers marked more than a decade of video gaming from several points of view: from guiding developers and players to the innovations introduced by 3D technology, and imprinting a strong identity on various consoles by bringing new mascots to the market.

The passage of years and subsequent technological advancements then allowed for stories to be brought to the screen that could break free from the limitations imposed by the platformer genre, leading to their subsequent disappearance in favor of the action-adventure genre, which then dominated the sixth generation of consoles.

However, the tune seems to have changed in recent years, and the platformer genre is experiencing a second youth thanks to the wave of remakes and remasters that have affected the industry and led to the rediscovery of past protagonists like Crash, Rayman, or Spyro, and then to the birth of new titles capable of leaving their mark on the industry just like the old classics – Astrobot, Donkey Kong Bananza, or the never-appreciated-enough Sackboy.

This new attention to the genre has pushed many software houses to look beyond the flagship names of old mascots and peek among second-tier cults, among B-list crashes, in the Europa League of mascots; all with the aim of finding that title that could unexpectedly hit big.
And it is in this light that the remastered operation of the Croc saga should be seen: an attempt to revive a character long out of the spotlight with the intention of giving him a new life and making him, perhaps, appealing to new generations, preventing him from falling definitively into oblivion.

A decidedly complex goal that already showed the first cracks during the remaster of the first chapter at Argonaut Games and Titanium Studios, who nevertheless decided to double down with Croc 2 Kingdom of the Gobbos.

Returning to the land of the Gobbos 27 years later - the plot of Croc 2

In their work of remastering the Croc saga, Argonaut Games and Titanium Studios decided to not touch the story told by the titles, proposing the original plot enriched with the Croc2pedia – an encyclopedia designed to recount the creation and ideation of levels and characters – and a series of mini-documentaries and interviews with the original team that reveal a whole host of behind-the-scenes details regarding the video game's development.

So we pick up where we left off; after defeating Baron Dante, Croc lives peacefully with the Gobbos until one day a bottle containing a message arrives from the sea: his biological parents are looking for him. Croc decides to embark on a journey to find his kin.

However, his plans are thwarted by the return of Baron Dante, who, determined to get revenge, orders his henchmen to invade the Gobbos' lands, creating more than a few problems for our crocodile.

New remaster, old problems - The gameplay of Croc 2

If the remaster of the first chapter almost revolutionized the original title – with the elimination of tank controls – unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the remake of the second chapter, which sees few, if any, updates on the gameplay front.
Of course, there are improvements in the responsiveness of the controls that enhance the game's quality of life, but it's minor in the overall economy of the title.

Croc 2 largely offers the exact same gameplay experience as the original title: a pure and raw 3D Platformer divided into short levels structured around different mechanics - such as car races, hang-gliding, or acrobatics on a giant snowball - surrounded by a series of collectibles useful for unlocking extra content.

A formula that might seem similar to other titles of the era but was already outdated in 1999 in the way it was presented in Croc 2, which attracted considerable criticism at the time and cannot help but attract some criticism in 2026.
After the good work done with the remaster of the first chapter, it was reasonable to expect more for this title.

A touch-up is not enough - the technical aspect of Croc 2

A little more has been done on the technical side, with the title offering the now popular dual graphics setting - retro and modern - interchangeable at any time by pressing a button.

Here, the development team has added the ability to modify individual elements of the game, allowing for different combinations: such as using the Croc from the original game, with the textures from the 2000 title, and the game world re-elaborated for the remaster.

A set of settings that should help to best grasp the changes between the 3 versions of the title, at least in theory.
But in practice, it reveals superficial work that sometimes spoils the game's original atmosphere with overly saturated colors or somewhat artificial textures that would have deserved a little more effort.

Croc 2 Kingdom of the Gobbos is not a triumphant return

When it was released in 1999, Croc 2 had to contend with titles like Crash Bandicoot Warped, Spyro, Rayman, or Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time that had already modernized the formula on which the title was based.
Today, ironically, the Croc 2 remaster arrives at a historical moment when some of the aforementioned titles have returned in the form of remasters or remakes, improving and revolutionizing the old formulas they were based on in the past, with the consequence that Croc 2 Kingdom of the Gobbos once again seems like a product significantly behind the times.

The introduction of a new graphics mode and the minor improvements in controls are the bare minimum one could expect from such a product and therefore are not enough to bring this remaster to the level of new experiences in the platformer genre.

This is why Croc 2 Kingdom of the Gobbos is a complicated project to understand. It's unclear whether it's a nostalgia operation or a way to test the waters for a future relaunch of the brand.
In both cases, the objective cannot be said to have been achieved.

Upon its launch in 1999, Croc 2 was not a bestseller, nor did it leave a lasting impression on players' hearts, so even if it targets the nostalgia market, there are serious doubts about the profitability of the operation.
The idea of testing the waters for the brand's future with this product is simply insane.
The only saga that succeeded in such an operation was Crash Bandicoot, but it must be said that there is an abyss between the N.Sane Trilogy and the Croc remaster.
The only sensible path that seems viable is to use the remaster as a springboard for a less ambitious title in the saga, perhaps in 2D, as happened with Legacy Of Kain; but even there, we are talking about a product of a completely different caliber.

I reached the credits of Croc 2 Kingdom of the Gobbos with a strong conviction: the fact that we are living in an era of rediscovering classics does not mean that every past title automatically deserves to be exhumed.