Ruff Trigger: The Vanocore Conspiracy

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key review info
  • Game: Ruff Trigger: The Vanocore Conspiracy
  • Platform: Playstation
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: N/a
  • Reviewed on:

As you might have probably guessed from the title, the main character of this game is a wolf, a big bad one that has the ability to mutate into a werewolf. All I can say is that, this Christmas the wolf is coming to town. In the holiday season, Santa brings us all kinds of games, some better, some really really bad. A reviewer is always less enthusiastic when he has to write about a very good game, because he doesn't want to praise that game too much or it will sound like an advertising for a product.

Story A platforming game doesn't need much of a storyline, as the sole purpose of the main character is doing something that goes about like this: "jump around, jump, jump". Leaving the songs and joke aside, the story takes the player in a fantastic world where he controls a wolf, Ruff and he's a mercenary on a mission. What's his mission? Getting paid, but besides that he must save some cute little bunny-like creatures named Piglots. The Vanocore Corporation created the Piglots as a replacement for cats, dogs and all the other pets. Before they could bring those new creatures to the market one of their main cargos landed in the Tyke System. The Boss PI Agency has some suspicions regarding a hostile takeover of the whole system and everyone tends to point the finger towards Vanocore.

Good old Ruff will get a pretty fat check from the agency if he figures this all out, saves some Piglots and finally destroys Vanocore. Also the great evil corporation dropped some VPD (Vanocore Power Drink) in the area and you might just use it to get super powers. I have to say that I really think Ruff is dumb, I mean how can he walk around the place and see a vial filled with green substance and just go ahead and drink it. He won't be alone in his quest, as a foxy wolf lady, Cecily will he help Ruff finish the mission and carry him around on her cool motorcycle.

Concept Since the PS 2 came out we've had some pretty good platforming games, specially the Jak and Daxter series and the Jak games or the Daxter for the PSP. Any other platforming game copied the recipe from the classic or maybe the retired Crash Bandicoot. Not so retired after all, considering that Crash Tag Team Racing was a success. Ruff Trigger is a pretty tough game to play and I guess that if an adult like me (yeah right) lost patience on some missions, a child would surely become frustrated with the bosses and sub-bosses in the game.

Mister super agent Ruff will have to face spiders, bugs, huge wizard-like creatures, robots and many other critters. Sam Fisher will be jealous and quit Splinter Cell if he would see the swimming parts of the game. Ruff may dive, but the game goes under when we're talking about the camera and control in the underwater missions. Our furry hero will have a pretty rich arsenal to blast his enemies, but he knows a bit of karate as well. There are tons of ways you can eliminate the resistance and some of Ruff's moves resemble Crash so much that I did them by following the gut instinct and the memories.

As I mentioned before, the foxy Cecily will take our agent for a spin on her cool motorcycle. Those driving missions will be pretty entertaining as the speed sensation will make you forget about the annoying crashes that you'll get into at some point and the timer that will tick till you get to the finish line. The controls resemble the ones of an action game or shoot as you'll take aim with the R1 button, but you'll surprisingly fire with the square button, even if we all got used to pressing the X button to shoot. Ruff will collect tokens of his way and lots of bonuses that increase his health, the number of lives or various powerups.

Also there's a currency of the game and you'll collect "cash" on the way and buy stuff at some sort of shops. And by stuff I mean weapons, ammo or armor. You'll have to break the boxes to get tokens or cash, and they way you do this is so Bandicoot-like that I felt the need to paint Ruff brown and call him Crash. Our favorite wolf may not be God of War, but he does similar combos, and you'll press a lot of X and square, or sometimes circle. One of the moves involved jumping and falling to the ground with a shockwave punch that hit everything around the area of impact.

Gameplay Welcome to the world of analog stick control, we have plenty of seats. All the Sony games have seats in that room. Come this way sir, yes, here it is: the horrible analog control room. Chaos is the name of the way you'll control Mister Ruff, especially underwater and the camera is no help at all. I talked about the aiming and shooting system, you know, the R1 and square story, but I must also mention that there's no auto aim so you'll have to use an additional button (L1) to stay focused on the target. Imagine doing that while running and you'll soon feel the need to add some toes in the mix, to push the remaining buttons.

The fact that this is a childish game should make us forget about all these glitches and bugs, but not even the humor can save Ruff from mediocrity. Another frustrating aspect of the gameplay and one thing that I keep forgetting is the ammo limitation. I was left without ammo many times, simply because I am not used to a platforming game with limited ammunition. Boss fights are the worst, because the ammo will be gone in no time and you'll have to break some boxes located far, far away to recharge your weapon. All this talk about guns and I didn't even mention one. Shame on me! Ruff can use the transfixer, that's some sort of a gun, or the mega gun - a shotgun and for the angry gamers, a giga cannon (the good old rocker launcher).

Great sagas have had a turning to the dark side, as Luke Skywalker had his doubts and Frodo was not far from going berserk. Ruff will turn to the dark side and become a werewolf after drinking the Vanocore Power Drink. You'll trigger that by pressing the L2 button and gain the moon ability. Our wolf hero will fire a white beam, but he won't be able to fire any other weapon while being a werewolf. He'll walk faster, jump higher and hit with superior strength while using claws similar to the Wolverine guy from X-men. You'll need some sort of "mana" to do the moon attack that you'll replenish by collecting green vials. Similar to the arcade games that would have been fun twenty years ago, a completion percentage will be shown at the end of each mission with the number of killed enemies, your accuracy and the number of Piglots you saved. Let's talk a bit about the Piglots...

Those cute creatures will be imprisoned in cages, or just lay around waiting for the brave hero to save them. Ruff will carry one little guy at the time to a teleport device that will save them. Be careful, because getting hit by the enemy of falling in the lava or water makes you drop Piglots and you'll have to pick them up again. Also if a group of these pets lay around and you grab one of them, the rest will follow you to the teleport area. During the game you'll acquire new werewolf forms and abilities that will not make the game any easier, but provide a minimal amount of fun and eye candy.

Video Take any Rayman, Crash Bandicoot, Jak, Daxter or any other platform game you've seen till now and mix them till you get something new. That's the description of Ruff Trigger's graphics. Something old, nothing new, something borrowed and nothing blue...That's the result of the marriage between Crash and Jak which generated such a mutant. Don't get me wrong, the graphics are not bad, but they're not groundbreaking or anything I haven't seen before. The characters look cartoonish and the backgrounds are very colored and "cute". There are tons of sci-fi elements, ships, robots, futuristic towns and a motorcycle that looks and behaves really nice. Too bad that the camera has an infernal view and you can't change it much. Pressing the triangle can change the view to first person, but you can only look around while sitting still and you won't be able to take action. Don't even get me started on the swimming cam...

Sound The furry super agent has a funny accent, that's the only thing I can remember from the whole soundtrack. The music is not something worth mentioning even two days after playing the game. It's all childish music, lots of instruments and cheerful sounds. Ruff's weapons sound pretty good, when you think that they are sci-fi and you really can't compare them to any other weapon you know. The dialogs are boring, but short, and they are made to fill up the time between the missions, although a longer loading screen wouldn't have been such a bad idea. The only pleasing audio aspect of Ruff Trigger is the cute sounds made by the little Piglots.

Multiplayer There's no need for a multiplayer in this game, because no one would like to share the torment of playing this game with his friends, not even with his foes. This could an official boredom simulator.

Conclusion It's going to be the "season to be jolly" soon and I hope that I didn't destroy everyone's hope of playing a good plaftorming game for Christmas... or did I? Ruff Trigger is not even close to the standards set by Crash Bandicoot or the Jak and Daxter series. It's a pale attempt to recreate those cult games and it fails in every aspect to even get close to the platforming megastars. Hope we won't see a sequel.

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story 5
gameplay 6
concept 6
graphics 7
audio 5
multiplayer 0
final rating 5.5
Editor's review
poor
 
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