Donald Duck: Quack Attack


Yeah, I know what you're thinking, another shit-ass PSX-port licensed platformer, isn't it? Well, I'm glad to tell you that, surprisingly, this is not the case with Quack Attack! I shit you not, I'm really enjoying this one. It's not the kind of game you play for hours and hours straight, but when you need a quick fix or something more simple to take a break from more "serious" games, this game is perfect. It basically is a platformer with two kinds of levels, the usual Super Mario-like ones where you start on the left corner of the level and have to make it to the far right, and the Crash Bandicoot-like ones where the camera goes behind your character and you have to move forward. This obviously can cause some issues, like some sections where it's hard to measure distances and you end up missing a jump, but overall the gameplay is really well done and the game is forgiving for the most time, so you won't get too frustrated with it.


This is a rather short experience. You have four areas, each one with four levels and a boss, so basically you can finish it in an afternoon, but as I said before, that's not really how you should play it, and I seriously doubt anyone will, because it can became repetitive real quick if you play more than a handful of levels on a single session. Still, after finishing it there's a lot of replay value. If you manage to recover all of Donald's nephews' lost toys, they reward you by unlocking an extra level (one per area, which means a total of four, which is rather odd since as far as I know Donald only has 3 nephews). Once again these levels are not original, but borrowed from, guess what game, Crash Bandicoot. I'm talking about the chase levels, where you're being chased by some sort of giant, angry enemy and you have to desperately run towards the screen before being eaten, caught or ran-over. Still, we don't see those everyday, so they have their appeal.


Once you beat these levels you unlock an extra challenge, beating all the previous levels in a time-trial, which in time rewards you with an extra costume. As you can see there's more to this game than what meets the eye. Graphics-wise, I got to say I'm impressed with this one. Not that it's something uber-incredible, but for a PSX port it looks really nice! The resolution is way higher and the textures are so detailed that one would think it was programmed for the Dreamcast in the first place! If only all the ports were like this one... (couldn't find decent Dreamcast screens, the above are from the N64 version, and as you can guess, the DC port looks even better)

So, if you're looking for a nice, little game to entertain you for a couple of hours, try this one, I doubt you'll regret it.

9 comments:

Animated AF said...

I've been meaning to give this one a shot, I found the demo of it on the Dreamcast magazine amusing enough. Random geeky fact: the game appears to be built within the same engine as Rayman 2. The pause screen is exactly the same with the same sound effects...or at least in the demo they are.

fatherkrishna said...

Great review Nebacha! I don't own this title but I'll hunt it down now... I have enjoyed buzz lightyear and 'disney magical tour' racing (whatever it's called)

I'll add this to the list!

Tom Charnock said...

Yeh, nice review fella. I nearly got this off ebay a few weeks ago but decided that £5 was a bit much for posting a game. The money grabbing toss pot. Anyhow, apologies for lack of posting. Several reasons: no internet connection since the wireless one I was hijacking suddenly dissappeared; and last week I finally splashed out on a 360 and as such (whisper it) the new console has been taking up most of my free time. Still, got a few new games though so new postage is imminent! Good to see everyone is still cranking out top-notch articles though! Top stuff

Anonymous said...

Well the game is no psx port, because there also was a PS2 version. So I guess the devvers developed both PS2 and DC version based on the same codebase. This would also explain why the DC version of the game looked so damn good for a "PSX port". ;)

I clearly remember the german internet/gaming show called giga games. They had a online survey on their website which version of the game was the best and the DC version was a clear winner at it, because all dc users with internet access voted for "their" version :D

NebachadnezzaR said...

Thanks for the support guys ;)

Moi, I know that there's also a PS2 version, but that was no mere port. Although it's based on the PSX/DC version, the levels are redesigned and it seemed to use a whole different engine, judging by how different it looks. The DC port, even if it has great graphics, you can see that it's still basically the PSX version, only with (much) better textures and a greater resolution.

That's how you see the advantage of having a console with internet capabilities :D

Animated AF said...

Anyone noticed that Donald Duck has generally starred in a lot of pretty decent platformers? The Lucky Dime Caper on Master System, Quackshot and World of Illusion on Mega Drive, and this one? Disney rarely licenses out Donald to games unless they get something pretty good, it seems.

NebachadnezzaR said...

World of Illusion was just awesome. But then there's Donald Duck PK for the PS2...

But yes, overall he has starred in some pretty good games.

Caleb said...

When I was 5 felt that Donald Duck was a pretty awesome character that was overshadowed by that stupid Mouse and his ungrateful nephews.

Anonymous said...

I bought this game for my dad, a Donald Duck collector, and borrow it from his collection every so often during holiday visits to give it a spin. Its actually a lot of fun, like a 3D sequel to World of Illusion or QuackShot.