The whole idea of this game comes from those old cartoons where Ralph the Wolf and Sam the Sheepdog go at it. Ralph the Wolf is actually Wile E. Coyote but with a red nose. Other than that, they look almost identical.
Ralph would always try to come up with clever ways to steal Sam's sheep and always end up getting bested by Sam who would beat him up. The funny thing about the cartoons were that they would punch out at a timeclock at the end of the episode and just go home... and of course come back to do it all again the next day. Those cartoons are the whole reason this game exists.
In the game, Daffy Duck shows up and introduces Ralph to a gameshow where he might actually have a chance to steal the sheep from Sam as long as he is clever enough. Most of the levels have you using various cartoon tricks that are very familiar to us over the many years of watching Loony Tunes. My favorite in the game is the big rubber band which can actually be used in a couple different ways. You can bungie down from a cliff and try to grab the sheep from below, or you can tie it two two trees and use it like a stretchy catapult.
The difficulty of the game just comes from figuring out the correct series of actions needed to first remove the sheep from Sam's surveillance and then to get said sheep to the goal ring. As the game progresses, both of these tasks can become very, VERY difficult to figure out. It's basically a stealth game crossed with a puzzle platformer.
The animation of the characters seems inspired from the cartoons themselves. Even though the PlayStation graphics are dated, you can see the special care that the animators put into it. Everything looks really good, and I loved all the cute little expressions everyone made. Also the death scenes are hilarious.
I also want to mention the dash mechanic. If you jab really fast on the Triangle button, Ralph will run super fast, so fast it's actually hard to get him to stop. If you happen to run off of a cliffside, he will actually run in midair for a bit before he realizes he is in trouble. He will also slam into a wall if he can't stop in time. This is one of the many aspects of the game that make you feel like you're controlling a cartoon character. It's brilliantly crafted. I can tell that the developers had fun making it.
If you can get ahold of this game, I do recommend it. Just keep in mind that it is a very challenging game. You'll end up dying a lot. However, dying is actually very entertaining and just helps you realize that you should probably just be trying something different. That's the whole point. Keep trying different things and eventually you'll figure out what the game wants you to do. It's a good and solidly made game, and it's really too bad it's not better known these days.
This blog was written on April 26, 2024.
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Interesting that a game was designed with classical cartoon physics in mind. The "run in place midair" is actually in the game, showing the developers knew what they were doing... and loved the source material.
ReplyDeleteRunning briefly in midair was never not fun.
DeleteThe slapstick nature of the cartoon was always fun when I saw it as a kid. I was confused when they called Wile E. Ralph haha. I missed this one back when I had a PlayStation, it sounds like a fun game.
ReplyDeleteI admit to only recently figuring out the difference between the two characters.
DeleteCartoon violence can be quite enjoyable. That which would be horrible in reality becomes a humorous thing. It helps that the characters seem to fully heal between scenes.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's a safe game to be in danger.
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