Clockwork Knight Review

Ah! Clockwork Knight!

A great game I picked up at 'Toy's R Us' as the Saturn was on it's way out... I remember it was cheap, although I can't remember the price... Probably far more than most of the games I buy today... (I picked up Pen Pen Tricelon for Dreamcast for £4, at the wonderful "Chips" used game shop, coincidentally... today.

"Chips"... I'm going to take a break from the game review to do a quick "shop" review. The Three Gingers have told me about this place for years... It's situated in Chorlton, Manchester, about a mile or two from my house. Although I often visit this rather excellent Manchester suburb for a meal, a beer or a bit of shopping, I've never checked out "Chips". This is very strange behaviour for me, as I'm usually sticking around used games shops like a fly sticks around a freshly dropped turd. For some reason though I never checked out this particular venue.



However today with about 10 minutes to kill before picking up the Littlest Ginger from school, me and the Biggest Ginger decided to pop in and check it out. And what an excellent revelation it was! Instead of the dusty old shambolic second hand tat market I had imagined, this was a nice organised emporium, with the games categorised and presented by console. Not the cheapest of venues, but definite bargains for both the Saturn and the Dreamcast on show. My usual used games venue is the excellent Gamestation. However, as any regular customer will know, the selection of games seems to stagnate for a few weeks, then a gamer selling his beloved stash will replenish the stock, and a hidden gem might be up for grabs...

In "Chips" however there was a nice selection of less obvious titles at a variety of prices... In Gamestation the games I'm looking for rarely cost me more than a couple of quid... Here games ranged from £3 to about £20...

On paying for my Pen Pen Tricelon, I enquired about the rest of the Dreamcast games in the shop... (perhaps hidden gems were stashed behind the counter?) Unfortunately what you saw on the shelves represented stock of software for a particular console... Bah!

Imagine my surprise when the 'uber-geek' (who tend to staff video games shops) asked me if I was after a particular title... "Daytona USA 2001... for the Dreamcast" I spluttered...
"Not too uncommon..." he suggested.
A quick tap on the computer to check on availability of said game revealed that it was not very available after all... Bah!

"Hang on... they might have it in our Glasgow store..." Glasgow Store??? This place was a chain???

Within seconds the guy was phoning North of the Border... "Daytona USA 2001... You got it?
Yes? Send it to us... What? Twelve days... sweet."

He then asked me if I wanted to reserve it... Deposit price £1. He asked me for my phone number and then promised to phone me on it's arrival in the store...

Price? £12!!! Fucking result!! Awlright!!!

How's that for service? Now if you want a bit of "Chips" action, but don't have the fortune of living in Manchester or Glasgow, fortunately this esteemed retailer is enough of a going concern to have a website and you can go straight to it here...
Not sure about international sales but definite UK goldmine...

OK where was I? oh yeah... Clockwork Knight!

At this festive time "Toy" related games seem very appropriate... "Toy Story 2", "Toy Commander" or "Toy Racer" for DC, "Micro Machines" for Megadrive and indeed the veritable "Clockwork Knight" for Saturn...

Let's check out the blurb on the back of the box...




"Stunning cinema-quality SGI-rendered characters and graphics create this amazing 3D toy world. As the clock strikes midnight Pepperouchau springs to life armed only with a sword and split second timing. Tackle treacherous furniture, huge household items and wind up villains to save the kidnapped princess before dawn!"

Pepperouchau is a largely mustachioed Kaiser looking Clockwork Knight... Not the most familiar of toys I'll grant you... and not the most obvious name for a toy either... but we're splitting hairs.




Although this claims to be 3D that is largely confined to the rendered environments. essentially it's a side scrolling 2D platformer... Playing through the many rooms of a typical house our little toy Aryan has to battle a variety of foes. It's fucking great!! The worst thing about this particular game was always being unable to save... In fact I could never save on the Saturn cos I never had a memory card... I always thought the huge slot in the top of a Saturn was for Megadrive games... Go figure... I once left "Casper" (Yes I know...) on for days 'cos I was trying to complete it... Without a memory card... Now I've got one ... a super-duper one that is also a cheat facility and Japanese/import game "enabler". (Separate post altogether..)



I've not done this game justice... it's great. But I've been interrupted by life in my house, instant messages from my good friend across the 'pond Deitrix, showing me very funny video clips and
Peter Kay shouting very funny things from the TV in my peripheral vision...





You see? This is why I need my own blog... to post utter shite! I actually take posting on GGOTG and the DCJY very seriously... but here i can post sub-standard ramblings, read by no-one and not have to worry about it!


Great! 'Cos there has not been anything of worth imparted on this particular blog may I offer any random reader this lovely image as a consolation!










Goodnight children wherever you are!!