Ian Livingstone - Treasure Planet (2005)
Composer: Ian Livingstone
Console: PS2
Game Release Date: 2005-04-29
Bootleg Release Date: 2021-09-27
Ripper: Unknown
Runtime: 1:17:00, 26 Tracks
Continuing on with the triple whammy post we got Treasure Planet for the PS2. In the late 90s and early 2000s a few films were released that all featured a similar animation style and were similarly all forgotten, well sort of. They were Anastasia, The Iron Giant, Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet. The Iron Giant is considered a cult classic and Anastasia is largely forgotten. And I have found that people will constantly confuse Atlantis and Treasure Planet as being the same movie. My sample size for this is small but all 7 people I asked do think they were the same movie or have memories of watching one but misremembering it as the other. I don't even remember exactly how I got onto this tangent which led me to checking out the games. There are a few Treasure Planet games, one for PSX, one for PS2 and a PC game but that aside at some point I looked up the Treasure Planet games, saw the PS2 and decided to start playing it. This was in mid-July of this year.
The game is a 3D platformer in the same vein as Jak and Daxter. In fact, my first impressions playing this was that it was a Jak and Daxter clone. The game has you entering levels through portals, activating a bunch of "power cells" (they call it beacons) and occasionally fighting a boss. To activate a beacon you need to do a task, whether it's kill this guy, collect these green energies or push a switch somewhere, you do it successfully you get a "shine" (beacon). It's just very similar in style to a lot of games that era. Mario Sunshine, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, Jak and Daxter, etc. Those are all phenomenal games so I won't criticize it. Treasure Planet does it own take on it. The game is a bit jank with weird controls, tough camera movement and slightly slippery movements. It's a bit like the issues Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters faced where some QoL things had to be sacrificed for PSP compatibility.
However in this games case I don't know why. Could have just been limitations with the engine or lack of budget, or they just didn't care. It's not that bad and as you play you do get used to the intricacies and quirks of the game. I found the platforming missions enjoyable and not too difficult. The hardest ones I believe were the spaceport's mission where you had to stop robots from falling in the hole and the one where you have to stop rocks from hitting the ship. Although both of those weren't too long they were very difficult, the latter only winning because I got luck. The game also seemed a bit "squished", as if the aspect ratio was wrong but even trying it on different emulators and resolutions it just looks like that.
Aside from the 3D platforming there are also "racing" levels. Well, it's more like you are in a huge sandbox with a flying vehicle and can drive around, again trying to get the beacons. Missions include ring challenges, races against time and sometimes trick challenges. The racing levels here are not to be messed with and are far harder than the platforming levels. The races were long and a slightly wrong turn could throw off your balance and cause failure. You need to start memorizing races as there are hazards all over the place. Some of the races permanently alter levels with pieces falling apart and being added. You go fast, and with enough speed boosts can go too fast to control. But the speed and races were enjoyable. While hard they were rewarding especially when you are zooming through areas at breakneck speed. There wasn't a dull moment in the racing at all. I will say though, the latter racing levels, from treasure planet's to the final sequence and the swamp levels were intense. They were definitely the best part of the game.
I originally thought the music was composed by whoever composed the movie soundtrack but apparently not. The music for this game is all original and composed by Ian Livingstone. Livingstone is a British composer who has scored for all sorts of mediums from TV to video games. His most notable VGM work is the soundtrack for Company of Heroes, composed with famous composer, Jeremy Soule. He has also composed for Batman Begins, the 2005 movie. He's done a lot of work and a comprehensive list does not exist at this time but the dude gets around.
The music here is mostly cinematic classical with raucous and adventurous instrumentation. The highlights are Jungle Race and Helium Swamp. The level Jungle Race has one of the hardest races and the pumped and epic music acts as cheerleader egging you on to try and try again. It complements the intense race perfectly. I had some friends over at the time I was doing the level and we blitzed through the race, swapping the controller when one of us died. Helium Swamp has this super ominous and almost horror-like sound to it, complimenting the mysterious swamp and strange enemies perfectly. The song reminds me a bit of the music in Evil Twin for the PS2.
So I tried to rip it myself but I have no idea what encoding they used for the WAV files located on the disc. They just play static when I try it with different players. Whether it's an encoding issue, encrypted songs or super old and specific drivers I can't get them running. For now we'll just have to settle with the YT rips. Ah well.
Download: aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWdhLm56L2ZpbGUvVGRSM0VZamEjcTF1OUZqRVlhSkNiYldFX0ZSRVZtRXpxdG5JTHdRaHFoaFVTWjdRUllyZw==
p@ss: treasureplanet
Comments
Post a Comment