Rascal (video game)

Rascal is a platform game developed by Traveller's Tales[1] and published by Psygnosis for the PlayStation. The main character and several enemies were designed by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.[2][3]

Rascal
Developer(s)Traveller's Tales
Publisher(s)Psygnosis
Director(s)Jon Burton
Producer(s)Chris Rowley
Designer(s)Jon Burton
Programmer(s)Dave Dootson
Paul Houbart
Gary Ireland
Artist(s)Beverly Bush
James Cunliffe
Sean Naden
Composer(s)Andy Blythe and Marten Joustra
Platform(s)PlayStation
Release
  • EU: March 1998
  • NA: 31 March 1998
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Plot

Professor Casper Clockwise is in his lab making the final adjustments to his time travelling device, when suddenly someone creeps behind him. Meanwhile, his son Callum "Rascal" Clockwise is walking through a secret route under the house to get to his father's lab when suddenly the lights go out and an alarm sounds. Rascal rushes down to see the problem, but to his horror two aliens in spacecraft appear and chase him down the corridor.

Rascal finally makes it to his father's lab by going through the safe door entrance. He is shocked to find Chronon, the evil master of time, torturing his dad for unknown reasons, and holding him at gunpoint with another of his dad's inventions called the "Bubble Gun", but Chronon accidentally activates the controls for the time machine and he and the Professor are sucked into the time portal. The Bubble Gun manages to be released from the portal and lands at the feet of Rascal, who picks it up, vowing to save his dad.

Rascal chases the two through time, from the medieval Castle Hackalott, to the Aztec Temple at Chichimeca, to the lost city of Atlantis, to the Jolly Raider pirate ship and Dodgy City in the old West, travelling to each location's past and present forms and collecting the pieces of a Time Clock from both before fighting Chronon in each area's future. Afterwards Rascal travels to the Corridors of Time, Chronon's lair within the space-time continuum where, after defeating its guardians brought from each of the other time periods, he successfully defeats Chronon and rescues his dad. After escaping using another time portal, Rascal and his dad safely return home, leaving the portal to shatter and trap Chronon in interdimensional time forever.

Gameplay

In the game, the player assumes the role of Rascal armed with the Bubble Gun, in a mission through five worlds - Castle Hackalott (a medieval castle), Chichimeca Temple (an ancient Aztec temple), the aquatic city of Atlantis, The Jolly Raider (a pirate ship), and Dodgy City (a town in the Wild West).[1] Each world has three forms: past, present, and future[1] (e.g. Castle Hackalott appears as a medieval castle in the past where in the present day, it has become a museum). The player needs only to complete the past level to gain access to the next world. In each past and present level, the player has to find the six pieces of the Time Clock in order to access the Time Bubble at the end and be able to access the next form of that world. Each future level has a boss fight against Chronon. Defeating him in all five gives access to the final world. The Bubble Gun has limited ammo, and which bubbles it shoots depends on how much ammo is left.

Development

Traveller's Tales founder Jon Burton revealed in a video posted in September 2018, that the poor controls were a result of the publisher requesting that the controls be changed from directional movement to tank controls similar to Tomb Raider, leading to issues with how the game's camera engine was designed.[4]

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
GameRankings48%[5]
Review scores
PublicationScore
CVG1/10[6]
GameSpot4/10[7]
IGN2/10[8]
Next Generation[9]
NowGamer7/10[2]

Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it two stars out of five, and stated that "Excepting the excellent visuals, there really isn't too much substance to Rascal. It's more of a technological achievement (one of the only PlayStation games with no noticeable load time) than a game, and worth picking up only for those who enjoy being annoyed."[9]

References
  1. Semrad, Ed (August 1997). "Psygnosis". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 97. Ziff Davis. p. 83.
  2. "Rascal - NowGamer". Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  3. "NG Alphas: Rascal". Next Generation. No. 32. Imagine Media. August 1997. p. 87.
  4. GameHut (2018-09-13), Rascal Prototype Shows Incredible Technology - So What Went Wrong?, retrieved 2018-11-15
  5. "Rascal for PlayStation". Gamerankings. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  6. Randell, Kim (15 August 2001). "PlayStation Review: Rascal". Computer and Video Games. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  7. "Rascal Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  8. IGN review. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  9. "Finals". Next Generation. No. 43. Imagine Media. July 1998. p. 113.
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