Croc ensures quality control by "borrowing" every platforming cliche there is. One hundred crystals collected adds up to one free life, the boxes with the question marks on them hold goodies, and old Croc can use jellies to bounce himself high into the air. Lest we forget to mention, the hearts, dear reader, also bestow an extra life on our hero. Old home week comes early and often with this one, but it's nice to know that the programmers took their inspiration from the best. We shudder at the thought of Argonaut swiping liberally from some of Acclaim's old-school platformers. Brrr.

The challenge comes from exploring and hunting down each and every Gobbo. Three Gobbos are stacked on each game level (every world has five levels, mind you), and players will have to complete a subgame to save the fourth. Here, players will have to complete tiled puzzles, run a gauntlet, blow up sheep and mummies, etc. It's not brain surgery -- heck, it's not even sweeping up after brain surgery -- but it does ensure that the whole experience remains an experience to be sampled, not a total rehash of someone's 1980s-style tinkerings.

The Bottom Line: Croc has teeth to bite, teeth that are not entirely its own.