Previously on part 1: Rex embarks on journey to free his dino fellows from hypnotism/magic of bipedal prehistoric rat by defeating him. He's defeated but he soon revive and revealed that he has kidnapped Rex's girlfriend. Thus Rex's quest continues...
Rex must through another forest
stage, that's including swimming area. While swimming, Rex can't blows firejet
like when he's on land. Instead, he blows harmless air bubble but he can
knockback these water denizens to give himself some free-from-damage space. I
have to say that swimming section is the least appealing to me. Not only you
have to deal with undefeatable enemies but also insta-kill situations are
basically everywhere here. And that self-exploding clam isn't helping with
situation. At least it kills itself. I takes damage a lot in these water
section. Luckily there's health refill pick-up that can fully replenish my
health.
You may think the 2nd forest
stage is the same stage only mirrored. I ensure that's not the case. Its layout
is more complex than the previous one has. Also there's this Echidnasaurus that
appeared on jungle stage but not on previous forest stage. It behaves like
Megaman's Met: he's invincible when ducked. But he sprays spike quite
everywhere around him so its attack are nearly avoidable. The spiky bastard.
Also in the end of the stage, there's boss fight. It's Pterosaur
who keen on dropping lava rock at Rex. There's 2 type of spring mushroom here:
tall and short. Tall mushroom boosts Rex's jump higher than short ones. To
efficiently defeat the boss: keep jumping on short mushrooms so he's baited
into flying low then immediately jump to long mushroom thus your firebreath can
reach him. Cool boss-fight design.
Nothing new in boneyard stage
except new layout. I forgot to mention that Rex will automatically tumbling
down when he stops at slope made of bones here. Also there's tubes that powered
by vacuum air that sent Rex rolling in mid air like this. In previous stage
they only lead to secret place, but here most of them are mandatory way to
finish the stage.
One of the tube leads me to this
stage's boss. What's more appropriate boss in this wonderful skeletal place
than greater animated skeleton? If you say "Other than living
skeleton", shut your noise-hole! As you can see it tries to bite me but its
jaw can't reach me. Even with its elongated neck.
But don't be fooled. It has other mean to attack Rex:
spitting fireball like what Rex can do, spitting fireball that travel in zigzag
pattern, and summon bones to fall at approximately Rex's position. Direct
firebreath won't harm it not even a little. So you have to wait for flammable
bones to fall and blow at them so you create flaming bones that can actually
harm the boss. The problem is: it takes very long time for the flammable bone
to come down. Because most of the time, it's unflammable bones (like the one on
bottom) that appear. Thus you are trapped in tiresome routine of boss's attack
dodging and hopping that the flammable bone falls. Luckily, the lower its
health the faster its attack procedure, that lead to the correct bones appear
more often. Still i reckon this is the worst boss battle in the game.
And once again Rex get devoured
by the long-neck bastard. You can't learn about safe-skateboarding, can you?
First thing Rex does while in the
beast's gut (for second time): angrily kicks a membrane wall where there's fire
power-up. I have to say that the kick is relatively underused even though it's
well animated. Which is quite pity.
I believe this is the perfect
section where you most likely can get Ninja Gaiden'd. That moving bubble can be
popped with flame but i suggest you leave it alone. Because it will burst into
2 other bubble that move faster and homing at Rex. So you have to rely on Rex's
jump that have lots of degree to control precisely.
Oh, great! It's another scene
where Rex's girlfriend can get jealous. Even though he dislikes this kiss
because it's harmful.
I have to question whether is
there any creature that has hairy digestion chamber like this or not.
Seriously, it makes my mind uneasy. This hairy part not only slow Rex's
movement but also hamper his jump. At least it prevent him for getting another
harmful kiss from that tadpole thing.
Another boss battle ensues. This
time against the dinosaur's organ that has tentacles and constantly spitting bubbles. To
damage it, you have to burn its 2 holes that spit the bubble. But you should
burn the bubble along with the hole because it will split into homing shrapnel.
To get things worse, there's wide gastric-juice pool below the boss. So if you
knocked down, you most likely get killed right away. You can switch side to
face other hole by jumping on the organ. Also you will totally safe on top of
it.
At least, Rex learn how to duck on swooping Archaeopteryx...
...but he got cocky and later get grabbed from behind. Silly Rex.
:p
There's new enemy here: plant
that infinitely spawn deadly grapes. Here's the awful thing beside the last
boss: the plant can't be burned! Like, seriously? Plants are supposed to be
burnable. That's solidly written in nature's rule. Pyro_jeers01.wav
And the amount of self-exploding
turtles (like the one on right) are significantly increased than the last time
Rex visits. Even they have exploded themselves, they're still harmful to touch.
Perhaps the turtle is still hot to touch, judging by that sizzling smoke.
The stage's boss: the largest
floating hornet nest. The battle is quite similar to previous boss but much
easier because you can just burn the hole along with newly dispatched hornet
and there's no insta-kill hazard below the boss. Even though there's 4 holes
instead of 2, the battle is very easy.
Before we reach the last stage. I
want to show you the last bonus stage here. Rex starts at left-bottom cubicle.
Should i left Rex stands for too long there, he will be immediately trampled by
one of the evil Rex. Then Rex has to circle around him and make his way by
pushing blocks, with careful though. As pushed block can destroy egg. Unless
you don't want extra continue. But then, why do you collect so many egg in main
stage if you don't want extra continue?
If you think, my act of
"dragonflies incineration" isn't righteous. Well. In this intermission,
Rex does the same. So it's not out of his character.
Hey. What are you doing, guys? Mass suicide? Ok, cool. The rat
must be very-unlikable leader that these dinos eager to end their life very
soon. i better defeat him for good as soon as possible, if i still want to have
fellow to command.
This probably the hardest enemy
platforming. As you know Pachycephalosaurus will headbutt anyone in front of
him. So positioning it into right spot can be tricky. Fortunately, i have the
fireball power-up to make things easier. So what's the purpose of taking
another one? Iseng.
I must say that i really love the
jungle stage. My reason is simple: more dinosaurs and less dangerous hazard.
The only insta-kill hazard in this stage: the lava pool. Even though, some of
them spew fireballs, now. It's not hard to navigate unlike The Dino's gut
stage. It's simply worst stage in my opinion.
I hope you don't expect something
colossal for the final boss, because you will be disappointed to know that the
boss is the magic rat, again. But this time he has different moveset. But
again, you can be safe from his attacks if you stand below him...
...unless he initiates swooping blowtorch
attack where he swiftly charges from right below then he return to his usual
position. Fight fire with fire, eh? Actually, this attack pattern is the one
that can be countered safely. Jump him and then fireblast his initial position
at the right time.
Here's the most reckless way to
damage the rat. Jump behind him and burn his bum then hurry land below him. All
while maintaining safe distance from him. Otherwise you will get knocked into
lava pool and instantly die, of course. This method is really inadvisable.
There's 3 rat's attack pattern in
total: he cast bouncing magic orb, he strikes with flame magic, and here's the
last one: he cast lightning that will travel along the ground. When he's dying,
he don't do the sweeping flame attack at all. Thus forcing you to seize the
other opportunity like this: you can jump forward his lightning while burst
flamejet then land below him. You can do this without taking damage if you do
it at right time. Or you can empty the shout reserve. It's final battle, you
can do it without hesitate. Do note that dying will empty you roar while your
firepower remain intact.
And then they live happily ever after...until all of these
volcanoes erupt simultaneously or there's massive meteor shower. Then they live
happily in afterlife. Good for them.
That's it for Radical Rex (1994). I think it has same
level of quality to Sonic The Hedgehog
or Rocket Knight Adventure. It has
its own unique gameplay but maintain the basic in good grade. I feel that the
skateboarding section is adapted from Sonic
game where you can experience satisfying fast movement action. By the way, you
can do jumping flip by multi-tapping the jump button while on skateboard. Even
though the game has rather generous health bar system, there's lots of stage's
element that can instantly kill Rex. But still in fair manner. While the death
animations are varied and distinctive among other which remind me of Crash Bandicoot. Beside from death
animation, other animations serve to shape Rex's character which is
well-implemented brilliant idea. The egg collecting part is tedious yet
essential if you want to accumulate continues. But there's no clear indication
of how much egg that you need to collect to access the bonus stage. The music
is good and atmospheric. My personal favorite is the jungle stage. So there's
another reason why i like it. The game's looping stage system is akin to Ghost n Goblin feature albeit with
enough alteration. It may serves same purpose: to make the game longer. But the
game is still relative short which can be finished within more than an hour and
half that's why there's no save system or password. Fortunately, the game
features no time limit which mean you can take your time to find eggs and other
pick-ups. The first loop is quite breeze while the second loop is where the
stern challenges lie. Also the game feature many neutral creature that you can
burn for entertainment.
So the conclusion: Radical Rex (1994) is very solid good platform that i can recommend
you to play it. Unless you really dislike platform game with non-human mascot
that has attitude or you don't buy the charm from little T-Rex that can breathe
fire. Either way you must be soulless git.
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