Sabre Wulf

Sabre Wulf was one of the first games that Rareware released under its initial name, Ultimate. Two decades later, it seems like the company will conclude its development of Game Boy Advance games with the same title. Although much has changed since its Commodore 64 days, Sabre Wulf still stars the Sabreman who resembles a crazy old toothless miner with a pristine white mustache. However, he's actually a British safari hunter, so the miner stereotype is out while the toothless stereotype remains. When the game begins, Sabreman is called upon to rid villages of a sabre wulf that's on the loose and to collect eight pieces of an amulet to encase the wulf in stone. This sends players on a quest of 3D exploration and 2D platforming, which pulls elements from Rare's former Donkey Kong Country franchise and also finds its own fresh way of making gamers think.

All of the levels in Sabre Wulf are 2D platforming stages, but when traveling through the towns that contain these levels it's an overhead perspective. Praise Rare because the company didn't go with the isometric perspective on an angle either. Instead, it's a straightforward, top-down view that's not awkward to control. From this overworld, players can access the 2D stages where the real gameplay starts. The levels remind me of the Donkey Kong games in terms of their design, especially because each one starts with Sabreman entering through a tent. This is a call back to DK's caves and you can sometimes find treasure hiding above the tents, too.

While there are more similarities to Donkey Kong here, the further into the level you go, the more unique Sabre Wulf becomes. For one thing, this game embraces puzzle obstacles in addition to its platforming elements. Players collect various good animals and use them to access new heights or to avoid other bad animals. For example, the Sabreman can jump on the stomach of a sleepy Blubba, a bouncy bear-like animal, to reach a platform he's unable to access by simply jumping. Meanwhile, placing a creature like the Boomber next a bad animal causes it to blow-up and allows you to proceed unharmed. Since these are the first good animals that you get in the game, they're a bit basic. Down the line, Club creatures clobber things in their way, Sticky creatures stick to bad animals so that you can get away, and the Golems just get in everyone's way. With 15 kinds of good animals to use, there's a variety of ways to overcome obstacles in the game and picking the right ones is really what makes this platform game interesting.

Once players get passed the hazards within a level, treasure awaits them in the wulf cave at the end. However, the stage isn't over until you run all the way to the start while being chased by the wulf. The obstacles and bad animals are cleared at this point, but it's still an intense race to the tent when there's a hungry wulf that isn't far behind. Eventually, it's easy to trick the wulf into falling down gaps, but in the beginning, you're mostly falling down those never-ending holes and having to start over. Once you pick up the treasure though, you do get to start in the wulf cave if you die, so Sabre Wulf isn't frustrating, it's rather fun.

Besides the platform, puzzle and wulf chasing routine, there's a "boss" stage as well as side quests in each area. The boss stage is also a 2D race, but instead of running from right to left and being chased by the wulf, Sabreman must climb higher and higher to avoid being burned alive. It's quite an adventure for the old man, but it's a pretty easy boss stage for the gamer. Talking to people and hunting down items for them Zelda-style is easier on the Sabreman, but harder for the player. Not enough clues are dropped as to who has what and where to find items. Usually, talking to any random person directs you on where to go, but this game has everyone repeat the same exact phrases like politicians with talking points and it's also of very little value. Upon completing the game and all of the side quests, there's a challenge mode for each level. This entails completing a level with a strict time limit and number of creatures. So, the game isn't without replay value.

Sabre Wulf again seems like Donkey Kong Country in terms of its level design due to the bright colors that bring its variety of environments to life. The snowy mountains are the best where Sabreman's footsteps can be found in the snow-covered trails as he walks. What's more is the audio is also done well with appropriate sound effects and music everywhere. For example, in snowy mountains there are faint yodels sounds in the background while the backwoods stages are filled with banjo music. Sabreman himself adds charm and wit to the mix with one-liners that make him sound just like the roaming gnome from those Travelocity commercials. The game completes the presentation package with multi-layered backgrounds that gives the sense of depth whenever you shift the camera up or down.