Donald Duck: Quack Attack

Someone high up at Ubisoft really wanted the Donald Duck: Going Quackers/Quack Attack concept to work. Three different developers had already made completely different versions of the game for PlayStaton, Game Boy Color and Nintendo 64 (with the N64 version getting PC and Dreamcast ports), but now it was Ubisoft Montreal’s turn to make a new version for the PS2 and GameCube. At this stage they mainly worked on licensed games and Tonic Trouble, but they would later create Splinter Cell, the Prince of Persia 3D trilogy and a little game called Assassin’s Creed.

While the story and level themes are exactly the same as the previous versions, the levels themselves are completely different. They’re still mostly Crash Bandicoot-style levels with a few 2D levels, but they’re designed around the specific mechanics of this version.

Throughout each level are sets of five cogs, collect these in quick succession and you’ll get a letter to spell out “SPECIAL”. Once you’ve completed a level with this, you’ll earn a special move. To activate a special move, you need to jump on three enemies without touching the ground, press R, then enter the combination for the various special moves – although all they do is activate a different animation then all give you the same power: invincibility and a bonus to your score for a little bit.

While the actual reward for the special moves are fairly rubbish, they still benefit the game a lot: enemies and presents (which hold gears, health and power-ups) are placed within reach of each other, and bouncing across all these is extremely satisfying. I rarely actually activated the special move, but bouncing through the levels made them flow extremely well.

Donald is also lovingly animated, looking like he just escaped form the cartoons. He’ll distort as he move, grab his hat, dance around and is extremely expressive, which helps make the game feel alive.

The main campaign is quite short (with fewer levels than previous versions), but there are two bonus ways to play. One is a time trial, and the other has you perform at least two special moves per level, both of which are fairly easy. Still, the mechanics of the game make it quite good fun.

Fun

Goin’ Quackers is total rubbish, and not just because it’s one of the most boringly uninspired games we’ve played this year. Fact is, this looks and plays exactly the same as the N64 version, right down to the level structure and bumbling boss encounters.

NGC Magazine #68

Remake or remaster?

The various versions of this are worth including in a Disney platformer collection

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Donal Duck: Quack Attack.

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3D platformer disney donald duck gamecube platformer ubisoft