Garfield: Saving Arlene
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 Does this game is called Garfield Best Game by any chances, because it is a great game! - Garfield (probably)
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Garfield: Saving Arlene is a 2005 action-adventure video game developed by EKO Software and published both by Hip Games and Titus Interactive, S.A. It was released for PlayStation 2 and PC.
Plot
Garfield is asleep on the couch in the Arbuckle house, and is soon awoken by Odie. The cat kicks Odie off the couch, claiming that the latter has no respect for his naps. Garfield then hears a truck, and finds it to be from the "Animal Annihilation Facility". Garfield then sees Arlene in the back of the truck, and along with Odie, decides to save her.
Why It Saves Arlene
- It is a massive improvement over the horrendous 2004 game that is simply titled Garfield, right to the graphics, and the gameplay.
- There's a lot of funny moments in this game, to the point of being one of the funniest Garfield game ever, such moments include Garfield being annoyed by Odie, fourth wall breaking humor, and puns related to either the game or the comics.
- Speaking of fourth wall breaking humor, there's two lines that are very funny and memorable, which are:
- One of the line where Garfield say that it's the only emotional scene of the game and that the script forced him to do so, which is quite funny.
- But the most funny line might be "This game wouldn't be called Garfield: Rescuing a dumb, stupid, slobbering dog by any chances", especially in the French dub where it sound even more funny.
- Speaking of fourth wall breaking humor, there's two lines that are very funny and memorable, which are:
- Decent graphics for a low budget game on the PS2, and look even better than those of Lasagna World Tour, as they are very colorful and the characters models are quite decent for the system it based on, also the environnements look appealing, such as the Garden and even the Sewers levels, and the feeling of the game is quite perfect because of this, especially for the sewer levels.
- Even better, this game graphics are of very good quality for a low budget game, since it even look better than some of the PS2 games with full budgets, in fact as stated before this game look even better than Garfield: Lasagna World Tour, which also looked great for a low budget game but wasn't as good as this game graphics.
- It also is the best looking Garfield game on the PS2 due to being very colorful and vibrant to look at overall.
- The gameplay is really good for a low budget game, since it manage to be surprisingly fun to play, and is probably one of, if not the best 3D Garfield game ever made because of this, and all of this with low budget.
- Also it isn't really a generic 3D platformer but rather a puzzle platformer since you will need to kick Odie into things to pass at times, this is mostly the reason of why this game is a puzzle platformer.
- There's also some variations in the game for the gameplay not being repetitive, such as the addition of moves when doing something to eat, such as to heal yourself or for kicking Odie to something else, which was very well executed, the same system would get back in Lasagna World Tour, though not as good.
- Speaking of Lasagna World Tour, that game did get this kind of gameplay from this game, but was unfortunately massively downgraded to the point of being a reskin and being a mediocre game.
- Unlike Lasagna World Tour, this game doesn't had many glitchs and is very well polished, although there's still some of them, they aren't as big as it sequel.
- Solid controls, Garfield control is very tight and responsive, and will never feel unresponsive except sometime, also the controls are a massive improvement over the 2004 game released earlier, since here it had better jump controls and they are definitely more simple and due to how solid they are, it's make the game much more fun than it's already is.
- Garfield got 5 abilities in the game, they are unique, fun to use and well made, those are:
- Lasagna: This make it possible to gain the healths bar you losed previously, this is a great thing if you're in a dangerous situation.
- Burger: This make it possible for Garfield to kick Odie in a very high distance and it is the ability that is the most used in the game so far.
- Cheese Cake: This make Garfield floating to pass platforming sections that are impossible with a regular jump, and it is also a good ability to speedrun the game, or at least going in place more quickly.
- Juice: This make Garfield running faster for a few seconds and is fairly fun to use, although it isn't used often unfortunately and is mostly seen in level 4.
- Fire Lasagna: This make Garfield doing fire with his mouth and can burn some obstacles that make dead end, though you can't burn all of them.
- Really good soundtrack, much like most of the Garfield game and is extremely catchy to listen to, in fact the soundtrack is so good that you may even want to rest on the stage longer to listen to the music or you might even want to download the soundtrack on your phone and MP3 players to listen to it while you're in a work or when you are not at home.
- The puzzles are interesting, and are neither too hard nor too easy to find out what to do in these sections.
- Good level design, that is usually designed around puzzles, and the abilities of Garfield and Odie themself, and you will need to do a lot of moves with Odie so that you can progress, and it work very well.
- It is more challenging than it sequel, this is mostly because the puzzles had better designs and that the game difficulty wasn't made as easy as it was in Lasagna World Tour.
- Hilarous title cards for the levels, such as for the first sewer level, and they are quite well made even for a video game based on a cartoon.
- Overall, it ended up being one of the best Garfield game ever made and even received a small cult following because of this, and also it ended up being the best PS2 Garfield game along with the decent tie-in video game based on Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties.
- What's more for Japanese versions is this is the last Titus Interactive game, but they only published it in Japan, and Titus Japan K.K is closing the company for good in a decent note.
Monday Qualities
- The game is extremely short, even more than Lasagna World Tour, since there is only 9 levels and they are very short to complete, to the point of being beatable around 2 hours.
- Some words in the game is mispelled, such as Lasagna being spell as Lasagne (though it is the French version of Lasagna but still, for an English game it is a typo), though the French version doesn't had any typos compared to most other.
- The game levels, while good and offer a lot of positive surprise about the environnements found there's a lot of rehash to the previous levels, in fact it is mostly because you go to the garden and sewers two times, which isn't a great thing if you consider that the game is only 9 levels long but at least most of the levels are very good.
- No boss fights unfortunately, this is also a big missed oportunity for making the game story even better, since if there was a antagonist that would try to stop Garfield from saving Arlene, then it would have make more senses, and it feel a bit rushed as a result, though this adventure was revealed to be a dream at the end of the game.
- Sometime the game might be a little frustrating, though it is challenging unlike Lasagna World Tour that use the same gameplay style, and was barely challenging at all.
- Also some of the levels are quite frustrating at times, which include:
- Level 4 is a little annoying due to the sections where you must run before a door close, which is incredibly hard because it barely give time and the running ability last a few seconds, also there's some poor enemies placements.
- Level 5 is incredibly annoying because of the platforming sections being terrible in that level due to the moving platforms you need to land on barely give you any times or good distance to land on, and when you fail, it's a life lost and you fall in the water.
- The sequel is a pretty big downgrade of this game and is overall mediocre.
- Some of the obstacles don't make any senses, such as water that can hit Garfield, we know that he is a cat but still...
Reception
While there is barely any reviews online, many youtubers liked the game and give it positive review, as well as being considered to be one of the best Garfield game ever made, and is considered to be the best one on the PS2 after Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties.
Trivia
- While it isn't the first 3D Garfield game made, it is the first 3D platformer.
- Although the game is a 3D platformer and all in-game characters use 3D models, Arlene is represented as a 2D animated texture.
- At the end of the credits, the player is told "Try this during the game! Left Left Left Left Up Left Left Left Left Down". Inputting this code on the D-pad during the game results in Garfield cycling through wearing different hats. These hats do not appear to have any effect on gameplay. They were later reused for the multiplayer costumes in Garfield: Lasagna World Tour.
- Yapping Yards and Dubious Dusk are the only two levels in the game to have different names yet share the same music.
- Outside of educational games, mobile games, and crossover games, Garfield: Saving Arlene is currently the only Garfield video game to receive a direct sequel.
- The PS2 contains title cards for each level whereas the PC version has none.
- It's one of the few Garfield game to be released in Japan, along with the japanese exclusive A Week of Garfield and Caught in the Act on Sega Genesis.
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