Hugo: Quest for the Sunstones

Hugo: Quest for the Sunstones
Well this game success more for being a quest to be another awful game starring Hugo than being a quest for finding the sunstones.
Genre(s): Platform Platform(s): PlayStation Microsoft Windows Release: March 11, 2000 Developer(s): ITE Media Publisher(s): ITE Media Series: Hugo Predecessor: Hugo 2 Successor: Hugo: Black Diamond Fever

Hugo: Quest for the Sunstones (original Danish title Hugo: Jagten På Solstenene), also known as Hugo 3D, is a 3D platform game in Hugo franchise developed and published by ITE Media for the PlayStation and PC in 2000.

Plot

The village of the island's cheerful native Kikurians is in great danger as the hateful witch Scylla has decided to get rid of them. The volcano near the village can erupt at any moment, since Scylla's minions clogged the crater with a huge boulder, threatening to flood the Kikurian village with lava. To save the Kikurians, the friendly troll Hugo must find three magic sunstones that are hidden in three locations: an old Inca pyramid, a snowy mountain cave, and an old pirate grotto.

Why It's Didn't Found The Sunstones

1. While the change of mini games compilation to a 3D platformer was a great idea for the Hugo franchise to be better than ever, the problem is that this game was horribly executed, which will be explained in the next pointers about how bad it is.
   • Not to mention that despite the great idea that it was, they also removed a lot of charm from the Hugo franchise for this game along with its sequels, as the death animation cutscenes are nowhere to be seen, and as you will see in the next pointer, there is little to no voice acting, which, while annoying at times, is still fun to listen to the voice acting, and Hugo doesn't really have a bad voice cast. This would make for a less memorable Hugo game experience.
2. The graphics, despite being an improvement over the even worse graphics in the previous Hugo games on the PS1, are really awful, even for a 2000 PS1 game. There are many PS1 games that look much better than this and we're released before or the same year, such as Doraemon 2: SOS! Otogi no Kuni. , Bomberman: Party Edition, Spider-Man (2000), Mega Man X4, and South Park Rally all look better, and they were released between 1997 and 2000.
   • The colors palette is horribly washed out and makes this game have even more awful graphics and awful-looking environments than they would be if the colors looked better. Even the cutscenes suffer from this, as they not only have horrendous-looking animation but also a washed-out color palette.
   • The character models also look awful and extremely blocky, even by the standards of the PS1, since the characters most notably Hugo had an ugly-looking face model, and the cutscenes howewer had the worst models of the entire game (see WIDFTS #7).
   • Not to mention that if the graphics weren't awful enough, the graphics were also so dark to the point that if you had a TV with poor lighting or a terrible view (or both), you would have a hard time seeing the game clearly. Due to that, you would have had to make the lighting on your TV much higher to allow you to see the game better.
3. There are little to no soundtrack in the game with some exception, and only the sound effects are in the gameplay, which means that it's making the game extremely empty and even more boring due to how lacking the sound design is, not to mention that due to how calm most of the sound effects are, you will likely (with exaggeration) want to sleep after hearing them and playing the game for so long.
   • Not to mention that most sound effects are extremely generic and repetitive to hear, also they are forgettable for the most parts, except the one where you collect diamonds since that one is relaxing to hear, still it's pretty bland too.
4. There are zero voice acting on the cutscenes, which is absolutely unnaceptable as even the first Hugo game had voice acting on both the cutscenes and the gameplay, which is a huge sign of laziness. To make matters worse, even Mega Man 8, a game released in 1996 for the PlayStation 1 and Sega Saturn, has voice acting, and that game also had much more voice acting than this, and it's came out 4 years before this game, making this even more unnaceptable.
   • Also the only voice acting is heard un the in-game gameplay but the problem is that it's just noise that Hugo do when he jump or when he hurt and that about it, it's also really annoying to heard at times.
5. The controls are extremely awful as they are quite clunky, slippery, and sometimes downright unresponsive. It also doesn't help that Hugo moves slowly in this game and that you would have trouble controlling him, especially the jump, which is downright abysmal and doesn't even function greatly, kind of like Malice on both the PS2 and Xbox (which was as bad if not worst than this game).
   • They are also the reason why the platforming is horrible and possibly the worst in a Hugo platformer game, due to how slow and unresponsive the controls are. The reason why the platforming is so horrible will be explained in WIDFTS#13.
   • Not to mention that despite how bad the controls are in the platforming stages, they are even worse in the mine car levels, where they are so bad that it's made these stages the absolute worst in the entire game since they are so stiff (see WIDFTS #8).
6. The perspective is absolutely abysmal since sometimes you will think that you are in the right direction for jumping to the next platforms, but instead you will fall to your death because it isn't even the right direction to jump. This will happen a lot in the levels where you had to do a lot of platforming sections. Fortunately,  the sequels on the PS1 fixed this issue.
   • That is also the reason why the platforming is so horrible and probably the worst in a Hugo game since it's literally made the game almost unplayable and created fake difficulty that is not a true hard difficulty.
   • This also creates fake difficulty for no reason at all other than making the game even worse than it already is due to how horrible it is, and that's mostly the reason why this game is ruined from being a decent if average 3D platformer, much like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus (although that game wasn't as far as this game with the bad perspective).
7. As if the in-game graphics weren't awful enough, the cutscenes had even worse graphics than the in-game graphics, as the character models are horribly uncanny, blocky, and feel like they came from a 1994 Sega Saturn game, which is unnaceptable considering that some of the PS1 games such as Pac-Man World had better animations than this.
   • Even Doraemon 2: SOS! Otogi no Kuni Another game with uncanny character models in its cutscenes had better animations than this, and it was released in 1997, not to mention that the character design, despite being uncanny, was much more good-looking than this game.
   • Also, not only do the cutscenes have horrible animation for the time, but they are also terrible due to being boring and, as stated before, having zero voice acting. They also barely explain the plot of the game and are mostly here to make the plot on a level, which is lazy. Fortunately, the sequels wouldget great cutscenes that actually feel like cutscenes and would also greatly improve the animation.
8. The mine cars are the absolute worst levels of the game, with them being horribly hard, having atrocious controls, and being almost impossible to beat. It's likely the hardest part of the entire game due to how horrible it is. Fortunately,  the sequels would not feature these phases ever again.
   • First off, if you crash into a wall or something, you instantly die. No matter what, this is an extremely annoying mechanic that is just here to make the levels much harder than they already are.
   • You can't even attack the enemies, which can damage you or downright kill you in one hit. You also can't protect you from crashing into walls or even from the enemies attacks, which make everything much worse and more tedious.
   • The controls, as said before, are extremely horrible in these phases, even more than the main platforming levels, as they are horribly clunky and stiff; they are also even more unresponsive, and thus can cause a huge amount of cheap deaths to the point of making these levels some of the worst in the video game history, no, we're not even kidding about that!
   • It's also played from a first-person perspective; the problem is that due to that, you can barely see what obstacles there are in your route, and it's been badly executed since the draw distance is extremely awful and even worse than in the main levels of platforming.
9. The gameplay in some ways rips off Crash Bandicoot due to the level design being similar and looking like it's come from a bad fan game of Crash Bandicoot; even the enemy attacks feel like they could have been in a Crash game; even the sequels would be like this, especially The Evil Mirror (only for the PS1 version). Unsurprisingly, it's failed miserably to do the formula well.
   • Not to mention that compared to Crash, Hugo moves really slowly, as stated before, especially because of the awful controls that are slow and clunky. Thankfully,  in the sequels, Hugo moves faster.
10. The game is completely filled with horrible difficulty spikes and fake difficulty that are here just because of the fact that the controls are awful and also because of the horrible perspective in the platforming sections. This also makes the game extremely frustrating and annoying to play.
    • This is especially with the platforming sections or the god awful hit detection that make the game an absolute nightmare to play, and also the reason why this game is too hard, as the hit detection is ridiculously large for the enemies, as they can hit you with no problem (see WIDFTS#14 for more info).
    • The mine car levels are a perfect example of that since, as said before, they had awful controls that were miles worse than the main level controls, and almost everything can kill you in one hit. This is not helped by the terrible camera angles that make these stages horribly difficult, thank you for how horrible they are.
    • The lack of checkpoints is also one of the main reasons why this game is hard, but for all the wrong reasons, as they are actually present but not enough to make the game at least decently balanced. This is not only because of the horrible mine car levels but also because some levels drag on for too long and sometimes last for 10 minutes.
11. The game is extremely short, despite being longer than the previous games, as you can beat it in only 1 hour or even less. This is unnaceptable even by Hugo game standards, as most 2000 PS1 games take longer than this to beat, such as Spider-Man or Bomberman Land.
12. The level design is very awful and probably the worst you could ever see in a Hugo game, due to how poorly placed the platforms are along with the horrible enemy placements that make the game very hard at times for no reason. This includes but is not limited to (note: this doesn't include the car levels):
    • Level 1, while not hard and probably the easiest of the entire game, is extremely bland, as there are barely any enemies that can kill you. The only times you will get hit is when you get hit by something due to how slow Hugo moves and also because of the horrible hit detection.
    • The level 2 has an awful amount of repetitive design that looks like it's making the level seem endless; it's also filled with horrible enemy placements that make this game once again fake difficulty, although despite being a bad level, it's not even the worst of them all.
    • The level 3 is where the absolute nightmare starts. First, you had to escape from a fire flaming, but the problem is that it's horribly fast and can get you if you're not fast enough, and due to how horrible it is, you will likely get way too fast and accidently be either hit by an ennemy or fall in a pit if you're not careful enough. In the second part, you had to run fast to not fall since all of the platforms fall and you can't stop you from running away. Not only that bit, the next levels would be even worse, yes, it's this bad!
    • The level 4 is absolutely abysmal and even worse than the third level, as the level is filled with horrible enemy placements that make the level horribly hard, the rocks that you barely had time to see before being hit, andworse than the third level, as the level is filled with horrible enemy placements that make the level horribly hard, and worst of all, the platforming sections that are in their absolute worstin this game, as they are horribly placed with off course dreadful enemy placements that make these places almost impossible to'pass without taking damages. There is also the boss at the end that is horrible (see WIDFTS#18), the level is also horribly long and last about 10 minutes.
    • The level 5, while not as bad as the 3rd and 4th levels, is still awful due to having a horrible lot of enemies that are just here to make the level more difficult; it's also got very slippery controls due to the ground being cold, and it's made the level have an awful difficulty spike that makes it nearly impossible to beat without dying or being a master of this game.
    • The level 6 is really annoying, as you have to press interruptors in order to get out of the place where you are stuck, and if you're not fast enough, you have to restart all over again until you finish it correctly.
    • Level 7 is an atrocious level that is so hard for all the wrong reasons, especially because of how horrible the difficulty spike is. As there are a lot of mine cars that are obstacles, and they are extremely hard to dodge perfectly due to how awful the hit-detection is, there are, of course, some dreadful enemy placements that make the level an absolute nightmare to beat.
    • The levels 8 and 9 are the horrible mine car levels (see WIDFTS #8 for more info about them; spoilers: they are even worse than the main levels).
    • The level 10 is where you can easily see that the level design is extremely repetitive, but if it weren't for the atrocious platforming, then the level would be somewhat passable, but no, not to mention that the enemies are once again poorly placed and the platforming sections can also cause cheap deaths due to how horrible the hit-detection is.
    • The level 11 is really annoying as it's got some enemies that have incredibly annoying movements to the point that you would have a hard time avoiding them and not taking damage. There are also the axes that are very hard to dodge, and it's also filled with filler due to having places that take 5 seconds to collect all of the diamonds. That also doesn't help that the level is really long and boring overall.
    • The level 12 is an absolute nightmare to beat and is even worse than the level 3, since you had to run away from a tornado, but the problem is that it's so fast that you barely had time to dodge the obstacles and do the platforming sections that are some of the worst in the entire game, not to mention that it's drag on for horribly long, lasting 3 minutes, no, we aren't kidding! This also ends an otherwise horrible game on a terrible level.
13. The platforming is absolutely terrible and some of the worst you will ever see in a PS1 game, as due to how horrible the perspective is, you will likely have a hard time with the platforming sections due to not only the perspective but also the poor controls, thanks to how poorly made this game is.
    • It's also had some of the worst platforming you will ever see in a Hugo game too, due to how awful the platform placements are and also due to how poor the controls are; in fact, it's so bad that there are even places where you can't avoid damages at all, much like Osomatsu Kun on the Sega Genesis.
14. The hit detection is horrible, as even if it looks like you will not be hit by the enemies, you will still be hit despite clearly having no contact with them. Your hit detection with your attack is also not very good since your weapon has a very short range, meaning that you will have a hard time hitting the enemies, so combat should be avoided due to how horrible it is.
15. The camera is terrible and can cause cheap deaths, especially in the mine car levels, as the camera angles are very troublesome and can make it hard for the platforming since you could have been helped by a shadow, but there aren't any of them at all, making the game an absolute nightmare to play once again.
    • Not to mention that it's sometimes zoomed way too close to Hugo, and due to that, you will have to play slower to avoid getting cheap deaths due to how close it got to him. This is especially true with the mine car levels, which are horrible levels as said before, and the first-person view makes them even worse.
16. There are no replay values at all, since the only thing you can do when you beat the game is to either play the credits or restart the game all over again to beat it again. That is not helped by the fact that doing 100% is pointless and gives no rewards, meaning that there is no point to replaying the game and trying to 100% it.
17. Some of the levels drag on for way too long, as there are some of them that last 10 minutes. It's not helped by the fact that there are not many checkpoints, so if you die, you have to restart almost all of the levels again, which is considered padding.
18. Horrible boss in level 4 (yes, it's the only one in the entire game), as it is very overpowered with a lot of lava monsters that are extremely hard to kill and they do massive damage. Thankfully,  you can avoid them if you do jump at the right time.
19. Instead of using a save feature, this game instead uses the password system, which is completely outdated by the time of release of the game since a lot of games at the time used save files, but this game doesn't. It also doesn't help that even the first two games had save features, which makes it unnaceptable considering that they were released before this and were released in the 90s, while this game was released in 2000.
20. Awful, boring, and repetitive gameplay that is very unpolished and had potential to make a good game, but instead it is very poorly executed due to all of the reasons that were mentioned before. It's also very slow-paced, which doesn't help either.

Redeeming Qualities

1. The idea to make a 3D platformer in the Hugo franchise was a great idea, but this game got horrible execution.
2. The sequels of the game, which are Black Diamond Fever and The Evil Mirror despite not being great games with the former being a pretty decent game but still not so amazing, are massive improvements over this game, with slightly better graphics, having an actual soundtrack, better controls, better level design, and better difficulty balance, but the length is just as problematic.
3. Despite how horrible the game is, it's actually made some improvements over the first two games, such as having better graphics (despite still being awful) and better gameplay. Although they are a bit more enjoyable than this, this depends on you.
4. Despite not being the best story, the plot of the game isn't really bad, especially by Hugo standards, although it's not as decent as Black Diamond Fever.

Reception

The game was relatively well received in its native Denmark, including the scores of a 3/5 from GamePage.dk, a 7/10 from PSSite.dk, a 7/10 from GameSector.dk, and an 8/10 from Spilzonen.dk. Its critical reception was however much worse in France, where review scores included 3/10 from Joypad and a 3/10 from PSone Magazine, and in Germany, where review scores included a 30% from PSG, a 35% from PowerStation, a 42% from PC Player, a 56% from Play Zone, and a 7.9/10 from GameZone.de.

Trivia

• Hugo: Quest for the Sunstones takes place in the same setting as the "Jungle Island" program of Hugo show and its Hugo: Jungle Island video game adaptation series.

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