Santa Claus Saves the Earth (PlayStation) Playthrough
148A playthrough of Telegames' 2002 platformer for the Sony PlayStation, Santa Claus Saves the Earth.
One Christmas Eve, an evil fairy lady watches Santa loading up his sleigh through her spy cauldron. The sight throws her into an unhinged fit of rage, and determined to ruin Christmas, she whisks Santa away to her "magic lands." Having none of this malarkey, he quickly sets about escaping. The presents aren't going to deliver themselves, after all!
So goes the story of Santa Claus Saves the Earth, a game that has absolutely nothing to do with Santa Claus saving the earth. Odd choice of a title, wouldn't you say?
Santa Claus Saves the Earth was a PAL exclusive budget game that was released at the tail end of the PS1's shelf life, and it was the first game by Ivolgamus, a Lithuanian development studio that now focuses on mobile games.
It's a fifteen stage 2D platformer, and each area is a maze-like mine. Santa needs to find color-coded keys to open the doors that block his way to the exit, and he can swing his oversized sack at enemies or pelt them with items that he can find tucked away in crates.
That's about it, really. It's rudimentary stuff, but it's... fine, I guess? A lot of people hate on it and its GBA port, and sure, there's a lot to criticize. It's derivative, slow, easy, and not especially Christmasy, but the controls are fine, the level designs are fine, and the twangy music has a few funky moments. It's mediocre and bland, but it's far from being the worst platformer I've ever played.
Whenever I pop in Santa Claus Saves the Earth, I can't help but think about how much it feels like a Dos shareware game circa 1994. The gaudy prerendered sprites, the zoomed out view, the stiff animation, and the tacky wavetable MIDI-esque music all lend it an eerily familiar, comfy vibe. It feels like something that Apogee might've published, and I'm entirely cool with that.
I could've done without the creepy clown paintings, though.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
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