Duck Life: Retro Pack

Given that I've had a habit of revisiting these Flash gems in a blast from the past since my time here on Steam, it should come as no surprise that Duck Life is one such series that has its roots deeply engrained into the minds of many young gamers on various PCs across the world wide web back in the more simplistic times of the 2000s. This particularly being the case as Duck Life struck a fine balance with presenting a cute premise and also making it accessible to a large portion of gamers whilst also keeping things as simple as they needed to be without necessarily overstaying its welcome. Sadly though, as time often does tell, I am all too aware of the 'rose-tinted glasses' idiom whereby we often have an overly-positive outlook on the things that we were particularly fond of in the past and thus nostalgic about. For me, Duck Life is one of those games from the increasingly-ancient era of Flash games that, upon revisiting the first three entries via this Retro Pack 'trilogy' of the sorts, unfortunately did not live up to expectations as one might have hoped. To give a brief overall outlook on what Duck Life is all about, each game has you looking after a newly-hatched duckling that can be trained in various stats in order to boost its chances of winning in various races that gradually become more competitive and intense as the races progress in difficulty. Each of the four stats (Running, Swimming, Flying and Climbing) are increased via playing different minigames that are themed around the activity in question that help to build up your duck into becoming a racing speedster by the end of each game. Seeing as this Retro Pack covers the first three games of the series, I'll cover each of them in order and what they introduce to the formula as well as how they improve certain aspects of the gameplay and what is shaken up to change things up from the previous entry. Having said that, the very first game introduces us to the general premise where a farm is destroyed by a nasty tornado and left in ruins, leaving behind only a single duck egg that brings us to the titular character of this series going forward. From here, it is your goal to raise the duck up by feeding it to raise its energy whilst periodically engaging in the minigames that I spoke of earlier to make your way through 12 races separated into 3 leagues, the first three typically focusing on a particular skill whilst the fourth being a longer sprint that tests all three skills that your duck will need in order to succeed. Before I go further into Duck Life 2 & 3, I should touch upon the minigames and how they play as Running primarily consists of your duck hopping forward as the player helps them to evade rocks barreling down its path. For Swimming, this puts the focus on quickly jumping over the water or diving underneath to avoid obstacles and Flying sees the duck soar into the sky as they slowly reach higher speeds and go further before eventually falling back down into the sea. Climbing, a skill not present in the first Duck Life game, has you guiding the duck climbing upwards by having it switch sides to prevent the duck getting stuck when obstacles appear. All of these minigames have coins spread across the playing field, letting players take the risk for extra coins to spend on their duck back home. Following this is Duck Life 2 which slightly expands what the first game provided, having its races take place in various countries as opposed to generic farmside/city/tropical themes. Also expanded upon is the minigames which, alongside introducing Climbing to the array of skills, have been improved upon with their own additions. Running, for example, has bouncing tennis balls to add a new layer of challenge and Flying actually has obstacles in the form of stalagmites arising from the sea and seemingly-floating stalactites, though Swimming has largely been left as is saved for touched-up visuals. Cosmetics, previously requiring 50 coins to use after winning a race are now free when acquired after winning a race but levels in minigames are capped at 20 and can only be expanded by spending 10 coins to eventually reach the max cap of level 150 across all skills. Now comes Duck Life 3: Evolution, arguably the most popular of the three that people will likely think of when it comes to this duck racing series, which has went with the bold direction of forgoing cosmetics altogether in favour of allowing the player to choose one of four duck eggs at the start. Each of these eggs will put the player's duck on a set evolution path that favours a particular skill, visibly changing the duck's appearance to match their specific strengths, as each of the four have their own unique looks that change as the player progresses from the beginners league to advanced and then to expert before reaching the climax as the ultimate 'Supreme' duck. This is easily the best version to play of the three as it refines the overall gameplay even further than Duck Life 2, not just changing things up once more on the minigames front but also having each skill have a new version when progressing into the advanced league and once more into expert league, though it's worth bearing in mind that the level cap can't be expanded beyond level 50 in beginner and level 100 in advanced. However it is also sadly where my praise of this Retro Pack ends as I have often wondered why some Flash games in my childhood seem to hold up much better than others. A few examples being The Majesty of Colours, Swords & Sandals and Gemcraft, each of these lovely gems (flawed as they may be) from the 2000s still hold up decently well despite game development from small studios and independent solo developers having accelerated at a pace far faster than most will have ever expected. Yet Duck Life, a casual game that seemed ripe for improvement, never did quite receive that same first-class treatment or care. First and foremost being the new issues and bugs brought forward as, although I have only personally experienced a few of these myself with the expert league Climbing minigame lacking the lava and somehow bypassing Duck Life 2's final race after completing the semi-final in the Japan league being two of the most notable examples, others have reported missing sprites and energy not depleting correctly alongside a whole host of issues that one would not expect a newer version to have. Add this in with the particularly egregious issues of removed content and no QOL updates that one would expect for a remastered game alongside a price that is too high for such little content on offer and it has unfortunately gave me enough reason to not recommend Duck Life: Retro Pack. It's too bad, as I actually did enjoy it in some moments despite the simplicity of it all but, like I mentioned earlier, sometimes the past is actually better that way. Not just because of reduced expectations as a young kid who has yet to experience all that life has to offer but also in that previously-serviceable games have been poorly translated to newer mediums and have affected the overall gaming experience for the worse. For it's very much true that, whilst The Majesty of Colours Remastered is certainly on the short side of things, it has been remade from scratch and faithfully adapting the original gameplay whilst adding behind-the-scenes development insights. Swords & Sandals Classic Collection often leads to grindy gameplay for most of it but it has a whole host of fan-mods included and various documents showcasing how the S&S universe slowly took form. Gemcraft - Chasing Shadows is most certainly quite complex for a tower defence game however it benefits from letting players progress 'extrinsically' with gameplay rewarding skill points to aid in gameplay for those struggling alongside having much of its own improved levels from earlier games. Duck Life: Retro Pack, by comparison, simply doesn't match up and it is why I would advise against buying this game.