While Croc and his adoptive family were living out their lives and celebrating their freedom, an Inventor Gobbo on a faraway island labored on building various contraptions to aid his species. One night, as he was traveling through the jungle on his way home from his workshop, he happened upon a circle of Dantinis performing some sort of mystical ceremony. To his utter horror, this ceremony concluded with the resurrection of the once-defeated Baron Dante. Before the Inventor could escape to warn the others of the Baron's return, he was captured and tied up as a source of morbid amusement.
It was about this time that Croc, while playing on the beach, discovered a message in a bottle that shocked and surprised him. Without explaining their own nature, the senders included an imprint of a baby crocodile footprint and explained that they were looking for their long-lost son. After consulting with the rest of the tribe, King Rufus decided that it would be best if Croc sought the help of Gobbos on another island in his quest to seek out his parents. The tribe then bid farewell to Croc and, in true cartoon fashion, used a seesaw to catapult Croc to his new destination. Alas, the hunt for his true family did not start on a good foot as our hero soon discovered that the Gobbo village, in which he had landed, like so many others, was plagued by the now-active Dantini. This is where you step in, slipping into Croc's skin as he travels between four Gobbo villages and its composite levels, aiding his neighbors while unraveling the mystery of his heritage.
Although he is by nature a gentle individual, Croc is not completely defenseless. In fact, he possesses the full range of skills and abilities that are expected of the modern-day platform-genre hero. When faced with an enemy, he may spin around and whip his foe with his tail, although this may occasionally prove to be a considerable risk as many foes are able to fire at him from a distance -- thereby shortening his range. In such cases, he can take a running leap, flying high in the air before stomping down on the offender. He can also use his tail to enhance his jumping abilities, using it to give him enough leverage to reach out-of-reach ledges. It is also important that Croc be able to manipulate his environment, as he is to deal with a considerable number of crates, cubes and other largish objects throughout his travels. In order to do so, he can push, pick up and throw such items when it is necessary to do so, allowing him to strategically place ice cubes to reach hidden areas, or to throw crates of TNT at particularly thorny Dantini. Along with being able to swim and climb, these skills enable Croc to protect himself and his Gobbo friends from the onslaught of Baron Dante's countless minions, although sometimes even these abilities are insufficient.
A crocodile cannot live by ability alone, and as such Croc 2 is fraught with tools for the title hero to aid him in his ongoing quest. In order to scout out his surroundings, Croc finds a pair of binoculars very early on, allowing him to glance about in a sort of free-look mode. While doing so, he may find locations too small or low to the ground that even he cannot access them on his own. In such instances, Croc can enlist the aid of Clockwork Gobbos, if he's bothered to buy any beforehand. Once activated, Clockwork Gobbos follow Croc's orders for a short period of time, picking up items that he's unable to reach. Another tool that he can use to access hidden areas is the Gummi Saver. In one of the oddest instances of product placement that you're likely to see in a computer game, Croc can use the LifeSaver Gummi candies as trampolines, with each of three different flavors possessing a different color, representing a specific height to which he can be catapulted. While these items are extremely useful for acquiring extra items, there is no real explanation why these candies are three times Croc's size, or quite frankly why they're present at all.
Players who have tried their hand at Super Mario 64 will find Croc 2's level system somewhat familiar. Throughout Croc spends time aiding the inhabitants of four different Gobbo villages, with each village possessing a different theme, being a sailor theme, a winter theme, a prehistoric theme, or an Incan theme. These themes are reflected in the landscape, as well as in the clothing and habits of the local populace. For instance, the sailor theme might find Gobbos with sailor's caps fishing on the edge of a river, while the winter village will feature Gobbo children lobbing snowballs at one another. Although each village features a different look, each one functions the same. The village itself acts as a central hub, where Croc can freely explore, chatting with locals and purchasing items from the local vendor, Swap Meet Pete. Jutting out from this hub at various locations are the levels themselves, where you may enter and leave at your whim, picking and choosing your explorations as you see fit. Once the two boss levels have been completed, you may move onto the next village whenever you like, although this may result in any of the remaining five other levels being left uncompleted. Fortunately, you may return to previous villages at any point, enabling you to travel back and forth between areas in order to take care of unfinished business.
Croc will have to endure countless trials before discovering the secrets of his past, lending his aid to several dozen different imperiled Gobbos along the way. He rapidly shows himself to be an incredibly generous fellow, willing to brave lava pits to retrieve a person's lunch from a thieving crow or to save a family of Gobbos from being blown up by a homicidal fire ant. A large part of such quests involves navigating platforms, timing precise jumps and other genre standbys. Fortunately, there are also a number of side games to spice up the occasionally repetitious action. On particular occasions, Croc will be presented with the opportunity to participate in a boat race and go-kart race, competing against Dantinis for particular items or simply for the glory of the village. To make things interesting, Croc will also able to "drive" a gigantic snowball, a hang-glider, a hot-air balloon, a plane, and yes, a mine cart, to name a few. Aside from differing visually, these side games differ greatly from each other, standing out as incredibly unique items within the title.
A grand tradition of platform gaming is the inclusion of collectable currency of some sort. Croc 2 wearily acknowledges this particular genre standard by populating its world with large amounts of crystals, which our hero can use for various purposes. Primarily, the crystals that he uncovers throughout the levels are used at Swap Meet Pete's shop, where Croc can buy usable Gummi Savers, Clockwork Gobbos as well as health boosts. Aside from this obvious benefit, each level features 100 different crystals, which can be found by our hero. Collecting 50 of them will boost your health a little bit, while collecting all 100 will restore it completely. For players who like an extra challenge, most levels also have five special 'color crystals.' Picking up all five will reveal a Golden Gobbo, and finding all the Golden Gobbos within a village will open a special door inside that particular village, leading to a special level. Hidden within each special level is a single puzzle piece, and collecting each village's puzzle piece reveals the Lost Levels. These are especially difficult to complete, left primarily for the purist who wants to say that they've completed absolutely 100% of Croc 2.
