[Quick Look] DuckTales: Scrooge’s Loot – Help a rich old duck get even richer

DuckTales: Scrooge’s Loot is the latest action-adventure multiplayer game coming from Disney. When it comes to Disney and their video game division you can pretty much expect anything. They published huge megahits like Aladdin, Kingdom Heart’s and the Duck Tales series, but also games like Fantasia on the mega drive….

This is the fourth game released based on the Disney animated TV series of the same name. The last one was “DuckTales: The Quest for Gold” that roamed around the home computers back in 1990 and if we don’t consider the remake “DuckTales: Remastered” that came out on all current gen consoles (and PC) few months ago, this will be the first new Duck Tales game in over two decades. So why did Disney decide to revive the old franchise? Let’s take a look.

No duck were harmed in the creation of this game

When I saw the team colors (Blue and Red) and the screenshots on the Play Store, I immediately tough about Team Fortress. And I wasn’t wrong. DuckTales: Scrooge’s Loot is a 3D – 3rd person shooter / platform game, featuring 4 different classes, Adventurer, Inventor, Chef, and Pilot each providing different advantages depending on your play style. In the beginning, you only get one character to play with, the adventurer, while the rest remain locked until you get more gold and gain some levels. The goal is simple, two teams of 4 will try to get to the gold pile, fill their pockets and load up the truck on the other side of the map. Unloading the gold bars will grant points for your team and the team that acquires more points for the duration of the game wins. Needless to say, there is only one pile of gold on the entire map and when it gets crowded, you will have to rely on your shooting skills to clear it up a bit. Jumping platforms are scattered around the maps that will help you move quickly and avoid enemy fire.

There are only 4 maps for now, the ancient sun temple, the caverns, the wild west and the airship and learning your way around on each map will be crucial to your performance as you race against the clock. Although the game description on the play store mentions “THRILLING SINGLE AND MULTIPLAYER GAME MODES”, it’s actually the same game mode that you can play online with your friends, or alone against the bots. As the game was released just yesterday, finding 7 other people to play with can be tricky. If you don’t have friends to form a group, the game often starts when only 2 people queue, forcing you to play 1 vs 1 which is pointless (and boring) and makes little to no sense at all in a team based shooter.

As you finish online and solo matches, you will earn experience and levels, gain access to other characters and weapons you can buy, complete missions (objectives) and earn gold that you can spend to upgrade some of your abilities, buy costumes and weapon upgrades. Gems are the second currency (the premium one) that you acquire by leveling up, or spending money. They usually allow you to purchases the strongest upgrades and gain permanent bonuses that help you acquire gold and experience faster, or speed up the respawn timer. So yes, the game features IAPs and that’s fine since you can get DuckTales: Scrooge’s Loot for free, however the real killer move was Disney’s decision to implement the time-restrictive gameplay mode as well. You get 5 gold tickets, each game you play (both single and multiplayer) will consume 1 whether you complete the game or not. Once you run out of tickets, you will have to wait 30 minutes to recharge one, or as you probably guessed, spend couple of gems to recharge them all. In my personal opinion this will make the majority of players who intend to spend more time playing the game look away elsewhere.

Graphics are cartoonish and suit the gameplay perfectly providing crisp view on the battlefield in front of you.  The game runs smoothly most of the time, unless all the characters meet at the gold pile and start shooting, resulting in reduced frame rate and unpleasant slowdowns (at least on mid-range devices). Controls are nothing spectacular, but work just fine. On the right screen side is the virtual stick that moves your character, while the rest of the screen rotates the view. The GUI is well optimized and quickly responds to every action you take, like switching or firing weapons and setting traps. The tutorial will greet you the moment you start DuckTales: Scrooge’s Loot and completing it will explain all the aspects of the game you need to know.

The weekend is ahead of us and as always I encourage you to try the game for yourself and then decide if you like it or not. Personally I will give DuckTales: Scrooge’s Loot a little more time and see how it goes. I have no doubts that the game will be interesting to play when more players decide to join the online mode, regardless of the time restrictive gameplay. The link is down below.

by Dejan B.

UPDATE: Removed from the Play Store. You can still try downloading DuckTales: Scrooge’s Loot APK here.