Platform: Sega Genesis
Size: 16 Mbit
When something works right, you run with it. Virgin Games believes in and follows this policy and Disney's THE JUNGLE BOOK, their newest game for the Sega Genesis, is a prime example. It plays quite like Global Gladiators, Cool Spot, and Aladdin. And why not? Those three games represent some of the finest side-view platform run-n-jump games available today. And Jungle Book does a fine job at being nearly as fun as its predecessors.
The Jungle Book is based, not surprisingly, on the 1968 "Disney Classic" of the same name. Your job is to guide young Mowgli, the man-cub, through the dangers of the jungle, defeating some of Africa's vilest villains, leading up to, and including, the tiger, Sheer-Kahn. Guiding your way, pretty much on the sidelines, are Bagheera, Balou, a squad of young elephants as progress markers, and a more neutral elephantine Dawn Patrol. And let's not forget a healthy dose of none-to-friendly, coconut chuckin' monkeys!
All I want to know is when did all these characters evolve, build and learn to fly airplanes, open bars, and run multinational corporations? But that's an issue for another time and another game.
Anyhow, Jungle Book does play much like Cool Spot and its ilk. In other words, run, jump, explore, climb, and collect the various whatevers to advance to the next level. In Cool Spot, you collected Spots, in Global Gladiators it was arches (A la McDonald's), and in this one you collect gems. Why gems? Because all the fruits are vicious rapid-fire weapons, that's why. But really, I haven't been able to figure out the whole gem thing, but it does work on a basic MacGuffin level. The game, depending on the difficulty level, requires plenty of exploration to find all these gems, not a quick jaunt across the level, reach the end, and beat a boss. In fact, bosses are not exactly at a premium in this game which I find quite refreshing. Each of the difficulty levels require you to collect a certain percentage of the gems. And there are quite a few secret things to be found and awarded for along the way. Exploration is key and it makes for a game with a longer life span.
Unfortunately, Jungle Book is not the most challenging one I've played. Younger players might have a tougher time at trying to find all the hidden gems but the more experienced should make it through the earlier levels with ease, albeit slowly and methodically. Just remember the difficulty switch, it can make the game's life span all the longer. There are a good number of hidden areas, bonus levels, and levels in general. So even though you've played the game through, there might still be much undiscovered. And note this, if you are disconcerted by how easy the game may be and you own a Super Nintendo, try that Jungle Book. It's not as good a game but it certainly is more challenging - although frustratingly so.
Mowgli handles well. All his jumps, climbs, and other movements are crisp, clean, and without delay. The game uses the standard three-button controller allowing for a button to jump, one to fire, and one to switch weapons if you've acquired new ones. The scrolling through weapons to find the correct killer fruit is a might frustrating when Caa the Snake is busy dazzling you with his eyesight. Support for the six button controllers would have been appreciated. Also, I was a little disappointed to see the old "jump on the villain's head" routine of attack. This whole idea is over used, I think. It wasn't enough just to have a bottomless supply of deadly bananas and other fruit artillery. It's an old standby, it doesn't hurt the game but it doesn't make it any more appealing, either.
Once again, Virgin cranks up their graphic muscle. Jungle Book is a great looking game! The backgrounds and foregrounds are both drawn beautifully and the animation is excellent, though not as good as in Aladdin. All the villains are drawn as well and are easily identifiable as monkeys, snakes, swarms of bees, and so on. And as in most recent games, leave Mowgli idle for too long and he'll entertain himself. Either he'll juggle bananas on his nose, dance a little of the Charleston, or do a very Chevy Chasian eyebrow raising stare at his nonexistent watch. It's all eye-candy but it's very appealing. The death sequence is fun as well, though slightly out of place in the game: Mowgli collapses and a pair of doctor-garbed monkeys rush in with a stretcher and a siren on their head. Something that fits better with the movie would have been more fun.
Music and sound certainly do fit the movie-theme. As with most Virgin releases for Genesis, there is a handy-dandy, and very, very welcome, sound and music test. Including a mind-numbingly long list of sounds that really put color in the Genesis' weary, five year old sound chip. Virgin knows its stuff, I just wish they had lent some expertise to certain street fightin' companies. And the music is pleasant, jaunty at times, but mostly innocuous. It ranges from the requisite Bare Necessities, to the militant beat of the Dawn Patrol, and to various other jungle-drum oriented tunes. None of this music was as good as, say, Aladdin but that's pretty much because the music in the movie Aladdin was better than the music in the movie The Jungle Book. Virgin did a fine job given the source.b
Jungle Book is a worthwhile game. It has its down sides only in the areas as "not being as good as" other games. All by itself, it's a solid action platform game with plenty of ear and eye candy to keep a 16-bit player happy. Fans of the movie will be happy to see their old friends again and battle its infamous cast of villains. Parents need not worry, the game is as harmless as video games can be while still involving bad guys. I say, rent it first, but don't be afraid to out and out buy it - it is a worthy add-on to your video game collection. And it's a whole heck of a lot of fun!
This review is Copyright (C) 1994 by Joel Hilke for Game Bytes Magazine. All Rights Reserved.