There's a bunch of poachers invading the jungle and
it's up to Tarzan to get out there and stop them from doing the things poachers do. The
major characters from the Disney film have been included to give the game it's base.
You'll plow through the standard run and jump stages, water-ski, bungee jump, slide, and
jam on buttons during the boss battles. Each of theses stages, with the exception of the
button mashing stages, would make a fairly decent game in it's own right if they were
elaborated upon.
The camera rarely provides any difficulties, a rarity in today's platformers. Most of the trouble comes when making a jump and you're not exactly quite sure how far you need to go. This does make for some infuriating leaps of faith, but the behind-the-back view is generally sufficient.
Green jungle provides the majority of the game's backdrop, occasionally switching to swamps and rivers. All the characters have been rendered wonderfully in 3-D and kids will eat this up, even if they continue to fall to their bloody doom because of missed jumps. The voice acting is also above par and the cinemas, although grainy, keep the spirit of the movie alive.
If anything drops this one down a few
points, it's the sheer lack of originality. Yes, there's a a lot of variety, but how many
times will we be forced to collect so-and-so item before we can move on? Also, how many
times can we be required to endure perilous jumps that will inevitably lead us to our
deaths?
This is a game that will most likely get passed over by the majority of gamers, believing it's standard kids fare. It's not. Well, it is in a sense, but the gameplay can keep any platforming fan happy. It's very easy to look like a pro swinging from vines, rescuing monkeys, and taking out poachers with arrows, even if you've never played it before. That's a sense of accomplished bigger-budgeted titles have trouble achieving.
