In this review, we try to survive in the Atari 5200 game Jungle Hunt. We find out if this adventure game is worth a replay.
This game was released in 1983. It is a port from an arcade game.
You play an explorer trying to overcome the dangers of the jungle.
In the first part, you are trying to time your jumps between swinging vines. In the second part of the game, you are evading crocodiles in a swimming portion.
In the third part, you are attempting to jump over falling rocks as you climb a hill. Since I never got past this part, that is all I know.
While the environment is your largest threat throughout the game (or, at least as far as I got), there are some enemies that you do encounter. This includes the crocodiles that try and kill you while you perform the swimming portion of this game. There is also some grey blobs of some sort that stop your movement until you reach the surface. This can be deadly of a crocodile happens to be there. While you are armed with a knife in this portion, I could never find a use for it because it seems to be useless against anything on that part of the game.
You have 5 free lives to work with, but it is easy to go through them.
One thing this game has going for it is the fact that there is a nice amount of variety in it. It’s a fairly dynamic game that will keep you problem solving for a while.
On the downside, it also means you have to master totally different styles of gameplay just to get past a portion of the game. If you aren’t particularly good in any section along the way, there is a good chance you’ll either lose a bunch of lives or simply never get past that portion.
Another thing is that no one section I played was a particularly strong section. They weren’t bad, but it is nothing I can get excited over. It’s basically a series of half way decent mini-games, really.
On a brighter note, the learning curve isn’t huge. It doesn’t take much to understand what you need to do in each portion.
Generally speaking, the main feature of this game has it’s positives and negatives. On the right side, so many small sections of game keeps a very good variety going. The downside is mastering each section. As long as there is one portion you find difficult, this game will ultimately be difficult regardless of the other sections. Still, the learning curve isn’t huge, so the game doesn’t make you feel stupid at the very least.
Graphics is probably the brightest spot here. The environment is very nicely detailed. Anything that doesn’t move is very well rendered. The moveable objects have a range of quality. The character, for instance, isn’t bad. The vines, however, are just this weird swinging green object. The crocodiles are decently rendered. The other objects in the swimming part, well, not so much. I’ll still give this game a good grade overall, though. Some of that detailing is hard to ignore.
There isn’t really much in the way of music to speak of, but there is some half decent sound effects. While I’m not sure entirely what all of them are trying to symbolize, it’s still not bad.
Overall, this game is not bad. The variety throughout the game keeps this game interesting. The downside is the mastery of each section. On the upside, the learning curve is not that bad at all for understanding the basics. The graphics are very good. The level of detailing in the non-moving scenery is definitely very well done. The moving sprites, however, have a range. No real music, but the sound effects are pretty decent. Overall, not a bad game.
Overall
Died on the third part (falling rocks)
High score: 2,800
General gameplay: 19/25
Replay value: 6/10
Graphics: 7/10
Audio: 3/5
Overall rating: 70%
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
