Jill of the Jungle

"Good... I guess..."

Games go way back to before most of us were born. Your parents always talk about playing these great retro games in arcade centers and say they had the time of their life. By the early nineties, 3D was in and games began to get quite complex by having great graphics, better gameplay and longer lifespan. But when things were going complex, some people thought that retro was the “true” gaming so it continued to be used. That's when Jill of the Jungle came out.

STORY 3/10
What can I say? The title says it all. You are a “sexy” jungle woman (Jill) running around like an ape. Your goal: nothing. I guess this is one of those games that doesn't use a storyline to hook players, rather it relies more on gameplay. But I tend to think that if you think about it a little and put it in carefully, you can create a good storyline within a game to boost that score a little. Anyways…

GAMEPLAY 8/10
Remember those Mario games you played back on the NES or Gameboy how you just jumped around and occasionally shot something random out of you? This game is one step ahead of them. Your goal for each level is to get a jewel and get to the exit. But there are a plethora of items to aid you. For example, there is an item that makes you jump twice as high. Get another and you jump higher again. There are also points in the game where you turn into animals such as flaming birds. Unlike Mario where you simply jump on the enemy and that's the last you hear of it, you have multiple weapons like little daggers that you can shoot out in front of you.
There is also a large range of obstacles, puzzles that are sure to get you thinking.

GRAPHICS 4/10
So why is this so low? For a DOS game, its quite good but since this was released in the early 90s when almost every game was 3D, it sucks, and bad. Even worse since it is used in DOS. But it isn't unbearable. This is why I was talking about retro games earlier and this is another reason why this game is not as good as it could be. But I guess since Epic MegaGames is a small company with 10+ people working on each product, you can't expect anything too special. All well.

SOUND 2/10
I would rate this with a higher score but one thing really ticks me off about this. In their catalog and in the credits, they say that the sounds a great and fantastic but really, I'd rather listen to a police siren for ten days straight than put up with this for five minuets. Now that I mention it, in kind of sound like a police siren always beeping and sending your family nuts. This is one of those games that would be better off silent.

LIFESPAN 2/10
You really want to know the lifespan? Little over one hour, and I'm not joking. I actually played the entire series in a day and then spent the rest of my day outside. Honestly, what kind of game gives you time to go outside? Before you know it, your skinny. By the way, when I say beat the game, I mean do everything possible before seeing the ending. I guess this game would be good if you're waiting a few hours to go to a funeral.

OVERALL 4/10

Well… Epic MegaGames have really created something, haven't they. Seriously, this game isn't bad for the hour or so you spend playing it but the chances of you playing it again sometime soon is very unlikely. If you want to get your hands on a copy, you'd best be off downloading it from the net. It's all over the place and be sure to try its sequels if you enjoyed it.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 12/11/06