Disney's The Jungle Book

"The king of the swingers indeed"

Oh no! I must hasten to the jungle! Mowgli the man-cub is on his way to the village, and his only safeguard against the many pitfalls of the jungle is a constantly comatose panther and a bear with a tendency towards cross-dressing. Help the poor sod! He has a swarm of aggressive animals on his tail, spearheaded by a ruthless tiger that won’t rest until all trace of man is wiped from his home turf! Mowgli is in deep trouble. Unless...

Thank goodness! Shere Khan, the tiger, in a rare moment of silliness, has issued a challenge from deep within his evil cave. The monkeys, snakes and lizards gathered around to listen to their leader, as he lolled back, languid, sipping on a glass of sherry. He spoke loudly, in his toffee accent.

“I shan’t bother myself with that troublesome man-cub until he collects enough red stones. I just shan’t!”

There we go, Mowgli! If we just avoid those silly red crystals we shall be safe from the wrath of that troublesome jungle! What’s that? You want to collect them anyway? Silly Mowgli, I better make things easier for you. I will enlist help.

You there! Don’t worry about this risible premise that dictates The Jungle Book’s progress. It may be questionable, the relationship between amassing a horde of shiny gemstones and getting a lovable scamp to his rightful home, but it sure works. The jungle landscapes that open their welcoming branches to character and player alike are lush, detailed works that just beg to be explored. By sending you on this emerald hunt (generally ten to finish a level), you are being asked to travel to the furthest reaches of each stage before hunting down Bagheera or Baloo to finish it off.

There are ten different levels that need finishing, and each impresses with its scope and size. Whilst some may only be a few screens wide, they all tower up incredibly into the sky, canopies and vines giving you platforms to propel yourself to tremendous heights. And despite the seemingly never-ending nature of the jungle, a sense of progress is imparted as Mowgli moves towards his goal. The opening sees stark surroundings punctuated with a brilliant green, Mowgli tumbling about in a constant cascade of leaves. Get past these first sweltering stages, defeat Kaa the snake amongst a sprawling tree, and the atmosphere will change almost instantly. The levels wash over almost completely with rich blues, the bottoms fill with water and a feeling of sweltering humidity is delivered almost instantly. The real gift of The Jungle Book is its ability to create amazing jungle scenes, and with these techniques it succeeds time and time again.

Naturally, this is just the tip of a giant, jungle-based iceberg. The jungle takes you through these scenes of rich environments, past a bunch of precariously constructed ruins (a chance of collapse, perhaps?) towards the barren wastelands that lead up to the village. The enemy presence complicates things further, monkeys dangling, snakes spitting and all kinds of creepy jungle critters hovering ominously to deliver the knockout blow on our nappy-wearing star. Luckily, there has rarely been a protagonist better equipped to flirt with death the way Mowgli has to. Not only does he have an armoury of bananas, pears and boomerangs to knock the stuffing out of countless endangered species, his acrobatics are also unparalleled. He hurls himself around the landscapes with little worry, clinging to vines, hurtling randomly through the air and bouncing around from platform to endless platform. Not only do the levels demonstrate a tremendous graphical prowess and represent the jungle as well as a 16-bit game could, they lend themselves perfectly to Mowgli’s flailing actions.

The amazing thing about The Jungle Book is that it would be worth experiencing without the narrative structure imposed on it. It’s entertaining enough flying through the air from vine to vine, bouncing of tropical parrots and springy parrots to ascertain maximum air, just being there with Mowgli in the jungle. Everything is designed so slickly, and complemented the array of tunes taken from the Disney movie, that you don’t need a reason to actually finish the game. If I never got to send Kaa and Shere Khan to their Banana-laden doom ever again it would okay, just as long as there was another vine to cling on to, another elephant to ride, another monolithic landscape to sail down, Mowgli’s red nappy acting as a parachute.

As long as I can see Mowgli’s little man-crack, I will never want for anything else.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/21/04