Danny Phantom Urban Jungle

"A well-meaning game that just falls short."

Danny Phantom Urban Jungle is based on the “hit” Nick show, Danny Phantom. While there are a lot of games based on television shows and movies that turn out great, Urban Jungle is not one of them. It's a side-scrolling shooter, similar to Gradius and the like, minus the entertaining, challenging game play and interesting power-ups.

The story isn't particularly interesting, though I suppose if you're a fan of the series it might be different for you. I'm not sure if it correlates with the events of the show, either. Basically, Amity Park, and subsequently the world, is being invaded by an evil plant ghost known as Undergrowth, a kind of wacky organic being. Undergrowth's plant powers consume the city, literally turning Amity Park into an “urban jungle”. The game gets no points for having a pun title.

I think the biggest problem with Urban Jungle is that there's simply no challenge. I understand it being a game that would primarily appeal to a younger audience, but it's not a matter of being “too easy”, it's that there is absolutely NO challenge. For me, no challenge equals no fun. The game play is very simple; pressing and holding A will fire Danny's regular attack, which can be spammed easily. The B button uses his special abilities. You'll unlock more abilities as you go on, but can only select three for each level. It's a neat system, I suppose, but the problem is that NONE of the abilities are worth using because of the lack of difficulty.

Summing up what to expect is pretty easy. At the highest difficulty setting, you can literally just hold down your regular attack, stay in one spot without moving, and just wait. Nothing will really be able to hurt you, power-ups such as life boosts and upgrades to your regular weapon simply float to you. Once your regular weapon is upgraded a few times, you'll hit everything on the screen. Only a few levels required movement, and that's only because you take damage when hitting certain obstacles, which are pretty rare. It's a shame the game is so easy, because the game play had a lot of potential.

The graphics are pretty standard fare for a GBA Nickelodeon game. The backgrounds are crisp and cartoonish, fitting in well with the feel of the game. Danny himself is kind of limited in terms of animation, but I suppose he gets the job done. Enemies are similarly done, though minor ghosts are almost unidentifiable blobs of color. Bosses are probably the best looking thing Urban Jungle has to offer, being larger than Danny means more attention to detail.

Urban Jungle's music is a little more impressive. Story scenes are mellow and foreboding without feeling too repetitive. There's a nice variety of music for each level, each having a nice upbeat tempo, in addition to having wacky, almost corny synth that really fits in with the game and the show's atmosphere. Boss music is heavier, and gives the feeling of urgency and danger that it should in a shooter.

As Urban Jungle is a shooter, based on a television show no less, you shouldn't expect too much play time. An hour, maybe two, tops. I suppose there's a bit of replayability, as beating certain bosses adds a picture of them and a short description to a gallery at the start menu. It's a cute feature, but will only appeal to fans.

Final recommendation? Skip it. Even if you're a big fan of the series, you might want to hold off purchase until the DS version of Urban Jungle comes out. It'll probably have a little more to offer.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 09/22/06