Tokyo Jungle review

[Neon Ignition]

I'm not going to lie, the game hasn't really wowed me in the previews leading up to its release. It goes without saying that it's no great looker and the gameplay always sounded a bit one note. Never the less, the resounding praise and low price point led me to pick this up.

The first thing that sinks in is that the visuals actually are... not that great, they do the job though. More pleasing is the music that thumps away in the background as you control your animal through its journey of survival. Whichever animal you control, the aim of the game seems to remain the same. You can attack, stealth kill, eat and procreate as you cover the streets of Tokyo. Controls are simple enough but there's a requirement to know your timing in order to escape hunter animals and dodge and parry attacks. Some animals are much higher on the food chain and others much lower requiring escape as their means of staying alive.

The two main modes seem to be Survival and Story, Survival so far comes across as more a training mode but you can't select Story till Survival has been accessed anyway. It's quite compelling at these early stages which shows it might well live up to its reputation.

My wife absolutely detests it though, as a massive animal lover she can't stand the sight of the animal on animal maiming

[Adam]

Crazy game, kind of addictive. Have focused on finding new animals rather than the other 'go here' challenges. Gets me killed alot but I come back as a different beast each time. I attacked a Chick for the hell of it and accidently hit a rabbit, go massacred as the rabbit called in about 20 allies to help kill me. Hilarious!

[MisterBubbles]

Its as crazy as a box of hamsters jumping around on pogo sticks wearing day-glo clothing. And im glad they informed at the start this was a work of fiction, for a few moments i believed it was real and still could happen. Ok the good, the gameplay is different every time you do survival, still killing other animals, but as Adam said you can run into loads of weird combo's, a pack of killer sheep and an aligator, yup, and followed by a crazy wolf pack, what a stramash, i just hid in the bushes and snuck away, he how fights and runs away. The bad the graphics look like a very bad PS2 game at best. And as Adam said its all strangely addictive and can be a real challenge to surive. And talking of clothes, you can wear them to give you extra stats and power ups,want a pomeranian wearing a baseball cap, yes, eat your heart out Paris Hilton, you got nothing on us. This game aint for everybody, but if you want something different from FIFA, COD and the like, you can't go wrong at 9.99 ( 7.99 PS+).

[hudson]

I think the graphics are part of its charm. I knew from the screens and videos what to expect from the visuals, that and the nature of the game had me signed up from the start.

[Sketcz]

I love the graphics. I'm not sure what people expect to elevate it to "good". You can recognise the animals, there's some nice effects, the draw distance is good (during the day), the textures are clean and hi-res.

In what way are they bad? If you think they're PS2 quality you haven't played a PS2 game in a long while.

My wife absolutely detests it though, as a massive animal lover she can't stand the sight of the animal on animal maiming

You're not one of those people who has dogs and makes them into vegetarians, are you? I would have thought animal lovers would champion the natural order of things? I mean, that's what animals do. The diametric opposite is the rather perverse way humans remove them from their natural environment and repress their natural instincts.

I once owned a dog. A big black mongrel. We used to take him to a nearby farmer's field where he'd kill and eat rabbits, fur and all. He loved a bit of it.

As for the game, it's alright so far. It reminds heavily of roguelikes in survival mode. I think I prefer the pre-defined objectives of story mode.

[hudson]

Really enjoying the Survival mode. Each time I try I get further. It's so addictive!

Reminds me of Jet Set Willy times seeing how far into the mansion we could get, but instead seeing how long we can survive and see which animals appear. I've only manage to get far enough to see a tiger so far. I saw a little tiger cub which me and my little doggy posse thought we could easily take down (). When we tried, Mummy tiger appeared with big paws of fury.

Great game.

[buster_broon]

downloaded it yesterday and much of today - around 18 hours

better be bloody good lol

[chopemon]

Really enjoying this as a tonic for all the shooty and big action games that come out this time of year.

It is taking me a while to force myself to not go after both the archives and the animal unlock challenge in one run. I've done a few stories and I'm currently on the Beagle but got messed up by some Tosas.

[Decider-VT]

Took down a Beagle boss as an Alley Cat and had my Pomeranian dynasty abruptly ended by cockily biting a tiger on the bum. I love this game.

[buster_broon]

as a 2G pomeranian i stupidly decided to take my family into a nest of wild boar and surprisingly i died lol

i did take two of them with me, but spent 40p and bought a fat cat

[BaronSqwelch]

this thread has convinced me to buy this
as soon as my mini backlog is done...

[Adam Stone]

It makes me sad / chuckle when people say things like "such and such looks like a ps2 game" etc - because it reminds me that 90% of gamers actually have no clue what they are talking about and simply say stuff to make themselves feel better about their own ignorance.... Perhaps that's harsh... Let's say 80%.

This is definitely a quirky experience. The little one enjoyed watching me play this.. until i made my first kill. I respect devs that know their game and know what they are trying to achieve. I can imagine this was a fun title to make.

Not for everyone, certainly, but those with an open mind will love this.

[MisterBubbles]

It makes me sad / chuckle when people say things like "such and such looks like a ps2 game" etc - because it reminds me that 90% of gamers actually have no clue what they are talking about and simply say stuff to make themselves feel better about their own ignorance.... Perhaps that's harsh... Let's say 80%

So says the graphics and game guru?

[MisterBubbles]

Ok,maybe the PS2 statement was slightly over the top, but i believe the japanese devs should be doing a bit better than most of the stuff there doing now, i mean for this gen it just doesnt stand up to games like uncharted or the like,in the graphics department.

[chopemon]

Graphics tech doesn't come for free. While there are problems about tech sharing in Japan, it mainly comes down to money. A lot of Japanese games sell less and so have smaller budgets so you have to decide where to spend the money, on making a game or making tech.

Uncharted sells millions so they have the money to invest in their tech, most Japanese games do not have those sales figures.