Disney's Tarzan

Tarzan takes a step back to the old days, although it may boast some fancy 3D characters and backgrounds, it's essentially a game which follows the strong tradition of 2D platform jumping. This basically means that the characters and backgrounds are built in full 3D, but Tarzan himself is limited to a 2D route through the levels. This is no bad thing - 2D platform games can be exceptionally fun, and we've been lacking them in recent times.

As with the film, the game begins in Tarzan's youth and he grows older as you progress through the levels. Enemies can be dispatched by throwing fruit, and later spears at them. Whilst I found it quite amusing to rampage around destroying all the ‘cute' animals, another Kids Domain reviewer thought it possibly inappropriate (Read CD-ROM review here). Well, it's hardly a bloodbath in my opinion - the animals turn into butterflies when destroyed rather than exploding in guts and gore, so I wouldn't worry excessively about turning it over to the kids!

It's all familiar territory for 2D platform games - jump over pits, dodge enemies, swing on vines, and so on. The game is pretty well designed and the levels are broken up with some nice interludes. Shimmying down the vines, as Tarzan did so impressively in the film, makes particular use of the 3D graphics as the view-point twists and turns throughout the jungle. There's nothing really radically new here, but everything is well laid out and designed.

As the N64 lacks a CD-ROM drive, this version of the game is missing the FMV cut-scenes taken from the movie which were an excellent addition to the PlayStation version of the game. Nevertheless, the game captures the character and mood of the film well, with visuals that are pleasing if not revolutionary.

It's not all positive for Disney's loin-cloth clad hero. Although the game's 13 levels may sound like a decent challenge, it's easy to breeze through to the end in a disappointingly short period of time. The game is far too easy for the average gamer and is perhaps better suited to younger children. There's also no built-in save RAM in the cart, so you need a memory pack to store your progress - a minor annoyance, but it's about time that flash RAM saves came as standard.

At the end of the day, Disney's Tarzan is quite typical of the titles we've come to expect from the film giant over the years. The gameplay is unoriginal, but well designed. The graphics are attractive and capture the essence of the film. However, unlike some of the other Disney titles, Tarzan just feels a little bit too easy, and is better suited for young children