Advertising Blurbs
www.nintendo.com – Nintendo 64:
Disney action-game specialist Activision (A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2) has done last summer's critically acclaimed blockbuster right with this 13-stage action Pak.
To portray the jungle in all its vibrant detail and maintain a lickety-split frame rate, Activision wisely turned to developer Eurocom, which opted for the same "2-1/2D" approach that yielded such beautiful results with Yoshi's Story.
While Tarzan mostly moves left and right, he's a fully polygonal character, both as a boy and as a grown man. His environment teems with vine-draped trees, moss-covered rocks, roaring waterfalls, tranquil streams and exotic beasts crisscrossing the screen in all directions.
Though you can't control it, the camera shows remarkable freedom, frequently wheeling or zooming as Tarzan climbs a cliff or discovers buried loot. There's even a fully 3-D stage, where Tarzan can roam at will around a ship.
And when the T-man hits the treetops for one of those stunning branch-surfing scenes that wowed audiences in the theater, the game moves faster than a herd of thundering wildebeests with nary a dropped frame.
Play control is excellent for most of Tarzan's tasks, including running, jumping and pounding the ground. However, it feels a little slow when you must simultaneously battle Sabor, the vicious leopard who killed Tarzan's parents, and elude a rapacious hawk.
Exceptional vine-swinging and tree-surfing skills are required for grabbing all items. Fortunately, such expertise is not needed to finish most stages.
More challenging is the uneven game balance, with simple-as-falling-off-a-log stages following exceeding tough ones. Even when playing on the easiest of the three difficulty levels, young players might become frustrated.
You'll get to play as four characters: young Tarzan, adult Tarzan, Jane, and Terk, Tarzan's wise-cracking tomboy pal. Sabor, who killed Tarzan's parents, haunts him like a bad dream, while the odious big-game hunter Clayton ape-naps Tarzan's beloved friends.
This being an action game, Tarzan, Jane and Terk have to fight (or run away from) an impressive array of enemies. It's somewhat off-putting, though, when the enemies are cuddly creatures like patas monkeys. While deft footwork can allow you to escape many enemies without harming them, by game's end you'll have collected enough virtual pelts to make Clayton jealous.
Eurocom has packed the game with an impressive amount of voice samples. These sound like they come from the movie actors, but are voiced by anonymous talent. While the soundtrack is too light-jazzy for an action game, especially one set in the jungle, the animal growls, hoots and caws sound have the ring of authenticity.
Zoologists may complain that Disney's Tarzan is populated with lemurs, poison dart frogs and other animals that never get closer to the East African jungle than the Nairobi zoo. Those are small quibbles, though. Gorgeous as a Kilimanjaro sunrise and faster than a cheetah, this action Pak proves that the third time's the charm for Activision's big Disney deal.
Contributed by Evil Ryu (31972) on Aug 15, 2005.
www.nintendo.com – Game Boy Color:
Game Boy Color good. Fire ants bad.
Timed perfectly to launch with the release of the movie, Disney's Tarzan for Game Boy Color is a vine-swinging platform adventure for primates of all ages.
In the one-player adventure mode, gamers must guide Tarzan through 20 coloful jungle environments on a quest to collect bananas. The jungle is full of snakes, crocodiles and other species not on pleasant terms with primates, which throws a monkey wrench in Tarzan's plans.
Loosely following the plot of the animated film, players will watch Tarzan grow from a little boy into a young man throughout the game. Other playable characters like Tarzan's ape friend Terk and the lovely Jane make frequent cameos during the adventure.
Thanks to colorful backgrounds and realistic character animations, the visuals in Disney's Tarzan are remarkably good. You'll recognize the opening animation sequence from the trailer for the movie, which is a great example of the high-quality graphics possible on Game Boy Color.
Even though the enemies are ultra-aggressive and difficult to avoid, overall the play control is refined and responsive.
The one-player adventure mode is rich enough to stand on its own, but Activision has included two bonus modes of play called Hide 'N' Seek and Paint 'N' Print. Hide 'N' Seek is a two-player game where one player hides Tarzan somewhere in the jungle, and then passes the Game Boy Color to a friend who tries to find him.
Paint 'N' Print mode allows players to create their own Tarzan artwork, and then use the Game Boy Printer accessory to turn their art into stickers.
Disney's Tarzan takes full advantage of Game Boy Color's capabilities, and is not backwards compatible with monochromatic Game Boy units.
Contributed by Evil Ryu (31972) on Jul 24, 2005.
Back of Box - Game Boy Color:
Go Ape on Game Boy!
It's tough being an orphan raised by apes. But when humans arrive and try to change your world, you'll be forced to show them you're not just monkeying around. Good luck. It's a jungle out there.
Thrilling Tarzan Action
Swim with crocs and swing on vines to save your ape family from Clayton, the hunter.
Four Playable Characters
Try over a dozen cool moves as Young Tarzan, Adult Tarzan, Jane or Tarzan's ape friend Terk.
Wild Jungle Adventures
Explore multiple levels, using your ape-like abilities and animal instincts to restore peace to the jungle.
Contributed by Corn Popper (66192) on May 04, 2003.
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