Tokyo Jungle Review
Tokyo Jungle is unlike anything you’ve played on this current generation of hardware. Period. Sure, you can compare this to others of its ilk, like the original Playstation’s Vib-Ribbon, another out-there idea executed well. But nothing else, whether Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or PC, compares to the premise, and ultimate delivery, of Tokyo Jungle.
So what is the premise, you ask? You play as an animal and you must survive the wasteland, concrete jungle, that Tokyo has become. Since the humans are dead, that is. Where? You’ll have to find out.
Starting with either a Pomeranian (because, you know, everyone loves Pomeranians) or a Sika Deer, you’ll have to forage for food, defend yourself against other beasts, find a mate and continue to survive. It’s a somewhat straightforward, yet completely bizarre setting for a game. There is a tutorial mission to get you started, teach you the basics of attacking, stealth, food (and food sources) and finding a mate. Then it’s off to the Survival mode. There are some other objective based “missions” labelled as a story that is available to play through, but these have to be unlocked by completing goals in the Survival mode.
Survival mode is where you put all of your training to good use, as you strive to keep your species alive. The initial objective is to claim territory. There are four flags within each “zone”; capturing all of them allows you to find a mate and use that zones “den”. To, y’know, do the damn thang.
You must complete this cycle within 15 years, oryour creature will die and the species will no longer be alive. Initially, this is not so difficult, you’re dropped in Shibuya Station zone and, generally, a group of relatively tame animals. Starting as the Pomeranian or Sika Deer you’ll most likely encounter rabbits and chickens. Where all these rabbits and chickens came from to be in the middle of Downtown Tokyo, I don’t know. But they’re there, and they’re ripe for the eating, should you be a Pomeranian.
Which is probably a good time to discuss the two distinct “classes”, for lack of a better word, in the game. You have your predators, the meat eaters like Tigers, Lions, Hyenas and little old Pomeranians. And you have your herbivores, Gazelles, Rabbits and Deer. Almost all herbivores will run on site of a predator, sometimes even lesser predators will run from a higher levelled predator. Herbivores will generally be indifferent to other herbivores, not paying any attention to them. Predators tend to want to stand their ground, unless they’re clearly at a disadvantage against your ranked creature. Along your travels you can collect memory cards scattered around the world. These open the story up, explaining the mysterious disappearance of the humans.
And that’s about everything there is to the game and its story. A very basic premise. But it’s executed very well. The levelling up system (taking your creatures from rookie, to veteran and then to boss) plays well, the limited save feature (where you must have access to a zones den to suspend game play) and the attacking and variety of animals you will encounter. Each of these pieces could have been handled poorly in a game trying to achieve more, but in the setting that is Tokyo Jungle, they’re each handled with grace and poise.
It has its oddities, like clothing for your animals. What is my Beagle going to do with a hip hop hat or some high tops? And how does it know what flea shampoo is or that this medicine will cure your toxicity? And the presence of dinosaurs? Yeah, you read correctly, dinosaurs. How on earth did raptors make it to 21 century Tokyo? (this is actually explained once you’ve unravelled the full story).
In short, Tokyo Jungle is an amazing game for what it does, which is put you in the shoes (high tops if you prefer) of an animal trying to make it in a human-less world. And that’s it. If you’re looking for engrossing story lines, plot twists or big set pieces, you’ll be reaching for something else quickly. But should you want a piece of crazy Japanese gamery that is well executed for the pick up and play animal brawler that it is? Then you’ll be right at home.
Gameplay: 5
The World 3
Story: 3
Graphics: 4
Overall: 4 candies out of 5
This review is live on http://profanecandyhorse.blogspot.com.au/
Tokyo Jungle is available on PS3 as a downloadable or on disc in Japan.