Jungle Book Groove Party
Review of Jungle Book Groove Party
“Now I’m the king of the swingers, Oh
the jungle VIP
I’ve reached the top and had to stop
And that’s what’s botherin’ me…”
At least I always wanted to be the king of the swingers when first casting my eyes and ears over the wonderful Disney animated movie The Jungle Book. However, in later life I found out just what a ‘swinger’ was and began looking for ‘those Bare Necessities’ instead.
The reason The Jungle Book Groove Party works so well is because of its simplicity. There are five difficulty levels and even King Louie (a monkey) could complete the entire game on the easiest setting. This opens up the game to all ages from 4 to 400 allowing the entire family to take their turn (no hiding Grandma!), while the rest of you can join in with the karaoke style word board. For those who like something a little more challenging there is a ‘Crazy’ level, which is totally insane.
Now I know you hardened gamers out there will pour scorn over the idea that some players cannot visualize where each symbol is placed on the joypad without looking, but I’ve seen first hand how these folk will run a mile if things become ‘too technical’. Groove Party tackles this problem head on by dividing the joypad into two sets of simple instructions. On screen two columns of directional commands (up, down, left, right arrows) slowly descend before eventually reaching a transparent circle. When the command passes through the center of the circle the appropriate directional button is pressed and points are awarded for accuracy. The D-pad activates the left column directions and the symbol buttons are pressed for the right (X becomes down, Square becomes left, Triangle becomes up and Circle becomes right). Initially only one column at a time requires attention but as the difficulty increases the speed and distance is adjusted. Now even a blind man could manage that.
There are several modes of play. Versus mode allow two human players to dress up as their favorite Jungle Book character and then fight it out on the dance floor with the highest points count determining the winner. The Jungle Gallery includes a Dancing Stage, a Jungle Theatre where collected CG videos may be viewed, and a bonus challenge mode from Lou Bega. The Story Mode is the main part of the game. Here the single player controls Mowgli as he moves through the jungle meeting and dancing against all your favorite characters, such as Junior (Hup, 2, 3, 4. Keep ‘em up 2, 3, 4), Baloo (Bare Necessities) and Kaa (Trusssst in me..). The Story mode is also available as Team Play.
Graphically the Jungle Book Groove Party is wonderful to look at. In addition to the animated dancing sessions you almost get the entire Jungle Book story in a series of jaw-dropping 3D CG sequences. The content is identical to the recent Playstation 1 version, but the extra processor power really does sharpen up those visuals. Add to this the original soundtrack… what more can I say?
(All together now!)
“ Oh, oobee do
I wanna be like you hou hou
I wanna walk like you
Talk like you, too hoo hoo”
OUR PLEDGE: We promise that we have fully played 'Jungle Book Groove Party' before writing this review. The scores given above are our honest opinion and were not influenced in any way by the manufacturer or distributor of the game.
This review was written by Martin © Absolute PlayStation
Click here to view our 9 Jungle Book Groove Party in-game screenshot slideshow
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