Jungle Trouble
I think we all have that one game in our collection that we think...really? Why did I even buy that? Why did I play that more than once ? And just why it is it lodged in my memory? Well, here is mine. From 1983 Durell Software and 'Jungle Trouble'.
I still have no recollection of how this game ended up in our house, I certainly don't remember heading to WHSmith to get it. I can't imagine reading a review of a game where you can hit monkeys , chop down trees and swing across a fire - pit and thinking 'Hmm that's just up my street'. My Dad can't have bought it for me as I can think of no educational angle - unless he was planning on me becoming a lumberjack, or a zoo keeper in charge of monkeys.
But somehow it entered our lives. I have to admit the game screen is impressive for 1983. It's cheerful and bright and the animations are smooth as well. The game idea is simple, get your axe, jump across the stepping stones, cut down the trees ( the monkeys will sneak up and steal your axe), then jump the fire-pit and you are home. What a simple and fun little game, perfect for a quick play to challenge your friends or family.
This is the end game screen, you will see this a lot. I did. It controls on the cursor keys. Now I may have already remarked that my coordination level at the age of 11/12 was at the inebriated octopus level. My form of dyslexia means that left and right are concepts that happen to other people and coordinating buttons for fine control , well, that just doesn't happen. So it came as no surprise that my first 10 or so goes ended up with my little stickman becoming lunch for the blue crocodile. My Dad took over, and promptly served the crocodile another few courses.
Getting the little ssssss...er...stickman ( yes, that's what I was going to call him) to jump is an art form, and then to repeat the jump over the stepping stones without falling in was a feat of epic proportions. But worse was to come, start chopping down the first tree and along comes a monkey, scare it off and you are safe for a few more seconds. Fail to scare it off, it steals your axe and you have to return over the stepping stones to get a new one. Also the axe wears down, so a return over the stepping stones is needed there as well.
Thud...sound of cassette hitting the bin. But...it looks so nice, it had to be given another chance, you have noticed I haven't mentioned the fire-pit , that's because we never got there. Now armed with some tips from a computer magazine I was able to leap over the stepping stones 10% of the time. But still ...thud...sound of cassette hitting the bin.
Thud...sound of cassette hitting the bin. But...it looks so nice, it had to be given another chance, you have noticed I haven't mentioned the fire-pit , that's because we never got there. Now armed with some tips from a computer magazine I was able to leap over the stepping stones 10% of the time. But still ...thud...sound of cassette hitting the bin.
Wait, let's dig it out the bin one last time, what about playing the game with friends. Surely someone will find sustained game play in this game. Thud....bin....It might have just been my inability to have the level of control over this character that was needed, perhaps my father also lacked this skill as did all of my friends.
But I'm afraid this became a curio game, one you never really played but was part of your knowledge base, to be dragged out in conversations round pub tables or obscure general knowledge quizzes. We gave the game many goes, I think it says something about how nice the game looked that we did give it many chances. But it was always 5 minutes of frustration , followed by the vow never to play the game again.
The funny thing was by now we were so attached to the game, we could never ever bring ourselves to throw that cassette out.
But I'm afraid this became a curio game, one you never really played but was part of your knowledge base, to be dragged out in conversations round pub tables or obscure general knowledge quizzes. We gave the game many goes, I think it says something about how nice the game looked that we did give it many chances. But it was always 5 minutes of frustration , followed by the vow never to play the game again.
The funny thing was by now we were so attached to the game, we could never ever bring ourselves to throw that cassette out.