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Tarzan Game Review

Tarzan is a 1999 platform video game published by Activision for multiple platforms. I played the PC version. It is a very good adaptation of the movie.

‘Tarzan’ is one of the most purely entertaining Disney movies, a film that has so many instantly iconic action sequences that it was just ripe for the video game treatment. While undeniably flawed, this platformer deserves more love for everything that it did right. It’s yet another in a long line of Disney game adaptations that are a treat for fans of both platformers and Disney movies. The plot was faithfully adapted with every single major sequence in the film getting its own level, which was so cool to witness.

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Similarly to ‘Hercules’, Tarzan is a 2.5D side-scrolling platform game, with gameplay taking place on a two-dimensional plane but with three-dimensional models and environments. The graphics are a two-edged sword. On the one hand, I did appreciate much more prominent 3D elements this time around and the game was surely a treat in the collectibles department, but on the other hand, the game did not age well as ‘Hercules’ did because it relied too heavily on polygons, resulting in a far from polished overall look. The characters looked great, but the backgrounds were too simplistic, rough in design and seriously lacking in variety.

But the sound and score are both terrific, though the movie needed more of those iconic Phil Collins tunes incorporated. The controls are intuitive and simple enough. Though the world building left a lot to be desired and most levels are just set in the jungle, the game at least adapted all the major plot points from the movie while the bosses and A.I. were uniformly excellent. The difficulty curve was just right with only a couple of minor grievances found in the last two levels. The save feature was fantastic, making the game much easier.

As Tarzan you can jump and run. You can also slam the ground like a gorilla, which is crucial in finding secret areas and power-ups. One level is played as Terk while another one is played as Jane, which added some nice variety. The monkeys and baboons are not all that difficult and the same goes for Sabor the leopard, but those eagles were too annoying as they would attack you from the skies in the most opportune of times.

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My main gripe on the gameplay front has to be the combat. It is actually quite atrocious and the only element that simply did not work in this game. The spear, the knife and other weapons are all too difficult to use. The knife was particularly unintuitive as it required extreme close-up to even engage in fighting with it, thus rendering it useless for me personally. The fruits fared much better and I ended up throwing them at enemies throughout this game.

You can replenish your health by collecting bananas while other fruits stack as your weapons. There are two sets of collectibles in Tarzan and both were so much fun to find. One is repeated from ‘Hercules’ – collecting the letters that spell the titular name. Because there are only six letters in his name, these were the easier to find of the two. Those pencil sketches were more difficult to find as they occurred in the most concealed spaces possible. They unlock bonus levels that are fun to play, but they don’t offer any meaningful rewards if beaten properly. But simply finding these letters and sketches within the trees made for the most enjoyable moments in this game.

There are thirteen levels in total that Tarzan offers and most are so much fun to play through. Welcome to the Jungle and Going Ape are the least memorable. Here, you are just a kid and while the levels are lush and fun, they were too easy overall. The Elephant Hair Dare has more memorable scenery and some nice new additions, including jumping on animals as springboards to get collectibles in the air. The water-set ending was great, but too fleeting.

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Stampede is your standard running level that is actually not all that easy when hunting for collectibles, but otherwise it is short and sweet. Coming of Age finally included extensive lianas and sliding down the trees, which was iconic from the movie. Sliding was so much fun in this game. Sabor Attacks didn’t quite work as that boss fight was too short and easy. The Baboon Chase is half running away from the baboons and half sliding down the trees. Both were too short sections, but playing as Jane was quite fun.

I actually really loved Trashing the Camp. This scene in the movie was basically filler, but in the game it was cool finding the collectibles and going through man’s settlement. Campsite Commotion is pretty much the same, just with Tarzan instead of Terk as the playable character. Journey to the Treehouse is one forest episode too many, but it had such well hidden collectibles and it was more difficult than the previous levels set in the trees.

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Rockin’ the Boat is this fully 3D visualized level that was a breath of fresh air as it was also set on a ship. The human enemies were suitably harder to beat and the level was quiet a lot of fun, though too short. Tarzan to the Rescue is the hardest level in the game, but it needs to be respected for its great level design and that classic late 90s running to the top of the screen platforming approach that is so nostalgic to me. The enemies were quite hard here, but the level remained fun throughout. Conflict with Clayton was initially too difficult for me, but once I realized how to evade and fight those monkeys properly, I got to the end of the level successfully. The final boss fight was also quite memorable.