Jungle Fighter review - Sega Master System

Feeling alone is something that happens to most people at some stage in their life. But for Danan, who lost all his friends and family when their craft collided rather terminally with the ground of a strange planet, this isn't your usual run-of-the-mill case. Raised by a local called Jimba, Danan came home one day to find Jimba duffed up so badly by the local baddie Gilbas the Demon he was nearly dead. So he went out to see Niai, a holy man (or hippy as they're sometimes known), and collect three sacred objects on the way.

Danan is a horizontally scrolling arcade adventure in which the hero travels through Amazon-style jungles, villages, a battleship, and a temple, in his quest to gather the three objects and defeat the demon Gilbas.

He can jump, crouch, and whip his chopper out and wave it menacingly at the enemies as he explores the landscapes, entering buildings and underground passages. Tokens are there for the taking, adding time, life points, magic, and experience points.

Talking to characters in the game provides clues and hints for later levels. With a boss at the end of each level, a tough challenge is certain!

What the Mean Machines staff thought

Jungle Fighter follows the classic arcade adventure path, but with no really original features. There's a lot to the game, and the graphics are attractive and reasonably animated - the tokens especially add to the gameplay. But at the end of the day, Danan doesn't grab the imagination - we've all seen this too many times before. The backgrounds are monotonous and the game's far too easy to provide excitement and a challenge. Still, it's worth a play if this is your cup of tea: if it isn't, try waiting for something with a little more oomph!

Similar in style to Rastan, but with more levels and a "talk to characters" option, Jungle Fighter is an enjoyable and straightforward horizontally scrolling hack 'n' slash game. There are a few niggling points, though. The landscapes are large, but the gameplay is a little bit tedious, since Danan can only do a few moves, and although the baddies are numerous, they're not particularly tough, allowing you to get quite far into the game very quickly. If you're a Rastan fan, give Jungle fighter a go - but don't expect it to challenge you for long.