Previous Next

It's amazing isn't it? As soon as a fictional character goes out of copyright, it's open season for software houses to use it for all sorts of freebie 'licences'! Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan, is no exception.

In Tarzan Goes Ape, a witch doctor has made a monkey out of him - literally! Luckily, he heard an old wives' tale stating that all he needs to return to human form are some simple ingredients and a cauldron - personally I'd have thought he'd be happier as a monkey, but there you go.

Needless to say, the gameplay involves swinging through the trees and collecting things in yet another platform-and-ladders game. Standing in your way is the local wildlife, who you must 'stone' to death - so much for Tarzan the animal lover! You can fall any distance, but platforms already cleared of animals will restock if they go off the top of the screen.

The first thing I noticed about Tarzan Goes Ape is that the main sprite looks nothing like Tarzan or an ape - in fact, it looks more like a jelly baby in a nappy. The animation is unremarkable. He shakes his behind when climbing, and his feet wobble when he walks, but that's about it. Even when leaping you still see the same frontal view.

For all its faults, the game is fairly entertaining, and extremely addictive. The music is lively, the action easy to get into, and it has that just-one-more-go quality that far too many games lack.

Recycled gameplay meets free licence on a cheap budget game, but it works - just.