What Have I Been Playing? - Tokyo Jungle (PS3)

To those of you reading this soon after posting, it won't come as a surprise to you that this is the case. Of course I've been fucking playing it! I've filmed me playing it, and I've posted about the fact that I'm playing it!

Reasons why I am making a visible, crystal note on that fact are as follows:

1. It is the skeleton of what I cried for in one of my blog posts
2. It is a superb hail to the ever-seeming simplicity behind video game design
3. IT'S JUST SO CUTE!

Yes, I have got back into Tokyo Jungle. An arcade wildlife game that puts the player straight into the shitstorm of living it alone in a world where your enemies hunt, sleep, and prey around every corner. Your stomach empties relentlessly, forcing you not to forget that your primal needs must be met at all times, all the while being met with challenges to find things, dominate zones and steer clear from certain death.

If this hasn't whet your appetite for a quick go on this game, then fuck me, I'm a bad writer... but in short. It is gloriously fun.

As much as I am aware, it has no end, at least not so much as your animal lives, and time continues ticking. There is a final challenge, and indeed an endgame, but I am not in the knowledge of whether you can actually continue playing after this. Bear in mind, if you do make it that far, then I tip my hat to you. This could ALMOST be a "Rage Game" (a game designed with the pure, sole intention of turning batshit mental).

Right, from the top. It is simple. It's an arcade game, so the idea is you pick up and play whenever, after however long, and feel completely familiar with the majority of what is happening. Superb. I love these sorts of games. Square attacks, X jumps, O interacts, and Triangle... I don't think it does anything... might have to review that. Then there's "pounce" and "sneak", manned by the shoulder buttons and "dodge" which is controlled through the Right Analog stick. Conflict is easy to manage, and so it should be, because the game has been built in such a way that the challenge is not fighting, but in recognising when you're way out of your depth and escaping accordingly. The number of times I played "Johhny Big Bollocks" thinking I could take on a pack of hyenas as a golden retriever was 4 times too many; they just ploughed through me everytime, and when I tried to escape, they would chase me till I literally got bored and gave up.

The structure of the game is very much as you wish it to be, although it has a knack of funnelling you down to the mechanics the team implemented. Passing the challenges gives you bonus points on your attributes, making you faster, stronger, and more susceptible to damage, but even they can get in the way of what you want to achieve, which is literally staying alive. It is 1 whole century of in game time you asked to live for, changing generations (which you suffer for if you do not do often), hunting, dominating and scurrying where necessary; I have rarely made it passed 40, but that's due to my particularly unorganised lackluster approach.

In about 10 seconds, the giraffe is screwed

Surviving is hard work, juggling between staying fed, finding a mate, and staying clean. That's right, you can catch fleas, or simply become ill from toxic fumes. Once you get ill, you have to either use 'snacks' that you have found, or find a way to wait it out till it goes away. Tiny bonuses can be found in packages around the map, or will pop out from defeated enemies. Once you have found an appropriate mate your animal becomes a pack, and you roam the streets as a group. A semi-benign group, but a group nonetheless. Should your animal die, then another member of the pack takes over until there are no more. Staying fed is where the magic lies...

Ahh........ shit.

So you're a pomeranian dog. One of those rats dressed as a pom-pom. You're waiting patiently in tall grass, as a pig saunters closer and closer, completely unaware of it's ultimatum sat hungrily nearby. An icon appears, counting down the seconds to the timely attack, that has a nanosecond bridge between consciousness and carcass. Red teeth marks appear, I react and pig is mine for lunch! Success! But wait, did I forget to check my surroundings? Apparently so, I awoke the lion sleeping nearby.. bollocks. This is a scenario perfectly imagined within the world of this game.

If I could give it a rating, it'd be a high one, but I don't want to0 so I won't... MUAHAHAHAHA! THE POWER OF CREATING MY OWN CONTENT! This game is laced with charm, and even after the solid day or so of playing, I still haven't seen all it has to offer. Please... do yourself a favour, just play it. Play it and all of my joy will become justified and you will see why this will be difficult to forget and to stop playing!



If you're at all curious about seeing the game in action, and indeed me playing it at the same time, click the link. Enjoy, and I'll see you next time!