Reviews > George of the Jungle
(Wii, PS2, DS) Hands-On Preview
June 30, 2007
Older GameWad readers might remember the original George of the Jungle cartoon, a spoof on Tarzan featuring George, the eponymous hero, who managed to both save the day and avoid natural selection each episode despite his inability to dodge trees. This fall, Cartoon Network is updating the series and giving George a facelift (or whatever surgical procedure it is where your eyes actually project completely outside of your head). Set to coincide with the launch of the new cartoon is the simultaneous release of the George of the Jungle videogame for the Wii, PS2, and DS.
The build we got our hands on was still very early, but the graphical approach in both the PS2 and the DS versions that we saw was already a fair approximation of the very stylized art of the cartoon. The music and many other aspects of the game were not yet in place, but the core gameplay features George in a side-scrolling platformer, swinging from vine to vine, overcoming obstacles, and collecting bananas as health. George can jump, punch, charge, and do a sort of spinning dive to defeat enemies or break through barriers, gaining more abilities as the game progresses.
Throughout the game, players can expect to interact with all of the characters from the show, voiced by the actual actors from the cartoon. Most importantly, both the cartoon and the game will feature an updated version of the classic theme song as well.
George of the Jungle appears to be intended for a younger audience, and should be out this fall.
*Brian Schulman - Associate Editor, GameWad.com
