PS3

Disney's Tarzan

PlatformAdventure

Time to beat: about 2 hours
Plays offline: Yes

Overview

Tarzan (also known as Disney's Action Game: Tarzan) is a 1999 platform video game developed by Eurocom Entertainment Software. Based on the 1999 film of the same name, it was released by Sony Computer Entertainment on the PlayStation and Disney Interactive on Microsoft Windows on June 30, 1999, and by Activision on Nintendo 64 in February 15, 2000. An abridged version for the Game Boy Color developed by Digital Eclipse was released in 1999.

Disney's 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 player controls the eponymous character of Tarzan, both as a child and as an adult, through 14 different levels. Along with running and jumping through levels, Tarzan is able to slam the ground in order to break open certain objects, as well as revealing hidden items and secret areas. Tarzan's main method of attacking enemies is by throwing assorted fruits, which can be thrown both overhand and underhand for varying throwing distances and come in 4 different levels of power marked by their colors.

The player takes control of the eponymous Tarzan, an orphan child who was adopted and raised by gorillas. At the beginning of the game Tarzan is still a young kid who has to learn different skills from the gorillas such as climbing trees, swinging down branches or fighting small but aggressive wild animals. He eventually grows up to be a strong and skilled man who must defend himself and his fellow animal family's home, the jungle, from hunters led by the evil poacher Clayton.

The Game Boy Color version of Disney's Tarzan was developed by Digital Eclipse, who had previously developed several ports of older games including Klax, Joust and Paperboy. It was Digital Eclipse's first completely original video game which they had developed and designed from scratch, as their previous efforts had all been ports of other games. The game's development team was given 3 months to develop the game, and consisted of two programmers, ten artists and three level designers. As reported by the game's technical director, Mike Mika, the initial design concept for the game was "quite ambitious", with several gameplay mechanics needing to be nixed due to time constraints.

Disney's Tarzan received positive reviews upon its release, with critics praising the game's graphics and its faithfulness towards the film's story.