Developer: Flying Wild Hog
Publisher: Flying Wild Hog
Platform: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tested on: PC
JUJU – Review
Last month, 3rd Strike received a preview version of Flying Wild Hog’s surprisingly cheerful platformer JUJU. Only the first chapter was playable, but that was enough to warm our hearts. Although the story’s premise was very clichéd and its outcome could be predicted from the start, the quirky protagonists and vibrant environments left us hungrier than a tapeworm-infested panda bear. Finally, the game
Story
The story is reminiscent of typical fairy tale adventures, as pink panda Juju and his lizard friend Peyo cannot contain their childish curiosity and accidentally unleash a demon onto their island. It turns out that this bat-like creature has been imprisoned for ages, and Juju is the youngest of an age old clan dedicated to containing the ancient spirit within their temple.
Before Jambee, the current shaman and Juju’s father, is abducted by the newly released spirit, he succeeds in passing his voodoo mask to the little panda. This gives our protagonist the ability to learn all sorts of skills, but only if he can find and defeat the creatures that have taken hold of these powers.
All of this is of course primarily an excuse for the duo to run and jump their way through the colourful levels. The story isn’t developed further anywhere in the game except for the final boss, so don’t expect any twists to keep you going. It does what it is designed to do, however, and this genre doesn’t necessarily need an enthralling story to achieve greatness.
Graphics
The visuals have been complimented quite a bit in our hands-on preview, but all those compliments were aimed only at the first chapter. The full game, however, deserves a whole lot more praise for its amazing environments. While JUJU definitely took some cues from the Donkey Kong series with both its level design and the early jungle environments, it breaks this mould later on by introducing industrial and even candy-land environments, each presenting their own dangers and obstacles while maintaining enough of the base level design to make the game feel whole.
Excluding the mandatory boss levels, every level is filled with secret areas. Whereas these are impossible to spot in comparable games such as the old Mario and Sonic games, Flying Wild Hog has implanted visual cues, ensuring that attentive gamers find every single spot. This is quite a feat, as the backgrounds are quite lively and quite richly detailed, which also means that rushing through the game ensures that you’ll miss a whole lot of coins and bonus levels as only the slow and steady will spot every hint.
Sound
Even after playing through the whole game, JUJU’s soundtrack hadn’t become tiresome. However, the tunes aren’t very catchy either, which puts them in the spot they’re actually meant for: cheerful background music that improves the overall experience without ever taking a foreground position. Do have a listen at the credits song, however, as it’s sure to lift your spirits if the rest of the game hasn’t already done so.
Gameplay
The true meat of JUJU’s experience lies in its platforming gameplay. Juju and Peyo’s move set isn’t exactly extraordinary, allowing them to run, jump, air glide, ram their enemies and eventually even shoot them with some good old fashioned magic. Most of these abilities are only learned once you defeat the creature who has this power, and the levels are designed accordingly. This means that it is never necessary to replay previous levels with your new powers, as all secret areas are reachable with your current abilities. While this might hurt the game’s replayability, it’s hardly satisfying to complete a level and discover you’ve only found half yet.
JUJU is marketed as a family friendly platformer and encourages playing cooperatively, though it’s also possible to complete the game solo. It would have been nice for lone wolves – or in this case, pandas – to switch between Juju and Peyo or at the very least offer a character choice before the levels. Now, the first player is always controlling Juju, and the second gets Peyo. Not that it really matters, as they share the same skillset, but it still stings that solo players are left out a bit in this regard.
While on the topic of family friendliness, it’s important to highlight the importance of the voodoo duo’s fondness of bongos. By holding a single key, you can conjure these instruments and make your character bang them with a passion. While this is necessary to pass certain obstacles, as it makes old statues react rather positively, it also renders any nearby enemies harmless. They start dancing for a while, giving you the opportunity to dispatch them without breaking a sweat.
As with most platform games, the boss levels are very easy to complete, requiring you to memorise a pattern and abuse this to defeat the creatures before they eat you. The final boss, however, is something else. The difficulty curve should rise a bit towards the end, as players are more experienced with the game’s rules and quirks, but to a child, JUJU’s boss battle might be impossible without the help of a fairly skilled adult.
Conclusion
JUJU is a must-play platformer for any player, be they children, adults, experienced gamers or newcomers to the gaming world. This game puts the “family” in family friendly, encouraging players to cooperate in a colourful, cheery environment. There are a whole lot of dangerous foes and obstacles to overcome, but with an adjustable difficulty level, even they won’t be able to hold back the fun. If you’re searching for a safe game for your child, brother or sister, this is the game for you. If you loved the recent Rayman or Donkey Kong titles, this is the game for you. If you in any way like platform games, well… You can probably finish this sentence yourself. Here’s hoping this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Juju and Peyo!
JUJU - Review,
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