Jill of the Jungle: The Complete Trilogy

Unfortunately, at 40 years old I no longer have patience for the clunky controls of that time. The graphics have a nostalgic flavor, but modern consoles with smoothed controls have made me a less patient player. Imagine emulating shift, alt and arrow keys on a modern controller (bad idea in this game). Unfortunately my PC doesn't have that old parallel port to plug in a two-button joypad that I must have stuffed in some cardboard box. Thinking about it. It would be better to also unbox my old 486 and play the original thing (LOL). Now talking about the game: Good nostalgia, cool for people of this generation to know the past, real hard mode (long before Dark Souls). Of course, here saving anywhere is very easy, on the other hand, the jumps, completely out of sync, make everything difficult again. To young people, good luck and patience! As an old man, I can't take it anymore!

I do not have nostalgia for Jill. Yes, I played some DOS games back in the day. It's no wonder that Jill is fondly remembered as it is: It initially has a tongue in cheek plot, super solid platforming, nice visuals (there's one level the visuals were so messy it nearly hurt my eyes to look at it), and a decent control scheme. JIll is in no way a Mario / Sonic killer as it doesn't have the creativity, the level design, or even being able to hold items between levels. Furthermore, there are moments I thought I was soft locked because I couldn't properly jump from vine to vine in the 3rd game (the jump button needs to be held down so she'll jump far enough to reach it), as well as getting stuck on a vine and I couldn't climb out of a pit. Sometimes the necessary info wasn't on screen. Thankfully the old "duck to see more" bit of yesteryear is in this game. And then there's moments that Jill is a little ahead of its time: save anywhere and infinite lives, as well as a female protagonist saving the prince. I can see why so many folks on have such fond memories of this game. And if it was a game that I played 30 odd years ago, I'd probably have good memories of playing it too. I had a fun time playing it over the weekend; JIll is a solid palete cleanser and something nice to play on a rainy day. Plus, it's hard to argue with its price point of free.

My 90’s gaming experience was mostly limited to console and arcade gaming, so getting to experience some of these old DOS games for the first time is a real treat for me. The game is free, so you’re not risking much to take 15 minutes out of your day to try it. While the gameplay is far from smooth, I still found the puzzles and platforming all pretty relaxing and satisfying.

This year is the 30th anniversary of Jill, and it's as good as then. The puzzles are hard enough to keep you in front the screen, but yet affordable. Maybe the graphics are not like today's ones, but that's the point.

I clearly remember enjoying this game as a kid, and now that I have replayed it (and finally beat it :p) I still found them excellent. Controls are really responsive, almost too much, but that what makes the charm. Great musics, a little crunchy some times but hey that was another time. I also love all the little easter eggs that the dev have hidden almost everywhere. I really recommand :)