Jill of the Jungle: The Complete Trilogy

Jill of the Jungle is an epic prequel to the not-epic (but capcom) game so-called Resident Evil. Here you will learn about perils that Jill Redfield has faced in the jungle before she was called to investigate Chris blood. Or at least this is what I believe according to my game multiverse theory. It's a fun 2D platformer of olde that was made by Epic Megagames. It's now exclusive to GOG store for free, hoo hoo. If you look at core gameplay, it's incredibly sloppy and clunky - on jump and on landing you stop for a moment. You can't throw knife when crouching to hit low enemies. Most enemies just boringly walk left and right. However, JIll is responsive to the controls and level design actually take into consideration all the core design limits in order to create mostly fair and fun maps. And on top this game is amazingly quirky. It doesn't take itself seriously. And the amount of self-boasting is too charming. Or cringy. Cringy + Time = Charming, I guess. I was surprised that in game's ending the prince didn't ask for new hot Epic Megagames game. Like Fortnite. I mean, it has weirdly weird sound effects, that I am sure were done on purpose, that also change between episodes. Jill sounds like she is a metal woman when she lands in the second game. Mmmmmmm~ It also has a health bar so it beats Commander Keen. Also, the two apples that somehow remove the limit on game's speed that you can pick up in the third episode level under some block in waterfall confuse me endlessly. No idea if it's DOSBOX glitch or what.

Jill of the Jungle was made by Epic Megagames, the company that brought us such awesome titles like Jazz Jackrabbit and Unreal. But this one is... not that good. I have two main complaints: the controls and the level design. The controls are clunky and awkward, especially the jumping (which you do 90% of the time). The level design is all over the place, some levels are OK, but others are torture to get through. You weapons are lame and hard to hit enemies that are on the ground. I know it was released in '91, but Commander Keen was already out, and it had better graphics and much smoother gameplay. I like a few things though: the music is nice, and it's cool that you can transform into animals to fly, swim or jump higher. The game is free, so you can give it a try, but there are much better platformers around.

Long before Epic created great Jazz Jackrabbit series, we've received something very different at almost all degrees. It's always a bit risky stuff, since many PC games from 80 and first years of 90' had various issues making them not so appealing as versions on other platforms. But after finishing entire game I can tell, that it's quite impressive title. Gameplay is relatively demanding and has some variety, decent for platform game. Controlling of main character sadly has some serious issues (not the greatest control of Jill's jumps, attacking smaller enemies is often very uncomfortable, sometimes even impossible). There are also some things which are probably annoying in many of platform games (such as instantly killing spikes, which were impossible to see before you've hit them). As you can see, there are some serious issues which can make you leave this game at some point. Yet, I personally had suprisingly lot of fun with it and had feeling that developer was trying his best to give me entertainment. I also liked implementation of Jill's "transformation" into fire bird, fish or frog - completely different type of control and abilities, making a good effort to give more variety. Graphics may seem a bit "raw" and lacking of details, but has its charm. Sounds and music are a mixed bag - music themes are all rather basic, but while some of them are actually catchy, other are utterly annoying. Sound effects are a bit "random", sometimes I feel like sound for landing Jill (sound effects are changed in every episode!) are rather similar to broken dishes or very bad orchestra performance. To conclude - you really need to manage your expectations and not put expected "quality bar" too high. Then again, a nice set of variety in levels is a strong point and is making JIll in the Jungle worth your attention. I guess that if you've started playing video games around game's release, many of aspects I've mentioned won't be an issue for you. Nevertheless - worth to try.

Bopping music, very cool ideas for platforming puzzle levels, but there's not enough personality to enjoy replaying. Control is sluggish too.

So glad I don't have to "Stream" this game from shady abandonware sites anymore. Thanks GOG.. I'll tell ALL my friends to download this ASAP. Took my all of 30 minutes to beat the first episode, I wasn't rushing.. Great game, music, the nostalgia is real with this game, I was 11-12 the last time I owned this game, on floppy. This is a great game, and despite the fact it's not the best looking by todays standards, it's playable.. GOG needs more of these retro platformers, free as well, if possible, if not I can fork over $2-5 for each.. Pro tip: press X-X-X (no hyphens needed) to make Jill invincible from enemies, (BUT it doesn't work on water or other environmental hazards)