|
LION KING
|
[Lion King Gallery]
|
| GAME STATISTICS |
| A.K.A.: |
N/A |
| Release Date: |
 1994
 December 9, 1994
 December 8, 1994 |
| Publisher: |
Virgin Interactive |
| Developer: |
Westwood Studios |
| Genre: |
Platform |
| # of Players: |
1 |
| ESRB Rating: |
N/A |
| Our Score: |
8.0 out of 10 |
| Our Reviews: |
Patrick - Review below.
To submit one, click here! |
| Systems: |
Game Boy
Game Gear
Genesis
Master System
NES
Super NES |
|
8.0 out of 10
| |
|
|
|
|
| The Lion King is my favorite animated movie of all time, so when I was a punk, 10-year old kid and I heard about this, I wanted to have it. I think I got this as a present....or maybe I just bought it or whatever, but the point is that I played the living hell out of it. It was everything that I ever wanted in a Lion King game since it had Simba, Scar, hyenas, and the Stampede. Now that I have smartened up and I actually have a taste, the movie still holds up. Has the game held up as well? Without further delay, let's dig into The Lion King, the SNES version since there was a game for every system at the time.
Now, since this is a licensed game, the plot is the same as the movie. I could just tell you to watch the movie and you'll be just fine. But just to recap the events, here's what happened. The lion prince Simba is born to the lion King Mufasa and his woman....female lion. This greatly displeases Mufasa's brother Scar, since he will not be next-in-line to be king. So, he hatches and executes a plan so he can get Simba and Mufasa out of the way, which sends Simba into exile. Then Simba comes back for his own REVENGE! |
 |
 |
The main thing that really won me over was how condensed the story was but how well the story still tells a complete story. There are some things that are lost like Nala, how glossed over Rafiki, Timon and Pumbaa are, and how there a few levels where transitions would be nice. There's even some good sounds, with some of the lines being sampled from the movie and there's some good MIDI versions of the music. Granted, there are some weird, dramatic licenses, like with the Hakuna Matana level, which has a boss that's an ape...who pimps slaps you when you get too close! Then, during Simba's return you go through a volcano...for some reason. I mean the movie just had Simba running through desert, just desert and it took 30 awesome seconds to do it.
But man, I’ve gotta tell you that this game is brutal in its difficulty! There are some portions where Simba has to grab a small platform so he can swing to and fro to line the jump, and you have to be exact. If you aren't, you'll just fall off and there's a 90% chance that you will fall into the water which will kill you, or fall into a pit which will kill you. Then there's the pathetic amount of time you have during your mercy invincibility which barely lasts a second and that leaves you open for even more attacks. The enemies also have a short mercy invincibility time which, you guessed it, will hurt you since you don't have the time to escape. I do mean it when I say that this game is brutal. |
|
So, the big question does remain...how well does it still hold up? The answer is simple, it does. The controls are very fluid and simple to use even though it's been years since I last played it. The graphics are bright, colorful and vibrant. The game play is still smooth, even though it's hard. The spirit of the movie lives in this game and that's why I loved this game then and still love it now. - Patrick |
 |
|
| | |
