Danan the Jungle Fighter

How long has it been since you last traversed the serpentine trails of Moralos? Or looked back at the boundary of the sacred lands of the Amazons before venturing off on your heroic sojourn to rid the world of the evil Gilbas? Yeah, I played the damn game and even I don't really know what any of that meant. Regardless, Danan the Jungle Fighter is a very typical quest with very little to offer, you bastardly condescending gamer, you!

As mentioned above, Mr. Generic Name is on a quest to vanquish the evil Gilbas, a monster that was resurrected to...destroy the world? That's usually the way with these evil creatures, and this game isn't exactly treading new ground so I think that's a safe assumption. The very first thing you'll notice when you start this game is a hut with an open door that will take you to either an easy or difficult trail. Actually, the first thing you may notice is if you jump at one of the bats flying around and miss it with your sword, ol' Danan looks like he's had the wind knocked out of him. It's hilarious! Anyway, the two paths are a little confusing, as you obviously aren't strong enough to venture through the difficult door yet. It's a waste of time to try too, as the end of the trail yields nothing; you have to go back anyway. It just doesn't make sense that it's there.

All in all this is a very standard adventure/hack and slash kind of a game. It's sort of an amalgamation of Faxanadu for the NES and the Turbo's Legendary Axe. To attempt to bring something new to the table, you have animal companions that assist you when you find three coins bearing the animals' likeness. Your buds include a monkey, an eagle, and an armadillo. Having an eagle in tow reminded me, in turn, of 8 Eyes for the NES. So, scratch that animal companions nonsense I was talking about before...

The one thing that surprised me about this game was the layout. You begin in the jungle, and work your way through mountains, volcanoes, small villages, and... what the hell, a submarine? That doesn't make any sense! It's a nice submarine too, very high tech for a simple mountain society. Most of this game will either remind you of one or more games like it, or leave you scratching your head. "Meh", says Chad.