Hail to the Chimp Review

by Dillon Andrews at Jul 23, 2008 10:55am

Game: Hail to the Chimp
System: Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Rated: T for Teen
Publisher: Gamecock
Developer: Wideload

Players: 1-4
HDTV: 720p/1080i/1080p
Sound: In-game Dolby Digital
Online Multiplayer: 2-4
Features: Leaderboards, Voice

Monkeys and Oxen and Bears, Oh my! Hail to the Chimp is here. In this title the king of the jungle, the Lion, was caught in one of the animal kingdoms greatest scandals. This colossal event slammed the nail in the coffin for the hierarchical system and the animal residents had decided to move on. They decided that a president should be chosen by a popular election. This starts the story of Hail to the Chimp.

There are 10 customizable animals for you to control and lead to success. They are Ptolemy (Hippo), Santo (Armadillo), Crackers (Monkey), Toshiro (Octopus), Moxie (Musk Ox), Hedwig (Polar Bear), Murgatroyd (Jellyfish), Bean (Sloth), Daisy (Platypus), and lastly Floyd (Walrus). Each character moves, feels and ultimately plays far different from the others. After playing the game you win alternative costumes from boxing gloves to caveman attire. While it doesn’t affect gameplay, it’s a nice added touch.

Each creature has several videos to get you to know about their characters and personalities. They have support advertisements, interview segments and anti-support advertisements paid for by rival candidates. Not only are there videos for the following, there is also hilarious mock commercials and talk shows that become unlockable as you beat the game. These are completely irrelevant to the story or anything else for that matter, but they make you laugh. This is definitely one of the funniest games to date—and not in a cheesy way either.

To pull off the feel of a political campaign, the game’s interfaces are designed to appear as a news broadcast. GRR News anchor Woodchuck Chumley delivers witty one liners as you scroll through the menus and once you make your selection the game focuses on Rusty, the slow and nervous turtle who tells you your mission objectives. The menu design is top notch and really keeps the gamer laughing.

Gameplay. This is sadly the weakest part of the game. While despite the fact that it’s not a full priced title, I often felt as though more could have come from the experience—it frequently seemed that I was playing an Xbox Live Arcade title. What causes this is the lack of maneuvers the characters can do. There is essentially one attack button which really limits your combat and takes away “skill”. You can team up with other characters and each dynamic duo have their own punishing double team moves, but this still makes you wish that there was more that your character can do.
It takes away button-mashers gameplay and makes you rely on sheer luck and strategy. You need to set traps, lure in opponents and attack them when they’ll least expect it to take the win. Not all levels have traps that can be manipulated by the player—sometimes it’s purely the environment that kills you. An example would be the rising lava on the Ring of Fire map. This is sort of effective when you look at the game as a party title as no one can claim to be better than the other when it all boils down to sheer luck each round.

There are a plethora of missions that you can play in many different modes. I counted about 16 level types with 10 maps. Each map has interactive elements and obstacles that make each one extremely unique and refreshing. My favorite has to be the “Dips in the Road” board where you have to avoid traffic while stealing your foes clams.

The game can become tense at times as you reach the end of a mission. To make things harder for you, the game comes with curses. Combine curses with environmental traps and you’re going to have to be cautious of which creatures you’re hanging around and where on the map you choose to hang around. Risks are rewarded with clam payouts, but it’s not so easy to keep these clams.

Each mission requires you to do something with the clams. On some you’re trying to collect as many as you can, others you’re trying to run around and take funding money from fat cats. Once you have a clam it is not safe unless it’s deposited somewhere. If another candidate attacks you, clams rain down and they get to steal them away. If you have no clams and are attacked then you’ll die and be served a time out while the competition gets ahead.

Another minor complaint of mine would be the camera and lack of distinction on screen during missions. Sometimes when a level would start my eyes would scan the screen to find out where my character was exactly located—and often those missed seconds would prove to be detrimental to my gameplay. That’s a small enough complaint, but the camera attributes to my second major flaw with this title.

During the missions you have a pretty big environment to explore and utilize to the best of your ability. The problem is that you need to see the other characters to track how well they are doing—and more importantly you need to see where they are at all times. If you go to the furthest part of the map and other characters go elsewhere, the screen zooms out to an extent that gameplay became hard due to my ability—or lack thereof—of vision.

It may be slightly above mediocre gameplay, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun. I’d definitely be willing to throw on this title at a party so everyone can have a laugh and have some fun balanced competition. If you think about it, that’s what this game is made for.

I’d honestly recommend this title for anyone who’s looking for a fun or different game from the rest of their collection. It’s not overly successful but it’s not asking for 60 dollars to experience it so I can appreciate it more for what it is—and that is fun. I’d be willing to buy this title and I won’t be afraid to give the inclination for others to pick it up.

Breakdown – Graphics: 6.5, Sound: 7, Design: 6, Replay Value: 7, Enjoyment: 8
Overall Hail to the Chimp receives a score of 6.9 out of a possible 10.