Joe and Mac 3- Lost in the Tropics

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There were quite a few Caveman games back in the 90's. Remember such titles as "Prehistorik Man", "Chuck Rock", and the Playstation's "Tomba!"? We just couldn't get enough of these prehistoric dinosaur (or perhaps pig) fighting blokes, swinging their clubs around like it's nobody's business.

Joe and Mac 3- Lost in the Tropics (known in North America as "Joe and Mac 2- Lost in the Tropics", despite the game being the third game in its series) is another such game, seeing you clobbering cavemen, picking pterodactyls out the sky, and spitting projectiles all over the place.

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You play as Joe, a green-haired caveman living on a small island, who is sent on a quest to recover a stolen crown from a thieving, evil caveman named Gork. To attack, Joe swings his club at his foes. Whilst most enemies are knocked out in one hit, such as pterodactyls, some require multiple blows. The animations are also quite humours. I don't think I'll ever get fed up of watching Joe repeated bonking certain cavemen on the head, gradually planting 'em into the ground, until but a scalp is left visible. Or the way cavemen giggle and run away with dumb grins on their faces after attacking. You'll also stumble across food on your journey, which you can suck right off the ground. It'll not only restore some health, but can also grant certain abilities. Eat some chicken, and you'll find yourself spitting bones at your enemies. The game is more-or-less your average platformer, and is pretty easy, and fairly short. However, the hilarious animations, large array of interesting enemies and the large boss fights will keep your interest, and hold it 'til the very end.

The Locations you visit are chosen through the map screen. This means levels can be visited in any order, and later revisited, if the player pleases. Each and Every level is long and varied, with interesting scenery, and often with a few prehistoric creatures you can ride on, to max out the mayhem, such as gigantic pterodactyls. The game also has some RPG elements. On your travels, you'll find stone wheels, which you can use as currency. Stone wheels can be traded in town for meat, house remodelling, or even for the chance to find love. If you find yourself married, you'll be able to buy your wife things, to keep her happy. If she's happy enough, she'll even pop out a kid or two! It adds a little bit more depth to the game, which's nice.

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The graphics on this game are just great. Everything has a cartoony charm about it, with vibrant colours, detailed sprites and lots of variety. The animations are also fluid and lively, and the characters are often portrayed with comical, goofy expressions. Oh, the faces the cavemen make when you whack 'em... The sound effects are also clear, and compliment the spirit of the game well. I must say, Joe makes quite the feminine yelp when he's hurt. The music's good, with an upbeat rhythm and grunts of cavemen. Again, compliments the game well. However, musically, there's little here to go shouting from rooftops about.

The game uses passwords to store data. I understand that there's a fair bit of data to be stored, but I'm not a big fan of any password over eight characters in length. This game uses 16. However, it seems reasonably fair, considering the password has to encode the amount of stone wheels you have, which levels you've completed, the condition of your home, and so on. Still... Bleck, passwords.

The game also has a 2-player game option, which is basically the same game, only co-op. We had a go, which is how that gif up there came to be. It makes some platforming sequences kind of awkward, but otherwise, it's pretty hilarious. It makes battles a hella lot easy though, since difficulty or enemy count is not risen. But there's no more food than usual either, meaning that you usually have to work on a who-needs-it-more basis. But playing with a mate makes the experience all the more enjoyable, nonetheless.

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The game has a very appealing style, with its goofy graphics and sounds. The game's easy, and a little too short, but it's fairly re-playable, and the RPG elements and cavewife feature add depth to the game. On top of that, multiplayer is pretty hilarious.

8.5/10

Edit; Well, I wasn't actually gonna post this until next week, but I accidentally did, and since I can't be arsed removing it, I'll just have to write another review later this week. Oh No!