Sound:  
Hey, this sounds pretty good! After the much touted Game Boy Advance sound capabilities, most GBA games still sound like GBC games. Chimp Chase used Factor 5's MusyX technologies to make some nice background music as well as nice sound effects. You play several stages in each country, and each stage has different music. The Arctic chimes remind you you're running through snow, the Australian didgeridoo, well, sounds like Australia, and the jungle beats keep you playing with your monkey— I mean THE monkey... Darwin. Why do some people name their monkeys?

Honorable mention: The laughing sound when you select a new game or the password screen makes me grin every time!

Gameplay:  
Standard run and jump, but this is a kid's game based on a kid's show, so it has the right challenge level. In some of the later levels (I'm looking at YOU, Australia) you can just run from one end to the other without dying.

Control:
Uh oh, this is where the game falls apart. 'A' jumps and 'B' attacks, but the first few levels are so full of bugs that it's like the controls don't matter. Of course I'm talking about programming bugs, not the kind that are fun to munch— try it, kids!

The opening level cheats you so often that when you finally get past an area you feel like YOU'VE cheated IT! For example, trees have branches sticking out that you can stand on to jump to the next tree or to a vine, but sometimes you just plain fall through the branch! If you're low enough to the ground you can climb back up and try again, but all the action happens at the fall-and-you-die height. What works is to hold "Up" while you walk on the branch, because just walking forward can make you fall through it.

Okay, so you've reached the end of the branch and have found a swinging vine (with about four frames of animation). Naturally, having played many-a-videogames, you don't need extra animation to make this jump, so you confidently take the leap and what do you see? Your character moves through the vine and doesn't grab on, making you fall to your death (well, you never see anyone die, you just try again or get a "Game Over" screen.).

With luck, you climb the tree with enemy snakes (who blend in with the tree), hold "Up" while walking out on the branch, and it finally lets you jump on to the vine. Now the problem is getting off the vine. You must jump at the last frame of animation of the vine's swing or else when you jump it'll make you jump back on to the vine. In confusion you press the jump button again and again, until you float in mid-air. You press the jump button again and... you guessed it... fall to your death.

OVERALL:
Only the most adamant "Wild Thornberrys" fans should consider this game. While it works in some areas, the amount of problems will frustrate most children. I would have stopped playing before beating the first level if I didn't have to give it a fair chance.

Overall the difficult first levels and easy last levels make it too unbalanced to recommend.

 

The Lowdown on  The Wild Thornberrys: Chimp Chase Aesthetics: Very Good Control: Terrible Gameplay: Average Multiplayer: Sound: Very Good Innovation: 3/6 Lasting Appeal: 3/6 Rating Explanation Overall: Below Average! "Has Some Detrimental Problems"