Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice
| Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice | |
|---|---|
 Arcade flyer (2006) | |
| Developer(s) | Sega |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Composer(s) | Takenobu Mitsuyoshi |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release | June 27, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Shooting gallery |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Cabinet | 52" (16:9 Screen) |
| Arcade system | Sega Lindbergh |
| Display | Raster, XGA |
Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice is a joystick-mounted gun arcade game by Sega. The game was released on June 27, 2006. Players take the roles of a man and a woman stranded on a jungle island which has been overrun by monsters. Each player must shoot the monsters with his or her machine guns while looking for rescue.
There is a version of the game called Let's Go Jungle! Special, in which players sit on a revolving seat with a large projection screen in front and another in back. This version also serves as a spiritual sequel to The House of the Dead 4 Special.
A sequel in 2010 was announced to be in development called Let's Go Island: Lost On the Island of Tropics. It was released in mid-2011. A spiritual sequel, Transformers: Human Alliance was released in 2014.
Gameplay
Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice is an on-rails arcade shooter. Players assume the roles of dysfunctional couple Ben and Norah, who are going on an island tour to work out their problems. Co-op is available as a mode of play, though one may play alone as well. Players must make their way across the island of Spice, while killing mutated animals and insects, such as frogs, leeches, spiders, water bugs, fleas, and flies, along the way. The players are given FN FAL assault rifles early in the game to fend off the creatures, and this will be the primary weapon for use against the creatures. However, sometimes improvised weapons, such as paddles and slingshots, will have to be used. All weapons are controlled by a light gun controller on a mounted fulcrum, similar to another Sega on-rail shooter, The Ocean Hunter.
Some parts of every level are quick-time events, where players must move the gun in a certain direction, rapidly tap a button or tap a button at the right time to survive a dangerous situation. Higher points are awarded for executing quick-time events sooner, where failure will cause the player's life bar to decrease, although the bar will drop to 1% (and stay there) if the player missed a quick-time event with only a little bit of life remaining, as it is not possible for a game over to occur during any particular sequence of quick-time events.
At the end of each stage, the player must battle a boss, which is usually a heavily mutated and powerful monster. To attack it, the player must quickly shoot at each of several indicated target points that are marked on the boss until they disappear. Failure to hit all targets within a short period of time will allow the boss to attack the player and deal massive damage, while hitting all targets will deal damage to the boss and disrupt its attempted attack. Bosses are extremely powerful such that the player can only survive at most two attacks from a boss before having to continue.
Similar to The House of the Dead 4 Special, the games co-op gives a compatibility rating based on how well the two players work together. Enemies include various bugs, spiders, piranhas and frogs. The font style of the texts used throughout the game is based on the Thai alphabet.
Story
Ben and Norah, whose relationship is floundering, tour an island in Asia. However, they find that mutant giant animals are wreaking havoc, and they are desperate to escape. At the beginning of the tour, Ben appears nervous, while Norah attempts to calm him down. One of their guides is killed by a large tarantula, terrifying the both of them. They are then given FN FAL assault rifles with which to defend themselves against the spider swarms. Eventually, their vehicle crashes; however, before they can ask the driver what happened, the driver exits the vehicle and runs away in panic. They immediately discover why; a giant, purple tarantula has found them. They manage to escape it by driving their vehicle over a broken bridge, jumping over a cliffside in the process. Ben's map shows them that they have two options where to go next: a cave or a river.
If the player(s) choose the cave, Ben and Norah find a trio of survivors and escape the cave with them. One of the survivors claims that Ben and Norah are not helping them declares himself the leader, taking their guns. Before they can protest, a rescue helicopter arrives. Ben and Norah are temporarily given slingshots to defend themselves. Eventually, they reach the helicopter, but find it doesn't have enough room for them. The pilot informs them that there is another extraction point in a nearby village from which they can evacuate the island, and they are given their guns back. As the helicopter takes off, they are attacked by a giant mantis. Upon killing the mantis, they discover that they are standing in front of a Buddha shrine, to which Norah comments, "It really is mysterious Asia."
If the player(s) choose the river, Ben and Norah ride a canoe down the river, attacked by poisonous tree frogs. At one point, they lose their guns in the river and have to use oars to defend themselves. Eventually, they retrieve their guns, and have to fight a giant mutant bullfrog. Upon killing the frog, they find a radio that tells anyone listening about a nearby village where they can escape via helicopter.
On the third stage (which is compulsory to play on), the player(s) travel through an abandoned village, only to be attacked by more tarantulas and mutated fleas, as they leave the village they are attacked by pillbugs. They must also travel across several stone pillars by pressing the button at the right time to avoid the attention of another large purple tarantula (Similar to the one seen on the first stage). They cross a river (due to the bridge being broken) and must fight off schools of mutated piranha fish, the tree frogs again, and several mutated crustaceans that resemble pond skaters. They hear a young boy calling for help and the player must use the buttons to help him save his elephant by hitting mutated fleas off its body. The boy then thanks them by letting them ride his elephant to the heli-pad, which will help them escape. On the way they encounter yet another tarantula, this time with mushrooms growing out of its back. The player fatally injures it but does not kill it, instead its falls off the cliff that they are on, into the sea.
The player then arrives at a Buddhist temple, the infected tarantula seen before returns and lunges at the player from above, when the player kills it, the tarantula falls to the Buddhist shrine and detonates several barrels of toxic waste in the process, causing an explosion that results in the lily plant pods around the shrine to become contaminated and grow teeth, they then merge into one giant mutant plant, which the player must fight. It is eventually defeated with help from the boy, who commands his elephant to kick a barrel of explosives at the plant, which the player must continuously shoot until it blows up and kills the plant.
In the cutscene, the boy thanks the players for their help and notes that he didn't help enough, so he gives Norah his good luck charm, which keeps bugs at bay. In the final cutscene, several butterflies land on the head of the Buddha statue (which is supposedly still contaminated) which leads to the events of the bonus stage.
In the course of their adventure, Ben and Norah learn the story behind the island. According to the boy of the island and a helicopter pilot, an environmental NGO called "Green Leaves", came to the island after it was devastated by war. Following the motto of "bring back the green", scientists of "Green Leaves" discovered a species of mushroom that possessed extraordinary biological regenerative properties. The scientists extracted and refined the mushrooms' essence, creating a powerful chemical extract that could accelerate biological growth. In cooperation with the island's natives, "Green Leaves" used the chemical extract to restore the island's fauna and flora within five years. However, it was later discovered that the extract's properties were too powerful, resulting in giant-sized animals, insects, and plants that have the capacity to harm humans. "Green Leaves" and many of the island's natives evacuated the island when events grew uncontrollable, although a number of natives decided to remain behind.
After finding the rescue helicopter, the two must battle with a mutated butterfly, and fall out of the helicopter during the fight. The two hang on to a rope ladder, and due to their guns falling to the ocean, they must use a slingshot to deliver the final blow. Depending on if the player(s) hit the creature or not, the couple will either make their relationship stronger and leave the island, or break up and escape, only to have their pilot infected with a mushroom...
Let's Go Island: Lost on the Island of Tropics
Released in mid-2011, this is the sequel to the game. Taking place on a Pacific island, the protagonists are a goofball New Zealander guide called Zack and a nerdy Canadian girl called Beth. While on a tour, their tour boat collides with another boat with a small group of pirates landing on the boat and are being chased by sharks after landing in the sea, there the captain is killed by a giant squid. And though they manage to escape from it, they must go to an airport in order to get off the island. When they arrive and board a biplane, the pilot demands "to show them what they have" mistaking them for the pirates. But the plane gets attacked by a giant queen bee. After defeating the giant queen bee, they are kidnapped by the leader of pirates, and are forced to retrieve some treasure from beneath the sea, which the leader was told of by the pilot. After retrieving the treasure, the crew is shocked to see that the tube sought after was empty. The leader flies into a rage and kicks a "Green Leaves" barrel filled with ominous chemicals, which he somehow stole and stowed on board. The chemicals spread to a field of coral creating a giant monster. After the monster throws them near the plane's crash site, they manage to kill the monster by shooting it with a firework into its mouth. When they blow up the monster, its remains break up into debris and rain gold, which happens to be the actual treasure. While then being stranded at sea after the battle and awaiting rescue, the two then began to start a relationship as they face toward a sunset before the credits begin to roll.