When Myrrick had the chance to talk with Trevor Stricker from Disco Pixel game studio and talk about his upcoming game Jungle Rumble; I was super jealous. The game sounded amazing and she had the good fortune to report from PAX on behalf of DFAT. While there she was able to meet many amazing independent creators such as Stricker. A year later, Jungle Rumble is out on the PlayStation Vita and I finally got my hands on it to play it myself.

I’m not what you would call a man with ‘rhythm.’ I don’t dance in public and though I’m not tone deaf, I don’t have a Jungle-Rumble-imagemusical bone in my body. I knew these disadvantages would present themselves as I faced off against a horde of musical monkeys; but I was up for the challenge. Let me just start off by saying that, even without the ability to do more than ‘making the pizza’ while dancing; you don’t have to have any musical or rhthmic ability to play the game. This does not mean that the game is without it’s challenges though.

The game originally started out for mobile devices and the conversion from tablet and smart phone to the Vita is a seamless one. The Vita has a pretty responsive touchscreen already, and with the addition of the analog controls, triggers, and back surface pad; game-play is even more fun and immersive. As I progressed through the levels, I enjoyed how dynamic the game-play was and how the music matched the frenetic and fun gaming mechanics.

If I have one caveat for the game it’s that it takes a bit of time to get used to. Like I said, I’m rhythmically challenged and it could just be my personal learning experience; but it took a good fifteen minutes for me to get used to the controls. Once I got over that initial hump, I was throwing bananas and bouncing through the levels with the rest of the monkeys.

The graphics of this game are fantastic as well. Not much has changed from the tablet to Vita as far as visuals go, but it was great to see all the colors pop on the amazing Vita screen. I loved the backgrounds that moved with different colored monkeys hanging from the trees and playing around.

jungle-rumble-ps-vitaI would recommend Jungle Rumble to anyone who enjoys music games, and easy games that you can pick up and go. It’s a great addition to the Vita library and is a great mix of easy gameplay mixed with challenging levels. Make sure you download Jungle Rumble from the PlayStation Network. Also, LIKE the Disco Pixel Facebook page for all of the latest updates and visit their website to learn more about this great indie gaming studio!