[h1]Warning, Personal reminiscing inc, skip to the TL:DR if that bothers you![/h1]
When I was 12 years old I went to see my very first movie in the cinema, a wondrous and decadent experience to me at the time. That movie was the Lion King and I rated it 6 billion stars out of 5. In short, I loved it in an obsessive fashion. In addition to Lion King posters on my wall, I immediately started asking my mum to buy the video game. This harassment continued unabated for the better part of a week, before she finally gave in.
I have some wonderful memories of playing this game. I played video games with my uncle (who was considerably nicer than Scar) nearly every day after school and we took it in turns, death by death to play this game together. We experienced the highs and lows of the movie, with the exploration, build up, tragedy and triumph that came with it. I still vividly remember the hours we spent dodging boulders in the wildebeest chase, and the delight we felt in finally completing the game. Nostalgia for days.
Despite the passage of over two decades (that's a phrase that makes me feel old), The Lion King remains one of my favourite movies. Disney's animated films aged almost flawlessly and are still as watchable today as they were twenty years ago. The video game? Well, not quite so much. The fact is, I think video games today - for the most part - are better, but there is still a charm in the games of yesteryear. The Lion King may not be remembered as a cult classic video game, but it was cutting edge for the time. It offered some of the best graphics, character animations, fast responsive movement and sound available on the Mega Drive (that's the Genesis for the American folks). Those things don't really compare with today's gaming, so nostalgia really is the massive hook here.
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
The gameplay is varied and builds up throughout the game. You start as young Simba, purely able to leap from ledge to ledge and bop enemies on the head. You develop a small roar, which can interact with animals. You grow and develop and unlock new abilities (and a new character look) and can now slash and beat up your enemies. There's a lot of timing, jumping, dodging and button mashing involved in between. There are continue points, but you have a limited amount of lives and game over is game over. The game is quite long and if you die near the end - that's it. Back to the beginning. I forgot how brutally hard this can be, how punishing and unforgiving it is to play an arcade game where you have to complete it in one run or start again. [i]Be prepared[/i] to be frustrated, especially when a flying wildebeest kills you for the 65th time and you have to complete all the previous levels from scratch. I don't have the reflexes or the patience that I did 20 years ago.
If you get too frustrated, all the original cheat codes do still work, and I suppose that's a bit like a modern "level select".
[h1]No updated features.[/h1]
Unfortunately, the Steam release is just an emulated version of the 1994 original. I really wish Disney had put some work into enhancing any part of this game - even if it was as simple as the title screen and making it more compatible with Steam (there's no overlay, friends or screenshot functions) rather than running through an emulator. It does have keyboard and mouse support, but I played it with a standard Microsoft Xbox controller and I'd strongly recommend using a controller if you can. Even the soundtrack is the original MIDI version, which really doesn't do the amazing music of Hans Zimmer and Elton John justice at all. It was all rather epic on a tiny box TV, sitting on the floor of my grandmother's house with my uncle cheering behind me - but on a modern PC, it falls somewhat flat.
I still [i]feel the love[/i] for this game, but with so many groundbreaking games from the 80s and 90s available on emulators, I'm not entirely sure a re-release with no modern adjustments justifies a £5 price tag. I'm still going to recommend it to fans, because I loved this game 20 years ago and I love the memories that came back whilst playing it - but more with a meow than a [b]roar[/b].
[h1]TL:DR - A game that was great in 1994 and I spent many hours playing, but with a DOSbox launcher, no remaster in any way and no steam integration, it's nostaglia that's going to have you handing over your cash. [/h1]
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