With an interesting concept, enticing gameplay and a solid co-op mode - Tokyo Jungle is easily worth the low price point
The idea is simple: survive as long as you can with as many points as you can. A task that's not so hard for a lion or a bear, but for a little pomeranian or a gangly deer (the two animals you start with) it can be very daunting. The HUD is made up of three bars - one for health, one for stamina and one for hunger. The latter is constantly decreasing at a solid rate and once it reaches zero your health begins to tick down until you eventually die of starvation. In order to succeed you need to hunt, but you've got to pick your battles. At first, you have to prey on cats, chickens, birds - or if you're a herbivore, plants that haven't been contaminated by Tokyo's polluted atmosphere - but as soon as you see something out of your league (and let's be honest, for a toy dog it's not a big league) you better turn tail and run. However, if your objective lies beyond the sleeping monster you can attempt to sneak by in a clump of tall grass, just pray to your tiny puppy Gods that you go unnoticed.
Animals have a limited lifespan of around 15 years, and seeing as a year passes every minute you can't stay the same pup for long. The idea then is to lock out an area and find a mate to bear your children. Mates come in three different types, namely prime, average and desperate. If you've hunted enough prey to be considered top dog, you can then mate with a prime candidate resulting in a large litter of pups. On the other hand, if you're running out of time and need to get to it in a hurry, you'll not only get fleas from a desperate mate but you'll also gain only two pups. As soon as the pups are born you leave your previous animal behind with his lover and take control of the new generation. The amount of pups you have corresponds to the amount of lives you gain. When your main animal is killed you then take control of one of his brothers, a beautifully organic approach to the life system, and one that rewards players who are willing to put more effort into hunting than blitzing through terrain. The only problem is mating every 15 minutes can get arduous, but it also adds an extra level of difficulty to your survival.
As you progress you slowly unlock more animals with better stats and better chance of survival - but its the first runs with the weakest animals that make you appreciate just how terrifying the animal kingdom can be. Tokyo Jungle is definitely worth the $19.99 price on the PSN, and is even more of a bargain for PSN members at $15. If it were to be released as a full priced game it would be a different story, but as it stands - it's definitely worth a look.