It has the charm of the movie but is too difficult for younger kids.
I loved playing Aladdin and the Lion King on the GENESIS,so I asked my parents to buy me this title(I was a kid at the time)thinking it would be another great Disney title,and it is a good game but it's gameplay is a bit difficult.
The charm from the movie is present in the game.The artstyle matches the film.There's bosses who are villains in the movie and you'll see things such as elephants marching through the forest.
The game plays like a 2D platformer,however you'll need to explore the levels from top to bottom and find a certain number of gems to clear a level/activate a boss fight.The platforming segments later on in the game can be a bit difficult because some of them will collapse right after you land on them and some of the platforms that you'll need to jump on are very small(the size of a block)and missing a platform jump can or will mean certain death.Some of the environments are set out like puzzles too and it can be frustrating trying to maneuver through puzzle like environments and search for gems.
Sometimes there's a bit of trial by error too as you can jump on the back of moving elephants but if you jump too early or too late it will mean instant death.
But the gameplay is fun and it feels smooth.You'll encounter lots of wild animals such as boars and snakes and you can shoot projectiles such as bananas(you have an unlimited supply of them),or more powerful projectiles which are in limited supply.You can also kill enemies by jumping on them but if you don't land directly on top of the animal and land slightly towards the side of the animal you will lose health and the animals move so it's not that easy to land directly on them.Sometimes monkeys will hang from trees and throw projectiles at you from awkward angles and porcupines shoot spines at you.
Some of the gems are well hidden and the level designs allow you to search high on tree branches or many different areas/paths within the levels for gems and it's good the game encourages you to explore the levels.
The villains from the movie are in the game as bosses such as the giant Python Kaa who shoots projectiles at you that follow you for a while.The witch doctor is another boss.So is King Lewis(a big powerful ape who is very resistant to your projectile weapons and cannot be harmed by jumping on him and his powerful strength will do great damage to Mowgli is his arms connects with Mowgli's body and to make things even worse,King Lewis shoots bananas at you in multiple numbers and at angles that make them hard to dodge.The final boss is the Tiger Shere Kahn who is tough to beat because you'll be on platforms which can collapse quickly underneath you and you'll have to dodge Shere Kahn's claws and projectiles.
The game is nicely presented with story scenes and narrative and cute scenes of doctors using a strecher to take Mowgli to receive medical treatment after he loses a life and you'll hear an ambulance style siren.The music during the story segments and the levels is well done.The jungle feels dangerous and the level what represents an ancient city is well done and I like the level with lots of dead trees and lightning striking everywhere.
The game is fun to play but a bit difficult.