Not a remarkable game by any means, but enjoyable platforming and some unique gameplay mechanics make it worth a look.
The story of Jill of the Jungle goes that… Wait, what was Jill's story again? Unfortunately, the game doesn't really have one. Most action games of the time had at least a small story to pay attention to, but Jill, for the first two episodes, doesn't have anything of the sort. It's rather humorous then that, like many platformers then, JotJ had a "story" tab in the main menu of each episode. The text to the first episode's story can be paraphrased, without exaggerating, "You are Jill and you fight monsters in a handful of levels." The second and third episodes aren't much better, though the latter makes at least some attempt. In it, some nameless prince has been kidnapped by the giant lizard men, who plan to bulldoze down the jungle to build condos. Saving the prince is the only way to stop them (the reason for which is not apparent), so it's up to Jill to save him. Alright, then. That's… something.
As mentioned, the game consists of three episodes. The first episode has an overworld map in the form of a regular platform level with numbered doorways to the actual levels that must be completed in order to advance further through said overworld. In each level, the goal is to find the gem key which eliminates one socketed block barring your path in the overworld. Once you have the gem, you make your way to the exit and back to the overworld, fighting enemies and solving minor puzzles along the way. Episode two drops the overworld system and instead just has a long string of levels that you play one after the other. Episode three brings the overworld back, but this time in a more traditional top-down view with level entryways represented by structures you can walk up to.
You start each level weaponless, with 6 out of 8 possible life points. Life is increased by floating apples throughout the level, and combat is done with one of two weapons you can find usually near the beginning of the level. These weapons, the dagger and the spinning blade, are part of the uniqueness the game has in that they are affected by physics, and you must use their physical properties to be more effective with them. The dagger is thrown out and returns straight back to Jill like a boomerang, but it also follows Jill's altitude while in flight, allowing you to control its movement by jumping. It also has momentum, so if you're facing a short enemy that only takes up the lower tile, firing and jumping at just the right time will cause the blade to dip down into the lower tile slightly and kill the enemy. The spinning blade is more dumbfire, but it is affected by gravity and bounces off surfaces until it either leaves the screen or bounces back to you. Where it will bounce is dependent on where you stand and in what direction you face. Generally, it is the superior weapon. Though it definitely would have been nice to see more than a meager two weapons in the game, they are a strong point nonetheless.
Unfortunately, the enemies you face aren't all that exciting. They're not very graphically detailed, most of them only take one hit to kill, and the tactics you will need to employ for fighting each individual enemy are not as different as in many platformers. The enemies, on the whole, aren't all that creative or inspired either and are generally not interesting. So while the weapons you use to fight enemies may be neat, the enemies themselves are quite boring. Other obstacles include hazards which can be harmful like torches, vine patrollers, rolling boulders, and falling stalactites; or lethal like water, lava, and spike pits.
There's a little more to progressing through levels than fighting or avoiding obstacles, though. You'll occasionally come across puzzles that involve flipping a set of switches to make bridges or barriers appear and disappear. What switch changes what isn't immediately obvious, so it takes a little tinkering to get them all in the right position. Granted, the puzzles are quite simple, and not used as often as they perhaps could have been, but they add a little nuance to the gameplay. There are doors which require you to find keys to open them and unblock your path, as well, making you go to one place before another. The platforming is also fairly good, with physics that aren't frustrating and movement devices like vines/chains, elevators, and a jump powerup which increases your jump height for the level with each one you find. Some levels also have platform blocks that appear and disappear in a sequence, and you must jump on them before they disappear again.
On a side note, it would have been neat to have more pickups like the jump boost which alter your capabilities, and it's a tad disappointing the game does not have more of such things to add a bit of depth.
There is a score system to the game, but there's not much to give you points. Killing enemies and eating apples are the only common ways to get points, with a few uncommon instances in the game of touching the rare floating "EPIC" sign and picking up flags. This in itself is not quite so bad, it just means there's not much special to increasing your score. What is bad about scoring is that you cannot lose in Jill, and this results in no consequence for failing to get that hard-to-reach apple and falling to your death in the water.
That's right, you cannot lose in JotJ. You can die, but you automatically spawn back at the beginning of the level. No, you don't restart the level, you just spawn back at the beginning. Same score, all the enemies you killed are still dead, everything is as it was. But that's okay, if you die so many times you run out of extra lives, right? No, you don't have extra lives. You can literally jump into that spike pit mere steps from the beginning over and over, and you'll just keep respawning. It should be noted that this design choice is necessary for the way some levels are. There are a few levels designed in such a way that, unless you're extremely good or extremely lucky, you're going to die, probably more than once. But that doesn't change the fact that Jill is still a very easy game because you just can't lose. Perhaps that could be considered a good thing depending on the player and their mood, but generally it's arguable that having no need for a good performance at all to eventually beat the game means little incentive to play seriously.
Graphically, Jill was mostly pretty average. Solid tiles look alright, but the background tiles that illustrate things like the sky lack detail, as do the enemies (as previously mentioned). But most noticeable is the lack of richness and vibrancy to the colors that you would see in many other games then, taking on a more subdued, faded tone.
The sound effects are alright, nothing particularly special. The music, on the other hand, was really quite something in its day, and is still entertaining to listen to while trekking through the levels. The array of music and sound effects changes and updates a little with each episode, with the later episodes having what are in my opinion some catchier tunes, so that's a nice touch. (Note: Unfortunately, I could only get the Sound Blaster effects to work in episode one; two and three for some reason would not detect my sound card as Sound Blaster compatible, so I had to play through with PC speaker sound effects and no music. For the purposes of this review, I did not hold that against the game. I know about the different sound effects and music in different episodes by watching gameplay videos. )
There's one last gameplay feature which was very unique. In some levels, you'll come across markers which change you into a creature with different capabilities and limitations from Jill when you touch them. There are three creatures you can change into throughout the game. There's the fire bird, normally an enemy (one of the few more imaginative ones), which can fly and glide through lava unscathed, but cannot touch water of any kind; the fish, which can swim through water but cannot leave it; and the frog, which hops perpetually, hopping extra high when you press the jump button, and can also hop through water, but has no way to attack. This mechanic gives a nice change of pace and lets you accomplish things you can't as Jill, adding some depth, and is probably the most instrumental in making JotJ a worthwhile game.
Overall, Jill of the Jungle is a fairly good platformer with a few interesting mechanics to set it apart from other games and make it interesting. However, a lack of depth in much of the gameplay leaves it somewhat wanting, and no story of any interest and really no development from a literary standpoint makes the game feel as though it lacks a soul to it that many other games managed to have with only a little effort. Ultimately, though, if you're into old 2D platformers, JotJ is one that's worth playing. The first episode is still shareware today, so give it a try and see if you like it.
Jill of the Jungle runs optimally at 20,000 cycles in DOSBox.