Review: Hail to the Chimp

Hail to the Chimp
Gamecock Media, Wideload Games
Available on PS3, Xbox 360

Hail to the Chimp? I don't think so.

Wideload Games and Gamecock Media have released another one of their independent game titles, Hail to the Chimp, a strange little party game with a humorous political twist.

The King of the Animal Kingdom, the Lion has been caught in a massive scandal and has decided to step down from office. With his leadership position now open to all the animals, the kingdom has decided to have an election to vote in the next leader of the animals. You could be that animal!

Hail to the Chimp gives you several different animal characters like a chimp, hippo, octopus, all who have unique personalities, to play through each mini game and ultimately win the election. The game has 10 characters for you to choose from each with their own unique power moves.



Single player, multiplayer and online modes are available which allow you to play against other players. The single player mode has a campaign which allows you to unlock cartoons, new areas and other fun stuff, all while you peruse the role of Commander in Chief.

The mini games have you running around different boards like a volcano, dock or island paradise while collecting clams (votes), fighting off other competitor and dodging bombs. Problem is that mini games are so chaotic that it’s hard to control your character or even know what's going on in the game. Plus I found that even though the goals for winning the mini games changed, the basic game mechanics were always the same - collect clams and fight your opponents. This made each mini game repetitive and boring after a while.

The game's cut scenes and menus sport a CNN spoof that really brings out the political humour that missing in the game play itself. The unlockable "Hot Coffee" cartoon is especially cute, but honestly this humour was not enough to distract you from the boring game play.

The graphics are a cute and cartoon but I didn't really find any of the characters that appealing. Their voices were either stale or annoying and generally I didn't want to root for any of these animals in their run for office.



While the developers were shooting for an older audience with its political humour, the goofy mini games seem like they would be much more appealing to kids and this all makes it really difficult to determine what demographic this game was aiming for. This is suppose to be a party game but I couldn't find one friend willing to play it with me and even online there was barely anyone to play a game or two with.

While I've heard drunken friends discuss game ideas where they could pit polar bears against shaved gorillas, I don't think Hail to the Chimp is even close to animal kingdom game they were hoping for.

Rating: 3 out of 10
Forget it!