The great battle of Shark Monkey Squirrel Dinossaur Bird Bee(spelling and grammar intact) is a platformer from Game Nacional, known for mediocre platformers like Rafa’s World and Kitten Island. They seem to be either asset flips or just really, really lazily made games. Great Battle of Shark Monkey is a cut above the others, but still doesn’t quite make it out of mediocrity, but that isn’t for a lack of trying. There are some good things about this game, but they aren’t enough to lift the mediocre game play.
Lets start with the story in Great Battle of Shark Monkey. Humanity is wiped out in a war and a strange virus makes the objects sentient and evil. Opposing them are six animals, a shark, a monkey, a squirrel, a dinosaur, a bird and a bee. Each has their own levels to play through, which is a nice touch. You start with the squirrel on the moon, and almost instantly go into one of the worst falling sections I’ve ever played. These rock things are always beneath you and shoot their smaller rocks with insane accuracy. A few more levels, you go to “High City” and play some more levels when you face “Twin Cells” a dual battery boss that was kinda easy. You then go to the shark, who had so many cheap deaths, I quit and ran to write this review.
Great Battle of Shark Monkey should have be a good platformer, its just that the levels are very hit or miss. Either pass on the first go, or die a dozen times before you get through. Its very inconsistent which is annoying. A lot of the problems stem from the game being very zoomed in, so you often can’t see what’s ahead of you, or above and below. Also you need to factor in the difficulty level. Easy you get infinite lives and just start back at the same level if you die. Medium is 3 chips and start back at area start. Then hard is five chips, then its game over and back to the main menu. Not that each life has five hits, at 25 watermelon slices give an extra hit, but its really no solace in some areas. Play on easy, trust me bro!
Great Battle of Shark Monkey isn’t awful, but it isn’t something I’d recommend either. Its just sort of there, like a lot of Game Nacional titles. Play it if you absolutely must, you’ll probably get more enjoyment out of it than I did. This will get an YMMV.
Overall; Great Battle of Shark Monkey is one of Game Nacional’s better titles, but that’s not really saying much.
Verdict: YMMV
| Platform | Nintendo Switch |
| Release Date | 11/4/23 |
| Cost | $9.99 |
| Publisher | Game Nacional |
| ESRB Rating | E |
