Handheld
(GBA) Juka and the Monophonic Menace
By Jayson Napolitano
Oct 31, 2006, 8 :16 am

Back in 2005, newly formed Orbital Media debuted with Racing Gears Advance, which received overwhelmingly positive reviews.  Shortly thereafter, Orbital announced that it had several other titles in the works.  While Juka and the Monophonic Menace was ready to ship in early 2006, publishing issues in the United States kept it out of players’ hands for the better half of the year.  Fortunately, Orbital was able to team up with Southpeak Interactive to bring Juka, among other Orbital titles, stateside.

Juka is a fantasy adventure that takes players through a beautifully crafted world while introducing fun and innovative game play mechanics along the way.  Obla, the world in which the adventure takes place, was once inhabited by an ancient race that created powerful technology based on the manipulation of sound.  The ancient race disappeared, however, leaving their ruins and technology behind.  The discovery of this powerful technology resulted in the Great War, which pitted alchemists loyal to the king against “dark alchemists,” who wished to use the ancients’ technology for their own benefit.  While the king’s forces are victorious, a fragile and temporary peace is established in the kingdom.  The Menace, the last “dark alchemist” returns from exile and casts a monophonic spell over the land, making his minions invulnerable to other alchemist’s magic as he attempts to conquer the world.

The game begins with Juka, a young alchemist-in-training, setting out to find people from his village who have gone missing.  Bufo, Juka’s gadget-tinkering friend who happens to look like a frog, believes the disappearances are the work of the Menace and equips Juka to confront the last dark alchemist.  As the story progresses, Juka meets and rescues villagers and uncovers the secrets of the ancients, the Menace, and his dreadful monophonic spell.

There are many innovative and unique tools Juka has at his disposal, which players will come to master over time.  Players are lucky to have Bufo, who will chime in frequently to give advice on how to use Juka’s extensive toolset.  The main feature is Juka’s ability to create potions by mixing different combinations of ingredients together.  Gathering ingredients could potentially become a chore, but Orbital has made it a fun process.  Players walk around, shaking trees, bushes, and other objects to knock loose ingredients to use in potion-making.  Upon accessing the alchemy menu, players are treated to a colorful screen of jars and tubes which allow for the combination of up to six different types of ingredients to make potions.  Again, while the Menace’s monophonic spell has made his minions immune to alchemy, Juka can create potions to put non-mechanical enemies to sleep, unlock bolted doors, and to alter the landscape, allowing passage to the next area.  Later in the game, Juka can acquire magical instruments by playing mini-games with Yeti characters, which generate ingredients without the need for shaking every tree and bush in his path.  Other menu options include a map, which kindly displays save points for the player’s convenience, and a tome that keeps track of potion formulas, enemies encountered, and items that have been collected along the way.

Since the Menace’s machines are immune to alchemy, players make use of Juka’s sound staff to do battle.  Enemies fire “sound shots” at Juka, which he can catch by pressing A to activate his staff’s light shield.  To explain more clearly, these “sound shots” are shapes of different colors (circles, squares, and triangles in red, green, and blue) which represent lethal sound waves!  A sequence of these colored shapes is displayed at the bottom of the screen, the goal being to catch the entire sequence and to press R to release the energy, defeating the enemy.  Sounds complicated?  While it may look complicated in text, it really is an intuitive and fun way to do battle.  Battles become more challenging later in the game when enemies fire multiple sound shots at once, making it hard to catch the proper sequence.

In addition to the light shield, players can activate a dark shield (by pressing B) that absorbs enemy shots and replenishes Juka’s shield bar.  When Juka is hit, his shield bar is reduced.  The shield bar enables Juka to use the light shield, and when it is depleted, Juka will no longer be able to use it to catch sound shots, in which case the player would want to use the dark shield to replenish the shield bar.  Further damage taken beyond the shield bar will start emptying Juka’s stamina meter, which, if depleted, results in Juka’s untimely death of Juka.

Juka also encounters several boss battles on his quest to save the villagers.  While boss battles follow the same normal gameplay mechanics, extra obstacles and fast-paced sound shot action usually adds an element of chaos to the encounters.  A number of the bosses pose a moderate challenge and will take some time to conquer.

The different areas of Obla (meadows, cliffs, etc), were created to enable Juka to interact with the environment in many ways beyond simple ingredient collection.  Juka can climb up and down ledges, pull levers to activate platforms, turn cogs to lower bridges, and push blocks to trigger floor panels.  Many of the levers and triggers are “locked,” and require Juka to use an unlock potion to make use of them.  While Juka and the Monophonic Menace is a kid’s game, and thus filled with simple puzzles, the fun of the alchemy system and simple processes such as the repeated pushing of the A button to turn a cog to lower a bridge is surprisingly rewarding.  There are also villagers who rarely introduce themselves, leaving players to guess who they are, and save points along the way to give players a break from the intense sound-based battle system.

Juka is also stylistically fun to look at with cartoon-esque character designs and exaggerated color palettes.  Each character is provided with a character portrait that changes frequently to convey their mood, and character sprites are detailed and vibrant, matching the colorful environments around them.  From the lush greens that dominate the meadows to the harsh, cool blues that reign in the ice fields, players will appreciate the attention to detail Orbital has put into Obla.

With Juka and the Monophonic Menace being a game about sound, Orbital hired up-and-coming American game composer Jacob Kaufman to score the title.  From the quirky piece that accompanies the game’s intro, to the brooding battle theme, the music in Juka is not just appropriate for the game, but is actually a treat to listen to.  I particularly enjoyed the jazz-influenced piece that plays in the ice fields.  Even the little jungles that play when using the magical instruments are enjoyable.  The sound effects are also spot-on, with everything you’d expect from a game featuring alchemy.  Bubbling potions, whirring machines, and even the Menace’s evil laugh are all implemented masterfully. While I did find a couple bugs in the audio department, including a stray bass note in one of the songs and a weird static noise instead of the click when hitting a lever, they did not detract much from the great quality of the sound in Juka.

Overall: 8/10

At the end of the day, Juka and the Monophonic Menace is not your typical fantasy adventure.  There are no dramatic story elements, expansive dungeons, or grueling puzzles.  It is, however, a game that is very innovative, engaging, and fun.  A few bugs aside, the alchemy and battle systems are examples of how to properly innovate the tiring genre of adventure games.  Although it was only a ten hour long adventure, and likely one of the last GBA titles we’ll see released, I thoroughly enjoyed Juka, and believe most gamers will too.  I will definitely look forward to the DS version of Juka which Orbital has announced for next year.