I think I would get killed if we didn’t live in a civilized society. In another life I would die at the hands of another mammal who hit me over the head with a medium sized rock
There's always something so charmingly cheesy about games like this, where the main character is marketed as a "cool dude" simply by wearing sunglasses. It reminds me of the episode of The Simpsons when the producers of Itchy & Scratchy come up with the new character of Poochy the dog in order to appeal to the youth demographic.
Enter Prehistorik Man, developed and published by Titus in 1995 - yes, the very same Titus that made the video game equivalent of The Room: Superman 64. Unlike that abomination, though, Prehistorik Man is actually pretty decent - at the very least it's playable (which is more than can be said for Supes).
You play as Sam, a caveman who is tasked with finding food and treasure that was stolen from his village by dinosaurs. Most of the time the goal is simply to reach the end of the level, but occasionally you need to fulfill an objective like collecting a certain amount of items first. Along the way, sometimes your tribe give you stuff to help with your journey like a hang glider and a stone monocycle.
The gameplay is pretty straightforward platforming. You're equipped with a club to whack enemies with and a screen clearing scream attack that slowly refills after each use. Sometimes you find other weapons, like a bizarre projectile attack where you sling baby dinosaurs at enemies, but not enough to matter. For the most part, the controls are good, but Sam's momentum can feel a bit slippery, which can make precision platforming annoying.
The graphics are nice and colorful, however the level design can be a bit repetitive. There are some interesting levels like when you're racing up the inside of a tree during a forest fire and a wall of flame chases from below, but these types of unique level designs are few and far in between.
Prehistorik Man is a pretty milquetoast, inoffensive game that is mildly entertaining enough to mess around with to kill time but not compelling enough to be worth a full playthough. It's the kind of game my parents might have rented for me as a kid, and while I would have been pleasantly surprised, I wouldn't call my friends to come over and check it out.
Prehistorik Kart - a long lost GBA title recovered
Today #GTW releases an early prototype of Prehistorik Man on the #Nintendo #GameBoyAdvance - a Mario Kart clone due as a compilation bonus for the GBA release of Prehistorik Man by Titus in 2001. Find out more and check out for yourself at:
Titus the Fox introduces a line-up of cute, family-friendly platformers for the SNES! You can rent them all at Blockbuster Video, which is probably best suited for such offerings anyway!
Source: GamePro, September 1996 (#86) || RetroMags; Phillyman
For some reason, in the early Nineties several games with cavemen heroes were made: Joe & Mac, Bonk’s Adventure, Chuck Rock, The Humans… French developer Titus Software was part of this curious trend with their artistically misspelled Prehistorik, another platformer starring a club-wielding primitive man.