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Urban Jungle plays a lot like an episode or two of the series. It begins with Danny and his best buds Sam and Tucker chatting over a couple pizzas, and flashes back to Danny’s run-in with the Lunch Lady, producing the first level of action. As they wrap up the LL sequence, there’s an earthquake, followed by the prerequisite appearance and declaration of Urban Jungle’s main villain, Undergrowth.

Through the rest of the game, Danny must deal with a series of confrontations triggered by Undergrowth. In each of about seven levels, you must run through two stages with a boss (or two) at the end of each stage, then a bonus stage. Bosses even include Sam, who is transformed into Plant Girl (or Plant Queen; we’re having a disagreement on that detail), and Tucker (Meat Monster); you must knock each one back to her or his senses (and true self).

While roughly matching the sequence of a television episode, Urban Jungle includes not just Undergrowth and the cameo by Frostbite, but also levels featuring arch-annoyance Walker, Technus (the master of all things beeping and electronic) and a powerful ghostly pirate ship.

Each regular stage is basically a gauntlet of smaller ghosts and obstacles, ending with a boss. The bonus stage always has a interesting kink — for example, in a couple, Danny won’t take damage and he must be as aggressive as possible. The stage usually involves increasingly more difficult objectives, with a time limit (capture 10 ghosts in 30 seconds, then 12, then 14, …); once you fail an objective, the bonus stage is over and you move on to the next level.

With one exception, each level has a familiar left-to-right sidescrolling path. You can fly higher or lower, faster or slower, but the level streams by at a constant speed. You’ve got health and power bars; the health bar takes hits when you do, and can be regenerated by collecting floating hearts. The power bar is depleted as you use special abilities, and is regenerated by absorbing enemy damage.

Yeah, that’s what we said … Danny can switch between red (flame) and blue (ice) forms. When he’s red and is hit with a red attack, he takes no damage and actually regains a little power (ditto, when he’s blue and is hit with a blue attack). Keeping him in the safest form is one of the best challenges in the game, especially when a monster starts alternating its attacks, or when two monsters are firing mixed volleys.

At the beginning of each level, Danny chooses from nine special powers, including Ghostly Ice, introduced by sometimes villain Frostbite (in a brief guest-starring appearance). Other powers include the complementary Ghostly Fire, Danny Phase (immateriality; nothing can affect you), four ways to capture ghosts — Fenton Thermos, Fenton Ghost Weasel, Fenton Ghost Fisher and Fenton Ghost Gloves (a sucking thermos, a vacuum a “fishing line” and a pair of power gloves), Boomerang (a ring of boomerangs that circle and protect you), and the Ghostly Wail, which eliminates all current enemies.

In one level, you’re piloting the Fenton Flyer, and face ghostly monsters (and their fire) as they stream toward you. The Flyer’s powers include the Specter Deflector (a protective shield), Smartbomb (which wipes out all ghosts on the screen, much like Ghostly Wail), and Timed Radial Blast (a series of explosions over a wide area).

(Requisite complaint: Urban Jungle has only one save game, so only one person at a time can be playing it. That’s a pain for a family of game players. Standard request: designers, please include at least three save slots in a game. It doesn’t take much memory and is much friendlier to gaming families.)

Jesse enjoyed everything about the game. It’s right on his level — on the Easy setting, it took both him and Dad about 3 hours to play through the game, while the Hard setting is a good bit, well, harder. His favorite power is Ghostly Wail; if you save enough power till you reach the boss, one or two Ghostly Wails can end the stage in just a few seconds. Bear in mind that we’re still nowhere close to masters of the medium; experienced players should have an easier time of it. He also particularly likes the bonus stages, since Danny can’t take damage in most of them.

Will says the tiny ghosts are cute, but still a little scary (Will’s got a big imagination). His favorite power is the same as Jesse and Dad’s — Ghostly Wail. (It doesn’t have to be targeted, which is a big advantage when you don’t have much time and even less twitch coordination).

Bottom line is that Urban Jungle, while short, is fun. It does a great job of reflecting the Nickelodeon television series. The music, text and background graphics are nothing special, but the animation and game action are both good. Should you get it? That’s a no-brainer for fans of the series, and even non-fans in the right age range (kids and less-experienced tweens) will probably enjoy it.