Hugo: The Forces of Nature

***Hugo: The Forces of Nature*** (international title) or **The Forces of Nature** is a 2001 PC-only video game in the "Play and Learn" series, developed and published by ITE Media. It was titled as ***Naturens Kræfter*** / ***Hugo: Leg Og Lær 6*** in Denmark, ***Sila prírody*** in Czechia, ***Hugo ja luonnonvoimat*** in Finland, ***Hugo im Bann der Elemente*** in Germany, ***Siły natury*** in Poland, ***Naturkrafterna*** in Sweden, and ***Силы природы*** in Russia.

The game was originally released on 30 August 2001. On May 2004, it was re-released as ***Hugo Classic #7***. It was also re-released in the *Best of Hugo* series in 2007 along with *Hugo in the Hut* in Denmark, and standalone as one of the ten games in the 2006 *Hugo Złota 10-tka* series in Poland.

## Plot

As she does around every beginning of May, Scylla is off to the annual witches' congress. Before she left, she had ordered Don Croco to clean up her lair and guard the jungle island. But soon there is chaos on the island, as Don Croco finds Scylla's magic book and accidentally creates a tornado, which in turn triggers a whole series of natural disasters, sweeping the island with raging elements. The poor Kikurians who live on the island do not even know where to flee! Hugo and his friends Fernando, Jean Paul and Professor Shellback immediately rush to the rescue to save the Kikurians from the worst.

In the Professor's airship, they begin the battle against the forces of nature and Don Croco's soldiers. It contains six different games that need to be mastered to save the Kikurians and the entire jungle island. With Don Croco's soldiers on his tail, Hugo has to free the Kikurians from the snow after an avalanche, save them from a tornado and make sure that their cows do not come into contact with the hot lava after a volcanic eruption. Jean Paul is doing his best to prevent flooding, and a massive earthquake is about to destroy the entire property of the Kikurian chief. Hugo and Jean Paul are just in time... And after fighting through all the natural disasters, Hugo will have have a chance for some sweet revenge in an aerial battle with Scylla when she returns!

## Gameplay

The game consists of the following minigames:

* **Earthquake**: Hugo and Jean-Paul have to take care in the hut of the Chief of the Kikurans to not fall down during the earthquake. (This scenario was published as a standalone mobile game ***Hugo Earthquake*** by Kiloo in 2003.)
* **Lava**: When the volcano erupts on the island, Hugo is to make sure that the cows are not carried away by the hot lava. Every now and then, a precious diamond appears.
* **Snow Avalanche**: Several Kikurians have been spilled under snow by a snow avalanche. Hugo needs to find and dig them out, but beware of Don Croco's helpers and snowmen! (This scenario also appears in the compilation release *Hugo Krypton*.)
* **Tornado**: A big tornado is racing unstoppably towards the village where the Kikurians live. Hugo needs to find all of them before it is too late.
* **Flood**: Jean Paul, the monkey, must repair the dam so that the Kikurian village is not flooded. (This scenario also appears in *Hugo Titan.*)

Completing them proceeds to the endgame:

* **Gunnery**: When Scylla is detected by radar, they fly to intercept her and Hugo mans the airship's cannon loaded with rotten tomatoes. First he needs to shoot all the bats she sends to attack, and then to fire at the witch herself to disrupt her spell casting until finally she goes down and falls into the sea. (This scenario also appears in *Hugo Krypton*.)

## Credits

* Executive producer: Jacob Buck
* Directed and produced: Lars Krogh Mortensen
* Story and concept: Lars Krogh Mortensen, Nikolaj Holm Christansen, Bill Bach, Soren S. Jakobsen, Martin Skovgaard, Michael Barklund, René Bidstrup
* Animation: Soren S. Jakobsen
* Background and graphics: Nikolaj Holm Christansen, Bill Bach
* Programming: Michael Barklund, Martin Skovgaard, Mike Ditlevsen, Lasse Tassing
* Additional animation: Lars Krogh Mortensen, Bill Bach, Nikolaj Holm Christansen
* Music: Asbjørn Andersen
* Original voices: Henrik Voldborg, Torben Simonsen, Pauline Rehne, Torben Zeller
* Cover illustration: Jørgen Ørberg

## External links

* *Hugo im Bann der Elemente* at Hugo-Troll.de (German)
* *Hugo: The Forces of Nature* at Square Faction (Russian)