Only the Quebecois, I suppose, would develop a game as fine as Jules et Hurtubize and release it in en Francais seulement. Even the French would probably consider an English-language version worthwhile. The language is no great bar, however; there's very little text in the game, and you can certainly play it without understanding French.
I must admit, though, that while je parle Francais un peut, the cut scenes are spoken so quickly, and so slangily, that I have virtually no idea what the backstory is -- something about Jules returning to his home town of Greeneden after a long absence, and finding that his nemesis Hurtubize, who seems some combination of an insane washerwoman and a mad scientist, has brainwashed all the inhabitants and set them to cleaning the streets. Presumably you have to do something to return your city to normal.
In three levels, you play Jules, followed by a shaven little animal whom you can swing (up-arrow, then up-arrow again) to swing off lightpoles and perform some other feats; the animal also can be held to throw items, which is essential for gaining some coins, pushing some buttons, and the like.
It's a classic sidescrolling platformer, but many modern sidescrollers are, well, extremely easy by the standards of people who grew up on Mario and Sonic; I'll note in passing that I did not (I grew up on Panzerblitz and D&D, so I'm too old for that), so there are definitely parts of this game that are way to difficult for me. I suspect, however, that better sidescroller players than I will find a level of challenge and enjoyment with Jules et Hurtubize that few other modern sidescrollers offer. Clearly, intense attention has been paid to level design here, and despite the limited verb set of the game, there's a wide diversity of challenges.
It's also well-crafted in Flash, with extremely responsive controls, an excellent lounge-y score, and engaging character design.
The game has, as far as I can tell, received virtually no attention in the Anglophone world, which is a shame; Google shows nothing in English that discusses it. We can at least redress than injustice.
So, you know -- jouez cette chose.
Oh, du français !
Parfait, une occasion d'écrire dans ma langue maternelle ! C'est assez rare comme ça sur le web.
Je suis assez partagé sur ce jeu. D'un côté, les personnages (et surout leurs voix) font très "cartoons pour enfants niais", mais d'un autre côté, les animaux complètement rasés apportent un petit côté délirant assez sympathique.
Celà dit, je n'ai pas vraiment apprécié y jouer plus que ça. Les actions sont limitées, c'est un peu trop facile, et assez vite lassant. Mais bon, c'est quand même pas mal, le jeu est bien réalsié, c'est vrai.
Sorry, I guess I didn't really contributed to bring that game to an english-speaking audience. But well, I couldn't resist the opportunity to write in my mother tongue. It's so rare on the internet.