Jetpack Joyride and Blot share many similiarities, of which I understand this game did first, but what I found more interesting was that all the things I wanted from Blot but were missing, Jetpack Joyride delivered on.
In JJ you will find yourself running through an endless stream of dangerous traps; mainly electric fences. Also, you’re going to want to watch out for incoming missles and the occasional laser beam. Let’s just say, it’s a dangerous world out there.
The game moves at an increasingly fast pace and it’s your job to move up and down in order to dodge oncoming traps. You’re wearing a jetpack (well, a machine gun jetpack) and it controls like one, so you’ll have to practice the timing quite a bit to get good. If you run into any of these traps, it’s game over.
On the way though, there are occasionally power up blocks. If you grab one you’ll get some type of vehicle. These include a motorcycle, dragon, bird, teleporter and even a gravity guy suit. These keep each run feeling fresh and also toss in an element of randomness. Each one controls significantly different and you’ll have to practice them all to lengthen your runs. The nice part is the first time you run into a trap in one of these, it will be destroyed, but not you. This is huge in helping you make true high score runs.
The other thing included that helps add in some randomness are “spin tokens”. You’ll be able to collect these while playing and when you die you get to spin a slot machine. You can earn money, bonuses for your next run, a bomb to give you a little score boost for your current run or even a second chance to continue where you just died.
These random elements really help to keep this game fresh. They make each run feel unique enough that you don’t really care you have to start over so often. However, you’re still not really working towards anything by playing. This is a fine formula for an arcade game, or a quick time waster, but not something you’re going to sit down with and really get anything out of.
The last thing I wanted to touch on was the leveling up system in the game. It gives you random achievements to try to accomplish in a run and by doing so you’ll earn stars to level up. Leveling up simply provides a cash bonus, but is always welcome. These achievements are usually things like “run on the ground 1,000 meters” or “collect 400 coins in one game”. They are a nice way of forcing you to play a little different.
LIKES
Great Arcade Game. This game is tough, unforgiving and fun. It’s something I would have no problem spending quarters on in an arcade.
Good Eye & Ear Candy. This game looks and sounds great. It looks like it’s all done with real sprite graphics and I appreciate that. Gives it a really cool look. It’s also got that bright 16-bit feel where everything is full of color. The sound fits right in with the graphics, really well done soundtrack that’s easy to listen to through lots of plays.
Unlockables. As you play there are a lot of things you can unlock with your money. If that’s the sort of stuff that keeps you playing, you’ll be here for awhile. It’s mainly cosmetic, but there are some vehicle and jetpack upgrades you can obtain. If you’re lazy and just gotta have them, they’re even generous enough to let you spend your real life money (ha. ha.).
In Game Achievements. These are a nice way of keeping the game changed everytime you play because you want to accomplish these tasks to level up and get paid. I wish more games of this nature would include something like this.
DISLIKES
Short. Even though this game can be fun, it seems as if it’s meant to be kept short. This game is focused on being your entertainment in the bathroom, or in meetings, not for a sit down gaming session.
Repetitive. All the randomness helps break the monotony a bit, but you’ll still notice the same scenary over and over and over as you play. It’s forgettable after awhile.
THE VERDICT
Honestly, I found myself enjoying this game quite a bit more than I expected to. Even coming into this review, I thought I disliked it until I did my likes/dislikes list. This is a genuinely fun game. It’s built to give you small doses that stay fun through numerous plays. Get your friends to play so you have some high scores to compete against and you’ll have even more fun. Did I even mention yet that it’s free?
