Jetpack Joyride Review - Pie Reviews

[Elliot]

Jetpack Joyride is a fascinating little curio. I may be misremembering, and I am at this point far too full of hubris and idleness to fact check this, but it was the first free trophy enabled PS3 game, and certainly the first free PS3/PSV title with a trophy list attached, though Tales of Montezuma Blitz beat it to the track for the accolade of first free PSV title with trophies. It is, I hope, the signal of a new paradigm on Sony gaming machines - a shift to not only accomodate but embrace the free-to-play with microtransactions business model that has entrenched itself deeply in the PC market over the last several years. I think it's healthy that Sony allows for this, as it's not only a good thing for consumers but it's a good thing for themselves too. Allowing developers the freedom to utilise the platforms to their own ends will keep Playstation relevant and competitive in a market that's showing ridiculous growth for Steam, Kickstarter and the PC platform. If there were any other title better than Jetpack Joyride to launch this free-to-play ship, it'd have to be League of Legends.

 

Jetpack is just an absolute joy to play, really. It's your typical indie game, in that it's built around one solid gameplay mechanic - vertical movement - and it does as much as it possibly can with this one mechanic. It's not a new idea, it's one that's been around in Flash form for eons (the "helicopter game"), but it's a strong one. Highly skill based, requiring fast reactions and a little bit of planning, it's certainly not a bad thing to build a game round, and Jetpack does some interesting things with it. Most prominent are the six different vehicles, which all move in different ways, giving the player second to second variety as well as a much-needed shield against the constant barrage of hazards, with constantly changing missions such as "rub your head against the roof for 300 metres" or "ride Mr. Cuddles for 1,000 metres" giving you something different to focus on each time you play. Other games of this genre are entertaining for minutes, but Jetpack offers something much deeper and able to entertain for longer periods of time, though its portable incarnation still serves very well as a five minute time waster. There's something wonderful about hoovering up coins and visiting the shop to see what awesome goodies you can purchase with your hard-earned lucre.

 

I am Barry, and your pathetic lasers do not scare me.

 

There's a good depth of content here, too - if you're going to sit through it to the end, there's easily 40 hours to be had, but how long with the game you spend ultimately depends on how long you want to spend with it. There are 15 levels of missions to complete, each of which harder than the last and rewarding you with progressively more coins, and once these are done you can "prestige" for a badge of honour and start all over again. Some combinations of gadgets will aid you more in the completion of these than others, and discovering combinations that work is rewarding (though if you're farming for coins, you'll want Coin Magnet + Gemology every time). Just make sure to read the descriptions of everything that you're unlocking.

 

There's just astoundingly little criticism I can level at the game - it does what it intends to so very well, from its gameplay to its style and personality. Jetpack is a charming game, full of wonderful design and little touches here and there to reward observant players. I love that the same protagonist from Age of Zombies is used, having played that game before. I love how the lights turn to disco as a reward for progressing well past the point where you really ought to have died. I love what the X-Ray gadget shows you in the background. There are so many of these little moments that made me smile that convinced me to continue through the process of unlocking everything and testing it out, just to see what was still hidden in the game for me to find. I have to tip my hat to Halfbrick, whilst their games are always fun, it's their impeccable sense of style and humour that keeps me paying attention.

 

Run, little scientist man!

 

Of course, had I been so inclined, I didn't have to gather all the coins myself. The way the game is monetised is by allowing players to buy coins which can in turn unlock all of the game's currency. It's a wonderful way of allowing players to pay what they want, only if they want to, and doesn't impact at all on the gameplay. I don't think there could have been a better way of doing this, it's a very fair trade. As for me, I chose to do it the hard way, though some of my crazier friends (here's to you, KirbySeph) played one round and immediately bought the million coins. The freedom to choose is always a pleasant option, however, and a game doing this right just puts others that do it wrong to shame.

 

If I were to nitpick, which of course, I do unapologetically most of the time, I would point out that whilst the game's theme is very strong, it's playing 90% of the time and it can get a little repetitive, though when playing on Vita (a small confession is due here - I haven't played the PS3 version, but I'm posting it here because it's a more popular forum) I can of course just substitute my own music, and I'd be shocked if the game didn't come with custom soundtrack support on PS3 too. The Vita version also had a rather unfortunate tendency to crash, and did so about five times between me first playing it and completing it to 100%, which isn't unforgivable, but is rather annoying nonetheless.

 

I'm of the opinion that people's time is perhaps one of the most important things they posess - after all, we have a limited reserve of the stuff - but despite that, I can very firmly recommend this game to you, dear reader. I have no doubt that it's worth your time, and at the end of the day, that's all it's going to be costing you.

[Christopher]

I'm going to actually support the microtransactions in this game aswell. The title was free, so paying additional money feels like a donation, and not like I'm paying again for something I've already paid for. Great review, and I recommend everyone pick it up!

[grayyyyyyyyyyyyy]

This game felt like it really belonged on Facebook and not a Playstation. Still, it was free, fun and one of the better casual games I've played.

[Rockman_765]

Yesterday, I get last trophy in this game! But it's bad when the game blocked a music player. I playing PSVita version.

[Spark-N]

This game is so addictive, I had enough time with the Android, Kindle, PS3 and PSVita versions to say that you review is spot on and I agree totally, it is well worth a download on any format.

I do think it plays a lot better on handhelds and mobiles rather than the big screen, as you can react much faster to whats coming up, with the ps3 version is a little bit harder and seems to get a lot more difficult as you reach the 3000 - 4000 mark compared to the mobile version, even if they have put you further to the right hand side a bit.

[Elliot]

Yesterday, I get last trophy in this game! But it's bad when the game blocked a music player. I playing PSVita version.

Did it really? Wow, that's both surprising and terrible. I can't even being to imagine why that would be the case...

 

Also, thanks for the comments, everyone. Glad people agree with my opinion, it means I'm not going bonkers quite yet.

Edited March 23, 2013 by Pie