ooh, isn't this out of the ordinary? Well, don't get too excited. There are only 3 games on the list that start with "J" and one of them doesn't work. So yeah, this will be my first double-header review. Maybe I'll group these things together more in the future...maybe I won't. who knows.
Jet Packers is a fun, simple arcade game based on how high you can ascend. You need to collect fuel tanks in order to keep going, but watch out for those asteroids! Singleplayer mode is fun if insubstantial. Where I think this game really shines is the multiplayer. As usual, I didn't have anyone to play with, so I had to try and control both guys at once, but what I saw was potential for a heated competition. The bumping mechanics, the boosting that uses up some fuel...the game is filled with things to keep the experience engaging. Of course, since I didn't actually play multiplayer, this is all just assumption. The Singleplayer mode, the only thing I can really judge, was fun in a kind of Doodle Jump sort of way, but just didn't offer enough to keep me engaged for more than a few minutes.
Johnny Origin is a weird kind of broken. clicking on its icon just makes my cursor disappear until I alt+tab to a different screen...huh.
Junk Fighter is definitely the most intricate of the "J" games. First, let me address the title. I thought this was going to be a fighting game, but it's a space shooter. That would be the logical equivalent of me naming a boxing simulator "alien blaster 9000." But I digress.
This game has 2 different phases: the top-down space shooter and the ship builder. The former is a relatively fun challenge with a few minor design flaws and the latter is competently designed but not very rewarding.
First, the game part. The tutorial levels are way too long-winded and very clumsy at describing anything more complicated than "shoot the boss to kill it." After the almost insultingly easy tutorial levels, you will lose and lose a lot. The actual levels but the "hell" in "bullet hell." I think the main thing they were trying to accomplish with the design was making the player really feel challenged in customizing his ship. After all, a bigger ship with more guns can take down more enemies and reduce the amount of fire on the screen, but it will also be a bigger target.
And that brings us to the ship customization. The aforementioned quandry would make the customization screen fun and engaging if it weren't for one thing: the game already provides you with a multitude of ships far better than anything you and your puny brain can come up with. This completely defeats the purpose of the customization screen. The levels are way too brutal to allow you to screw around, so why would you not go with the professionally designed options? Even past that, the customization is far from balanced. The spread gun, as spread guns tend to be, is drastically overpowered, although with levels this brutal, it seems like the only way to win. It's not a bad game, but it can surely get frustrating.
Well, that's all I got for now. Until next time, stay diverse
Links
Jet Packers: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24359
Johnny Origin: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1407
Junk Fighter: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=8717
