‘JetPacked!’ Review
Intro
JetPacked! is a simple survival game where you are the only one crazy enough to take a jet pack, and fly straight up into the air, while an aircraft carrier continually drops tacos and pants (trousers) from the sky, which you have to dodge. Weird, I know.
Gameplay
The gameplay is very simple and follows on from a Doodle Jump genre. To turn, you have to tap on either side of the screen. The character seems quite unrealistic and seems more like a frozen image, than a real person. The jet does not move either (apart from a tiny frame change in the smoke coming out of the jet) which could be improved.
The difficulty was easy to get used too and became very repetitive after while. A lack in ramping difficulty really lets this down.
Graphics 3/10
The graphics are very mediocre. The objects seem more like moving images rather than real life objects, which makes the game lack realism. Even though some of the images are well drawn they desperately need some more animation to improve the game.
I also noticed a lot of frame rate issues and found that sometimes the characters movement seemed jittery.
Controls 8/10
The controls are easy to use and work well, however, I sometimes found myself tapping on the wrong spot. Some sort of button would be helpful.
Sound 1/10
There is no sound, which makes the game bland and uncharacteristic.
The menus can be improved
The menus are badly presented and certainly need a touch up. On the home page, there seems to be a squashed up logo, which doesn’t look very nice. However, the buttons are clear and easy to read, which is good.
Longevity 4/10
As there is no variance in gameplay, the player is not challenged meaning that there is no reason to come back to the game. Furthermore, the lack of an online leader board (such as OpenFeint) gives the player no incentive to play on. 1 hour is about as much as you can get out of this game, at the most.
Price 3/10
JetPacked! is priced at $1.99/£1.19 which is to much for a game of this calibre. I would recommend $0.99/£0.59 at most for such a simple game and I would not be happy with this purchase. Commercially the quality of this game should be free, with a considerably improved game for a paid version.
Conclusion 28/70 – 2/5
I’m sure the developers are nice guys, but they really need to up their game to make an indent in the already crowded iPhone games market. Even though updates are promised, I’d suggest leaving this one until some improvements are made.
