Developed by Arkedo Studio
Released for Xbox Live Indie Games (10/2009)
Also on PS3
Arkedo Series - 001 Jump! (from here on out just referred to as Jump!) is a 2D platformer title. Right off the bat I was struck by the game's simple yet professional presentation. The chunky pixels are huge but well defined, giving the graphics a unique feel when compared to other pixelized titles. You play as jumpboy, and you're objective is to simply collect a designated number of bombs before time runs out, which will open up the level's exit door. There are also coins you can pick up along the way, with some stages having the bombs locked behind chests until you hold a certain amount of money. You'll also be able to pick up daggers, which you can use once to eliminate an enemy in your path.
At the title screen of Jump!, you'll be presented with three options. Adventure mode (the game), challenges (this game's version of achievements) and credits. Jump! is very bare bones but the game does what it does well (it retails for $2.99). Adventure mode consists of 30 levels, with a nice progressive difficulty spike and some very challenging levels along the way. Jump! is a true old-school game in that you start with five lives and once you run out of lives its back to the beginning of the game for you. There's no save or checkpoint system present so you'll be required to complete the game in one session. There are an ample amount of extra lives available if you explore the stages to keep this from being too restrictive. The controls are very responsive and allow you to easily adjust yourself even while coming down from a jump. Due to the tight controls, I never really found myself attributing any of my deaths to anything but my own mistakes, which is a how a solid 2D platformer game should be! If you have a PlayStation 3 the game supports trophies on that console, making it the most desirable version for many as the 360 version (being on XBLIG) does not support achievements.
Final Verdict: If you're a fan of retro 2D platformers, Arkedo Series - 001 Jump! is a nice throwback to a simpler time. The controls are responsive, the visuals are simple yet appealing and the gameplay satisfying.
Related Links:
Arkedo Series - 002 SWAP! - Xbox Overview
Arkedo Series - 003 PIXEL! - Xbox Overview
Arkedo Series - 001 Jump! - GameFAQs
No comments:
Post a Comment