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Review: ‘Jetpack Joyride’ a fast-paced, disruptive time-suck
“Jetpack Joyride,” a new game for iOS devices like the iPad and iPhone, ruined my vacation.
Here I was all set for a week of unplugging, floating on the Comal River and watching days and days and days worth of bad television. Instead, I spent hours jamming my finger on the screen to make a square-shaped little man named Barry sail through the air of a secret lab, collecting coins and avoiding guided missiles and electricity fields.
The game, from the makers of the slice-and-juice hit “Fruit Ninja” introduce a similar easy-to-play/tough-to-master gameplay mechanic. In this side-scrolling action game, the only control you have is a single tap on the screen to make Barry and his borrowed jetpack fly up and down at high speeds. It’s a bit of a cross between old-school, 2-D “Sonic the Hedgehog” games but with missions, achievements and upgrade items that make games like “Infinity Blade” and “Plants vs. Zombies” so addictive.
In fact, it’s those elements that make the game stand out from the pack, even if the well-designed, frantic race across the laboratory is fun to play. In truth, unless you’re a video game master, most sessions you’ll play won’t last more than two or three minutes. That the game holds up despite how many times you’ll end up playing the same few levels over and over (items and hazards are randomly generated, it seems; they’re not always in the same place) is a testament to the game built around the game. The “Stash” store, upgrade items (like a variety of new jetpacks, which don’t do a thing to enhance your skills but do look nice), and missions that ask you to perform specific tasks (like going a certain distance without using your jetpack) reward repeated gameplay. You can also buy coins and upgrades within the game using real-world money, but if you play enough, you may never need to do that. All I ended up purchasing was a 99-cent upgrade that permanently doubled the amount of coins I earned, a good one to grab early on. To emphasize the game’s short-term, twitchy appeal, a slot machine appears at the end of the game, allowing you to spin based on how many special “Spin Coins” you collected.
Add to this some power-up vehicles like a motorcycle, teleport machine and mechanized “Lil’ Stomper” and you’ve got the perfect summer game, built for hundreds of micro sessions.
The 99-cent app works on both iPhones and iPads (you only need to buy it once), but unfortunately, I couldn’t find a way to sync my progress across both. I ended up playing separate sessions on each. That meant more time playing the game constantly, whispering to myself, “Just one more. Just one more…” and less time going outside.
Not that I’m complaining.
“Jetpack Joyride”
99 cents, for iOS devices
Rated 9+ for some cartoon violence
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