It’s clear that Shin’en Multimedia knows their way around WiiWare. After delivering the lovely Art of Balance, the German studio’s follow-up is a platformer with unparallelled looks on the service. Jett Rocket looks excellent, yes, and we’re happy to say that it plays well too and delivers on platforming fun.
Jett Rocket is, without doubt, one of the finest looking 3D games on the service. Its three environments are diverse and contain a level of detail usually found in higher-end retail releases. Metallic surfaces glisten and reflect, water ripples convincingly and the art direction feels as if it’s taken notes from the best parts of the genre’s top titles: Sonic the Hedgehog’s Badnik-esque enemies, Ratchet and Clank’s outdoor environments, and Super Mario Galaxy’s lighting. Even the sound design is reminiscent of Mario’s space adventures, barring the short, horrible time Jett actually utters sentences.
But Jett Rocket is more than just a pretty package. It’s a fun platformer that is surprisingly varied given its brevity. Each of the three zones of Yoroppa are themed: you’ve got your oceanside beach, murky swamp and snowy mountains. Four stages fill out the zones, with a boss battle at the end of each, and sprinkled throughout are vehicles, hoverboards and paragliders to mix things up. Jett’s signature jetpack is put to good use as well, serving as both an important way of getting around and a helpful last-ditch aid when trying to avoid certain doom. Littered about are solar cells that help unlock the next zone, and the devious placement of them throughout the stages encourages exploration and daredevil antics.
It's not a particularly long adventure, but is comparable to other WiiWare platformers. We strolled leisurely through the three zones in about four hours, and it would probably take another hour or two to reach 100% completion. It seems as though the title might as well have Episode 1 stuck on the end of it given the inevitable sequel, but what’s here is solid and well worth a go. The 20 achievements are a fun extra and help boost the replay value, and while the model gallery doesn’t do much other than, well, display character models, it’s nonetheless a nice addition.
The game certainly has its share of issues though. Jett‘s moveset feels stiff compared to other platforming heroes, and the camera is frequently uncooperative. The D-Pad can swing it left and right as well as centre it behind you, but there's no guarantee it'll stay in place and will oftentimes plop itself in front of Jett when you least want it to. We would’ve also really liked the option to be able to see the world through Jett’s eyes; some sections require vertical platforming and leaps of faith without knowing where you want to direct your jump. It’s not the worst camera we’ve seen in a 3D platformer, but it’s hardly one of the better ones either. There is also a distinct lack of mid-level checkpoints outside of boss battles; this is not an issue on shorter stages, but the more involved ones could benefit from not having to start over as an enemy knocks you off near the very end. We also ran across a few glitches, one even forcing us to unplug our console.
Conclusion
Shin’en doesn’t try to reinvent the jump, but so what? Jett Rocket is more concerned with being fun and looking good, and manages to deliver more than expected on both accounts, raising the bar for WiiWare in the process. Despite some nagging issues that we hope to see corrected for the next time around, it’s well worth playing as there’s nothing else quite like it on WiiWare.
Comments 51
I agree with the score. It's short, but fun while it lasts. I HATE Jett's voice though Hopefully the next game will be longer, have more variety, and maybe be a tad cheaper
@Klapaucius
Shin'en ENtertainment's HQ is in Germany not in Japan.
I liked the game. Short but solid.
Great review, I agree on almost all points. I thought the voice acting was actually pretty funny, though. I'd put it in the so-bad-it's-good category
Good. Waiting for this review. I have to pick this up with my next points card. Looks like fun and dont mind if its not to long. Dont have time for a long game anyways. Need platforming goodness since i have not picked up SMG2 yet.
I picked this up the other day. Granted, I've only had time to get past the first world so far, but I'm not as impressed as every one else seems to be. Yes, it looks awesome (for a WiiWare game), but to me, the gameplay lacks a little. Seems a bit too repetitive. The first boss was ridiculously easy. I am going to continue playing until completion, but I'm hoping that the gameplay offers a little more challenge and variety coming up.
On a side note, why do people complain about the shortness of WiiWare games? It's WiiWare, people! If you want a longer game, go spend the $50 to get a retail game. You're not going to get 40 hours of gameplay out of a $5-$10 game, so stop thinking you will!
@John It's not just the length, but the replay value as well. For some people (myself included), a simple model gallery isn't enough of a reward for replaying it. Thus, a longer game would be nice.
@Klapaucius You have a point. World Of Goo is a rip off and not a really fun game. I enjoyed it at first and the hated it.
@irken004 I can understand that. Having a time trial (maybe with an online leaderboard?) would be a nice, easy addition to include (or so I would think). I don't mind people complaining about that. It's the people who say "It only took me 3 hours to beat the game!" that irk me. You paid $10 for the game... just be happy that it was a fun 3 hours!
@Jrdnram98 I loved WoG! Still get on there every now and then just to see how high I can build my goo. I would've paid a lot more than $15 for that game, I can tell you that.
Definitely excellent value for money, considering most of what's on offer for Wiiware. Hope Shin'en brings Nanostray next!
Hm, sounds solid.
Is that WiiWare? That's pretty!
"WAAHOOOHHOHOHOH!"
Must get a points card! Great review Panda. :3
It's a very good game. I really like it and would give it a 8.0 score as well. I hope Shin'en will be rewarded with a lot of downloads; they deserve it.
Great review as usual panda. Ill have to grab this one. Great to see a developer to push the limits like this with such a small file size to work with.
I got the game on monday but have not had a chance to sit down and play it since I want to do it start to finish. I liked what I read and saw in the reviews and liked Art of Balance so I gave them my support and my 10 bucks.
The game might be short but it seems to be a great experience. Lost Winds and Winter of the Melodias send their best.
@John3714 Nice Avatar, way to put it down for the D ~_^
That's a good score, glad this game turned out pretty good; I mostly glad that games are continuing to come out for WiiWare that tests it's limits and deliver.
Hmm, may get this...
It might be short, but it is a lot of fun. I give Kudos to Manfred and his team for making a quality WiiWare game.
@klap You cant expect the next game to be longer yet cheaper.
And what do you mean it makes World of Goo seem like a ripoff??
Meaning we ripped it off cause it was so good/long for the price? Or 2D Boy ripped us off because... ummm i dont know...
@John3714: Compared to a lot of the better offerings on PSN or XBLA, $10 for 3 hours of gameplay is pretty pathetic. THAT'S why people complain. Heck, you could even argue (relatively unfairly) that the value pales in comparison to VC, where I got 35 hours out of one playthrough of Paper Mario! So for people looking for a real value, $10 for 3 hours isn't all THAT great.
The report of bugs concerns me...I'm not really looking to spend $10 on a game that might hard-lock my Wii. If this was a more sensible system, I might have a title update to look forward to. As it stands, I might have to give it a pass.
The camera issues sound pretty bad, but everything else sounds great. Might have to wait for the sequel.
Stuff, I don't think it's remotely fair to weigh a game by hours. Super Mario Brothers can be beaten in less than 15 minutes. I don't feel jipped paying $5 for it when for only $10 I could get Paper Mario because I like SMB much better and can play it again and again, whereas your average long-play RPG is often a one-off affair (not saying Paper Mario is such a case, just an example).
Even if you ignore replay value, people raved about Lost Winds despite being so short because the quality of the title makes you enjoy those three hours more than you would three hours of many longer games.
Something about it reminds me of Ape Escape (PS1 version)...lol turns out I never actually beat that one, I don't think it ever caught on (at least not here). That's a shame seeing as how intuitive some of it was...& I'm NOT refering to the voice acting x( lol I've never seen worse! Why can they never do something as simple as......aw nevermind, 10 year olds don't care anyway!
I might get it!
I don't care about the price but Wiiware should provide a decent gaming length. When you can buy an insane back catalog of video games from a variety of systems for cheap these games need to stand out and offer something new if not at least solid for your $5-$10.
On another note in no way is World of Goo a ripoff. It has more hours and replay value than almost any other game on the service and is much better than a ton of full priced Wii games.
First - been waiting all week for this review, thanks, about what I expected.
Second - in regards to length, weren't some of the best games on PS3 - GOW3, Uncharted2 - barely longer than this for $60? And if you don't want to compare WiiWare to PS3 (I don't) then I think you have to compare this to other similar 3D WiiWare games, and I don't think there are that many.
Third - VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION - is there more than 1 save file? 3 people in my house want to play this.
4th - the reviewer compared this to Sonic, R&C and SMG, what about J&D? It has the same environments - beach, swamp, mountains - and vehicles, and solar cells to advance. It practically IS J&D!
@Adam: Well, I don't think you can judge a game's value based SOLELY on game length, but my point was that a valid argument can be made that $10 for 3 hours isn't too great a deal whereas he tried to make it seem like it was (or at least, that's what I got out of his posts).
@rjejr: I can't speak for God of War 3, but Uncharted 2 is definitely longer...and of much higher quality (based on this review)...than this game. Not only will a single playthrough take longer, it also offers better incentive to replay, and has awesome multiplayer to boot!
Not that comparing a downloadable game to a retail game is generally fair to begin with, regardless of which systems which games are on (and it's only worse comparing WiiWare to PS3). We're just throwing abstract concepts around here.
@Adam: I haven't had any issues with the camera but I suppose when it gets hectic it can be troublesome. So far though when you need to move the camera you can just stop to do it.
I also haven't experienced any bugs with the EU version. I might just be lucky though.
Darn it, Jonathon...why did you have to go and give this game a good review! I have like 2 or 3 other Wii Ware games I need to pick up...and now THIS! All joking aside, great review, and the game looks like it will be fun, i'll make sure to download it before Summer's end.
@rjejr 3 save files are in Jett Rocket
Thanks Highlander. Excuse me, "the"Highlander.
Going to download it now so I can get some time in while the other 2 are sleeping.
They've raised the bar for WiiWare games. It can only get better! This game takes me back to the days of playing Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank on the PS2. I can only hope for more titles like this one!!!
I'm sick of pushing buttons when I play games. Press, press, press. Its so immature and unrewarding maaaaaaaan. (Sarcasm btw)
Bah, the game's fun, but I certainly wouldn't say it raises the bar. And what's with the World of Goo bashing? I'd still rank it as the most polished game released on Wiiware to date. By a landslide. And incredibly fun right up to the end.
Still doesn't sound like something worth my money. I'll stick with the platformers I already got, at least until I can find something genuinely new and unique.
Also, when is Shin'en gonna make another shoot 'em up?
Just bought it after reading this review, not going to go play the game. Later.
After playing this for an hour last night (finished the first world/4 levels with about 2/3 solar cells) I feel good about my purchase, but mostly b/c it is a fairly easy game and I really bought it for my 5 and 7 year olds to play. I'm sure they'll both play it to completion so we'll get a total of 10 hours from this I'm sure.
My main negatives would be: the flighty jumping which reminds me a bit of LBP (not the whole game just the jumping), the lock-on flick of the wrist attack. I'm not opposed to flicking, but it feels like the "flick" makes Jett lock-on and then he attacks whenever he gets around to it. I'ld rather a "smack" feel like deBlob. The overall game feel is that of a technical demo. A VERY good technical demo indeed, but I feel like the "game" is missing. Like they remade Jak and Daxter on WiiWare to show they could. (Dark Cloud and it's sequel on the PS2 are the best real life examples of this I have.)
I'ld buy a sequel. Hopefully with as much upgrade as SMG to SMG2.
@"klap" sorry i misread ur post, i read "cheaper" instead of "retail" 0.o how in the world did that happen??
Still disagree that World of Goo is a ripoff, the unique experience alone is worth the price tag.
Hey was this game inspired by Jet Force Gemini?? seems to give off that feel. or is it just the game title playing with my emotions?
looks fun, and the graphics are great, might get this if I have some extra points on hand.
After about 2 (non-consecutive) hours of play just had my Wii freeze on me - had to unplug it to get any response and make the high pitched sound go away. It was on the 4th level of the second world. My 7 year old thinks it froze b/c the bomb was going to explode just as the cut scene was starting for the machine to suck the bomb in (to lower the glass wall surrounding the submarine). Also, if anyone from Shinen is reading this - as well they should be - the game is installed and saved on my Wii, not the SD memory card, if that helps.
@ Waveboy
Obviously when I said that it was an exaggeration, since I'm apparently a "soccer mom" I must "not get it." I had actually been quoting Daemon Haetfield of IGN in his review of Mushroom Men when I said that, and yes, he was also exaggerating. Furthermore if you like the waggle that's great, I said there should be an option for a button though for those of us that do not. Considering that the primary buttons of the wiimote and the nunchuk are basically unused here, I think it's a shame. And yes, I think that Mario Galaxy should have included the same. The fact that it is an overall good game does not mean everything was done perfectly. Maybe perfect for some, but options are always welcomed, why do you think reviewers on sites such as these praise the inclusion of additional controller options, button mapping, or selectable variants. Slamming enemies can be satisfying for a while, but at times it gets tiresome. Also I find it rather funny that you are defending a game you stated that you've never played, at least when you posted that comment as I can see you've recently changed your mind. By the way, my first system was an Atari, so no, this isn't the first game I've played.
@Mikey, WaveBoy: chill, guys.
Great revw btw, I'm in!
@rjejr
You pretty much summed it up right there, with them essentially taking J&D and bits 'n' pieces of other games and putting it all on Wiiware with a nice coat of paint.
'Course, that's also my problem with it - it's nothing new, and it's nothing that'll last you long. I understand that it's a fun little game that fills a niche - that tends to be Shin'en's specialty, as far as I can tell - but it's not a niche that I necessarily need to be filled right now.
My biggest problem with Jett Rocket is it's difficulty level. It's PAINFULLY easy to the point where every level seems to be nothing more than a tutorial. It's perfect for the Lego crowd I suppose, but it will be over far too quickly for any player who's motor skills have started coming together (if you can stay awake through it, that is). Compared to this, the Mario Galaxy games are shriekingly tough as nails smash-your-controller-into-the-tv hardcore.
WaveBoy: In my opinion, LostWinds (1 and 2) and Cave Story blow this out of the water. Rage of the Gladiator, meh... poor man's PunchOut.
I finally played this, and I am really enjoying it! It's both fun and impressive in so many ways a small comment won't cover it all.
I haven't noticed any bugs or camera problems at all, so this far everything seems perfect except for that it might be a bit too easy. We'll see about that once I have finished all though. Seems it gets harder later on.
I think it should have gotten 9/10. (Or perhaps even 10/10 considering Bit Trip Runner got that, and that game also had a few minor faults, like unevenly balanced difficulty.)
Anyway, I can't wait to see more from Shin'en. I really hope this sells well.
Ok, so I just finished it. Took about 4-5 hours. Overall it was a fun little game that reminds me of the older platformers from the N64 era, in particular Bomberman 64. Some of the mechanics and concepts reminded me of Sonic and Super Mario 64 as well. Graphics are great (obviously the main attraction of this game), the music is nice and the gameplay is varied enough.
There were some annoyances however. The game is pretty straight forward and easy as most people have said but what's frustrating is that you only have 4 hearts at max (start off each level with 3). Dieing means you have to start the level from the beginning and you have to collect all the solar cells again which becomes tedious. The way you die too isn't from challenging tasks but rather from frustrating level design, camera angles and enemies. One of the flying enemies is so fast that when you try to attack him you either miss and fly into the swamp or you collide with him when jumping, losing a heart. The camera can also get really bad as in some cases it either gives you a really bad angle you can't change out of or it all of a sudden forces you into some weird angle that the controller won't let you change unless you physically stop the character. The game froze on me once as well on the snow stage with the conveyor belts, forcing me to unplug my Wii from the wall.
Overall, it's a very good game and accomplishment for a WiiWare title but just expect some annoyances. I'd still recommend it as you don't see many platformers these days so it's a nice change.
MIGHT get this. only have 1000 points right now so i'm not sure
@gaminguy: I say get it, because it really is worth the 1,000 points. It is a very solid 8, so I could not agree more with this review. Sure it isn't the longest game in the world, but completing it 100% will be a fun way to eat up 5 or so hours.
I don't think it's worth the 1000 points. Sure it's pretty but it's not very fun, Igive it a 5.
@Imapterodactyl
Lego crowd? That's offensive to people like me who like hard games and Lego.
I played the demo, loved it, and will buy this as soon as possible.
Such a good game!! I love it!
Looks like Super Mario Sunshine Wii Edition. Very nice.
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