There's no denying the incredible impact Japanese developers have made on the shoot 'em up genre, from the foundation laid down by Space Invaders right up to more recent examples, such as the superb Rolling Gunner. The influence of Japanese design can be felt keenly in the western-developed Jet Lancer, although its 360-degree levels mean that it also owes a debt to titles like Devolver Digital's WW2 aerial combat title Luftrausers.
You control an experimental fighter jet which looks a lot like the craft from Hudson's seminal Soldier Blade, striking from your mobile carrier which serves as a hub from which you can obtain mission briefings, upgrade elements of your jet and determine your unique loadout for each sortie. When not in combat you can freely explore the 3D game world, moving your aircraft carrier around between locations (assuming you have the part required to get there, of course).
Missions range from simple destruction to defending friendly targets or stealing data from transmission towers. Every now and then you'll face off against a boss enemy, and these titanic battles prove to be Jet Lancer's undisputed highlight; not only are these massive foes impressive from a visual perspective, but they also require unique tactics and deft movement to defeat.
Thankfully, Jet Lancer controls brilliantly. Your thrust and afterburners are mapped to the shoulder triggers, and you can unleash special charge attacks with the smaller shoulder buttons. Standard shots and a handy dodge manoeuvre are mapped to the face buttons, which means you can perform multiple commands simultaneously without getting your fingers in a muddle. The setup does take a while to become accustomed to, but thankfully the developers have included accessibility features, such as the ability to have your main guns fire automatically so you don't have to worry about them (although, it's worth noting you are rated on your accuracy, so to get the best score you'll want to switch to manual control).
In fact, Jet Lancer goes above and beyond when it comes to these accessibility features, offering the opportunity to disable elements like screen shake and even allowing you to make the ship totally invincible. Some might decry this as cheapening the experience, but in reality, it means that anyone can get the most enjoyment out of the game – after all, you don't have to use the feature if you don't need to.
Jet Lancer's pixel-heavy presentation avoids being too samey and the music is uniformly excellent; the only downside is that the visuals are quite plain in places which might put some players off. This is a common issue with these 2D aerial combat titles, as there's the need to keep craft small and background detail sparse so the player can see what's happening during heated moments.
While Jet Lancer does become slightly repetitive in places, the tight controls, enjoyable action and massive, massive explosions all combine to create a shooter which is well worth a look – especially if you're a fan of this particular genre.
Comments 23
Seems like a decent game to play when you want to unwind.
Kudos for the sub-heading on the article.
Came across a 360° flying shooter on Android once; realized I'd love playing the genre on a system that didn't have garbage controls. Will definitely check this out.
There was a jet fighting game I rented on SNES back in the day that I always enjoyed but I forgot the name of and can’t seem to find anywhere. Does anyone have any clue what it was?
@blockfight Thank goodness someone got it.
JET! uuuouuouuou
As soon as I saw this on the home page, I immediately thought about Luftrausers.
Devolver should totally bring that game to Switch.. I loved it on Vita!
Sounds like it's MUCH better than the beta I tried out. Now I'm very tempted to get this game!
@justin233 Can only think of UN Squadron and Lock on off the top of my head. I'm sure there were more though lol.
Jet Lancer keeps catching my eye, as I enjoyed Rogue Aces but wanted a little more story or RPG elements in there. Definitely will try this out when the opportunity arises.
And Damien thank you for revealing some Paul McCartney lyrics I never could figure out. Truly an apt and fun subtitle for your mini-review!
Not even a word about multiplayer... ?
EDIT:
For anyone curious, it doesn't have one... What a shame...
https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Jet-Lancer-1758800.html#gameDetails
Whatever happened to that one shooter that looked like an old black n’ white B film with flying saucers?
I'm getting pixel art fatigue LOL hey, this game does look interesting however.
@NinChocolate Luftrausers?
Though, the UFOs come out much later in the game.
That ship design would get a C&D order from Hasbro if this were the late 1980s; it's basically almost a 1-to-1 copy-paste of the G.I.JOE Conquest X-30.
Hadn't heard of this game before this morning.
Purchased it!
The flight mechanics remind me of "Looping" on Colecovision (1983?) which I used to play as a kid. Yep, I'm old.
@blockfight They're the band The Beatles could have been.
@SepticLemon I finally found it:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/03/video_check_out_the_reveal_trailer_for_squadron_51_an_extremely_retro_shmup
Everything with this game and developer went silent in 2018 it seems. Not sure what happened to them or their game
@Teksetter Glad to see I wasn't the only one who loved Rogue Aces. If this plays as good as that, I am in. I'll have to look around for some gameplay footage first.
I was following this game since the very first tweets and I’m so glad it released on Switch too. I wanted more of Luftrausers for so long and this definitely checks out.
Pssshhhh Nintendo Life two of the finest games ever released on the system came out this week in 80's overdrive and Huntdown.
It's kinda expensive for what it is. with 80's overdrive and Huntdown out this week, this is a hard choice.
I haven’t played this yet but want to. The looping and shooting gives me big Time Pilot vibes. Does anyone else remember that arcade game? It’s like my favorite.
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