Jumping Jack


WarmFluffyUK

The Big Wad Bolf.
Joined
Sep 4, 2004
Messages
3,384
Location
UK
Website
www.retrotech.one
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Review
Jumping Jack is quick and bold, with skill his story will unfold…
That’s the first line of a not too famous poem, telling the ballad of Jumping Jack. It first appeared on the ZX Spectrum in 1983 by Imagine Software. You may think I am crazy reviewing this game, it’s plain, simple, graphically inept and the sound is nothing to write home about, so I have stopped writing home about it. But please read on, Jumping jack has something special about it, and I will tell you what it is later on in this review.

So what’s it all about?
To put it simply, Jack must progress to the next level by jumping upwards through holes in moving platforms. Once He has Jumped through the hole in the top platform, He then progresses to the next level.
At the start of each level a verse from Jumping Jacks ballad is revealed, and if anyone knows the entire ballad, then I will shake them warmly by the throat for being such a smart ass. Oops, I mean give them a hug :rolleyes: .

Sounds very easy don’t it? Well the platforms are not very stable, Probably because of the 48K ram pack wobbling at the back of the Spectrum. As Jack jumps through the holes He causes more holes to appear in the moving platforms. And later levels little Nasties appear, I bet they got in via the tape interface. If Jack falls through a hole or is run over by one of the Nasties, then he is knocked on conscious for a second or so, fear not as he will quickly jump to his feet. If jack falls through another hole or is squashed again by a Nasty while he’s on conscious, then He’s out for a longer time. Jack loses a life if he falls all the way to the bottom. The game is THAT simple, Doom has nothing on this little gem of a game :lol: .

Our Hero
Hero.gif

Jack, er, well He’s Jack, and He jumps and runs left or right. Oh and he’s scared of anything that can run him over. Sounds a little too sensible to be jumping through holes in moving platforms doesn’t he. I bet he was a rebel as a kid, probably the one who stole my milk at primary school.

Graphics
The game looks VERY simplistic, the platforms are basic red lines across the screen, the holes are gaps in the lines, Jack is a little stick man and the enemies are typical ZX Spectrum sprites. “Sounds awful” Marvin the Paranoid Android would have said. But don’t let this put you off.

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Screenshot​
Sound
Beep Beep, it’s the Road Runner! No, it’s Jumping Jack on the ZX Spectrum. That’s it really, mainly speccy beeps. Mind you, I hope you don’t think I’m a sadistic She Bitch from Hell when I say “I do laugh when Jack screams as He’s run over by one of the Nasties!”.

Enemies
Some of the Nasties

Bus.gif
- The Bus (All Aboard)
Farmer.gif
- The Farmer (Bang Bang)
Spider.gif
- - The Spider (EWW)
Ghost.gif
- - -The Ghost (Whooooww)
Plane.gif
- The Plane (Whoosh)
Dyno.gif
- - Dyno (Grrrr)

The little Nasties run from right to left and then up onto the next platform, they only have one goal in life, run over Jack. Aww poor Jack, with all them holes, He has gotta run away from Trains, Witches and Mad Farmers with Blunderbusses just to name a few. Sounds a bit like a typical Saturday night out clubbing for me.

Game Play
Ahaaa, now we get to the special bit, this is where Jumping Jack comes into its own. It’s incredibly addictive, very easy to pick up and play and finding out what Nasty appears next, or the next line to the Poem actually gives you something to look forward to. I must stress, this game is FUN, you can spend hours on it, and as a little girl, I do, I mean I did, oh why hide it, I still play it a lot!

GP32
This plays well on Speccyal, if a little faster than the original spectrum, but that doesn’t detract from the game play. If you want to map keys, here’s what works best:
Button UP and DOWN - Nothing, Zip, Not used!
Button LEFT - cs (Caps Shift)
Button Right - sp (Space)
Button FIRE1 - ss (Symbol Shift)
Button FIRE2 - en (Enter)

Summary
Simple Graphics that are rather game and watch like, Basic sound with a great scream and fantastically addictive game play, the score will be effected by this.

Score
7/10 – It’s FUN!
 
Yep - thanks for another good review :)

This game looks *oh* so much like daredevil dennis in reverse. Except for the fact that you're not constantly moving, of course...
 
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