Jet Point Review

Judging from their Twitter account, YoRooster Studios is a new group of indie game makers and they seem like a nice group of blokes. I want to be able to tell them that Jet Point, their freshman effort into the morass of iOS games, is a fantastic new title that everyone should have on their phone or tablet. But after spending a bit of time with this frustrating arcade puzzler, I have to say that it's just not the case.

The premise behind Jet Point is that you must guide your little rocket man around the screen, dodging around missiles and ricocheting off walls. Okay, technically you're in control of a genetically engineered clone by the name of D.A.V.E. -- Dynamic Adult Vector Editions. What that means? I have no idea.

In addition to dodging missiles, there will be other armaments that will be fired after Dave. One of the, uh, core elements of the gameplay involves letting these things target you and chase you, leading them to the reactor cores in each level before you dodge out of the way and let them damage the cores. After you blow up a core, you are able to escape to the next level. But that's easier said than done.

As you'd assume from the title, Dave gets around with a jetpack. In order to get him to jet where you want him to go, you have to touch the screen in the area you want him to fly. Dave will continue to float through the air in the direction you indicated with your first tap, without you having to keep your finger on the screen. You can alter Dave's direction by touching a different side of the screen.

While this gameplay mechanic is a nice idea, it definitely needs to be executed tighter. Unfortunately, I found my hands getting in the way too much, in large part due to the unresponsiveness of the touchscreen. There was a little bit of a delay between my touch and the response that disconnected me from the action on screen.

The action in question involves helping Dave escape from a testing laboratory, presumably freeing his fellow clones as well. In other words, pretty much the exact same premise as Gravity Guy 2, another game that I was not a fan of... just not having much luck with games featuring clones I guess. In this case, a solution might be keeping your finger on the screen for a rocket boost. Or tapping multiple times for timed micro-bursts, the way astronauts adjust in space.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for any game that reminds me of challenging and classic NES titles like Balloon Fight. I love games where you have to glide around levels, narrowly missing dangers with slight adjustments. But unlike Balloon Fight, you can't just pick up and play Jet Point. I mean you can, but chances are you'll be frustrated right off the bat. Speaking of bats, those jetpacks in this game are pretty goth looking, eh?

All in all, Jet Point feels a little too raw for a mass audience. But I do think it could serve as kind of a test run for a better title. Fortunately, all it takes is an update to fix some of the problems. Such is the magic of iOS indie releases.

App Store Link: Jet Point for iPhone | By YoRooster Studios | Price: $0.99 | Version: 1.0 | 39.4 MB | Rating 4+