JumpJet Rex is a 2D retro platformer with NES-style pixel art graphics. You control Rex, a tyrannosaur astronaut whose job it is to save Earth from an incoming asteroid. The gameplay consists of navigating your way through a number of 2D levels – 40 to be exact – plus four boss stages.
The core gameplay is fairly simple – the central premise is that you have a pair of rocket boots, meaning you can jump an infinite amount of times in the air, boost yourself straight up at a high rate, boost yourself sideways at a high rate (which launches a mid-range projectile in the opposite direction), or do a butt stomp to deal damage to something below you. You also have a bicycle kick which deals damage in all directions around you.
There are a number of enemies. Some of them can be killed with some of your attacks, while others can be temporarily stunned. More interestingly, most projectiles can also be destroyed by your attacks, allowing you to defend yourself from them.
The bosses all have large numbers of hit points; three of them are fairly standard “large hit point gauge” bosses, though each of them has a way to be killed much more quickly. The final boss has two phases, and the first phase regenerates, making it easily the hardest boss in the game.
The primary goal is of the game is the three stars you get for completing each stage; you need a certain number of stars to unlock more stages, and getting the “proper” ending requires you to get almost all of the stars in the game. One star is awarded automatically for completing each stage; this is generally not a terribly difficult task, as there are checkpoints in the levels and most of the stages are pretty generous with them. A second star is awarded for completing a stage without dying, and a third star is awarded for completing a stage within a certain time limit. You don’t need to accomplish both optional tasks in one run to get all three stars, but on many of the stages, the time limits are tight enough that you cannot afford to die, or can only die once, to get the time. Because the stages are persistent after your death, there are times when dying and respawning closer to where you need to go can cut down on the time needed to beat a level, and a few levels require you to do so.
There are optional bonus levels and collectibles in almost every stage which unlock cosmetic improvements to Rex’s home base. In addition, each stage contains a large number of coins and gems which can be collected in order to purchase cosmetic items; collecting all the coins gives a coin bonus, and eventually, an achievement for doing it in every stage.
Only the very final stage in the game does not have checkpoints, and it is a borderline platform hell level, making it pretty annoying.
Overall, the game is pretty tough as far as such games go; it took me about 7 hours and 40 minutes to 100% the game according to the in-game timer. It is nowhere near the difficulty level of, say, a game like Super Meat Boy, but it is still fairly tough. The real challenge mostly lies in the speed runs, though in a few levels, not dying is the more difficult challenge.
By and large, the levels are decent enough, but it is hard to shake the feeling that, for the first 3/4ths of the game, there isn’t much to denote your progress. The stages get gradually harder, but only the final nine stages really feel all that different from what came before. The game never gets too difficult (save for the final, checkpointless stage which is a borderline platform hell level, which is a bit frustrating) but apart from the final area there is little sense of progression.
The game mechanics and level designs are decent enough, but the stages aren’t terribly pretty and are pretty bare-bones functional, as is typical in such retro games.
In the end, I can’t really recommend this game, but not because it is bad. It is not bad. It is decent enough and I didn’t feel bored while playing it. What the game suffers from is being mediocre. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it is pretty much exactly enjoyable enough to keep the player from getting bored, never so good that you get actively excited about it. You just aren’t missing anything by never playing this game. And if you aren’t missing anything by playing a game, why give up eight hours of your life to do so?
2.5