Previous Next

Never judge a game by its cover. There you are in the shop, reading the Jinks inlay and hoping for a game based on surveying the planet Atavi. Load it up, and you're faced with something suspiciously like Breakout.

Jinks is the latest offering from Rainbow Arts, a German software house of some repute, marketed by Go! The idea is to use a bat to hit a ball down a corridor from left lo right and through a teleporter, marked by a set of orbiting stars. The hat can be flipped over: one side is flat, the other curved. The bat also apparently has a hole in it, leading to the most appalling misses [I've got a squash racquet like that - Ed].

Obstacles are the usual Breakout style bricks, but there are others. Extra lives can be culled from one pyramidal type - the drawback is that a bat-smashing monster looks exactly the same, except that it moves! A green blob uses similar tactics. The ball can go through moving monsters, but a stationary mouth gobbles it up in an instant.

The game elements which really leave you screaming are the bumpers, of which there are two types, one tall and thin and the other short and fat. When the ball hits one of these it ricochets, usually predictably but sometimes in an extraordinary, random direction.

Before you start, you can alter both the speed of the ball and the 'gravitation' - how high it bounces - though the speed of bouncing remains constant. That's unlike real gravity, but the game is more playable as a result.

The thing you need to know about Jinks is that it's fast. Even at the slow levels, control of the ball is very difficult. Sooner or later you master the first level (as the ball can't 'die', you just keep whacking it to the right), and then the fun really starts. Because level two is seriously difficult

Level three by contrast is a cinch. All that remains is level four, which I haven't even come close to completing. And that's it: four levels. There are no more. Because of the lack of game, Go! make it incredibly difficult to play.

Graphics, though very colourful, lack definition. There aren't enough clean edges most of what's on the screen is just so much pretty background. Jinks looks impressive, but you soon appreciate that the majority of the screen doesn't do anything!

One thing Jinks does well is scroll, right from one edge of the monitor to the other. The movement of the bat and the ball are similarly fast. There is a slight problem when the latter can become stuck to the roof, but you have to do it deliberately. And when the speed is set too high, the bat occasionally shudders in mid-flight.

Apart from those two things, game movement is really slick. So if you want a tough test of your joystick prowess - and your patience - Jinks will suit you down to the ground.

Otherwise, avoid it.

Getting the difficulty level right for any Breakout-type game is always a bit of a nightmare, and here I'm afraid Rainbow/Arts/Go! have just got it wrong. Sure, the real champ wagglers out there will wonder why the fuss, but for those of us who haven't passed our Advanced Waggler's Test, Jinks is just going to prove too much.

Looks great, though.

Complete the second level.

Playable - but dull.

Graphics 74%
P. Very bright.
N. Not enough detail.

Sonics 30%
N. Just jingles.

Grab Factor 52%
P. At first you really want to play.

Staying Power 24%
N. Bo-o-oring.

Overall 53%
P. Small and too tricky.