Personal Computer News


Jet Boot Jack
By English
Spectrum 48K/128K

 
Published in Personal Computer News #091

JET BOOT JACK

This platform game was originally a big hit for Atari owners. English Software has done a good job of the conversion.

Jack is a cute little space-age jogger, fully kitted out with golfer's cap and rocket-powered boots. He has a passion for collecting musical notes and must zoom around the record pressing factory grabbing a crotchet here, a minim there.

The fiery boots enable Jack to zoom around at an impressive speed, even allowing him to whizz across lift shafts with impunity. The lifts move and stop at regular intervals. When one is level, Jack can step on to it and guide it to another platform. As well as lifts, there are sliders (travelators).

The fuel in Jack's boots must be topped up by colliding with one of the overhanging vinyl pods. Also dangling from the platform ceilings are assorted nasties whose contact is fatal. Jack can dislodge them by jumping up and down immediately above them.

Quite the most dangerous of the various hazards and gremlins are the Flappers, ornery little beasts which move around under the slider supports and cannot be killed.

The game has ten screens, any of which can be skipped over next time provided you've completed it at least once. There's a two-player option and six skill levels, each increasing the number of nasties and reducing the refill pods. A demo mode lets you preview it all.

A thick coloured bar indicates Jack's fuel level, bleepers going off when it begins to run down and when Jack stands around for too long.

Instructions, sound effects and graphics are all first-rate. Although platform games are now thick on the ground, this is one of the best.

Bob Chappell

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