Future Publishing


Jacked

Author: Ben Lawrence
Publisher: Empire
Machine: Xbox (EU Version)

 
Published in Official Xbox Magazine #50

No, we're not going to call this Burnout on bikes' It's not!

Jacked (Empire)

Two wheels good, four wheels bad seems to be the message from the rather wanky-sounding Jacked, a clunky but well-meaning racer-slash-brawler-slash-piece-of-budget nonsense. The title refers to the 'jacking' (as in hijacking) you can dish out on other riders in order to make ground on the courses. You can smash them across the face with a crowbar, leap on their bike, then speed away as they lie in the road, clutching their gushing throats. And there's more! But not much more.

There are various modes of race, from your straightforward checkpoint-style affair to survival, 'jacking battles', and eliminator races. You've probably seen it all before about a thousand times over to be honest, and probably done a little better too, but Jacked is amiable enough tosh. There's nothing particularly engaging about it, nor is there anything particularly bad about it, it's just one of those titles that comes along that's destined to raise perhaps the tiniest of smiles before being consigned to the £1.99 bin at Gamestation. Okay, so Jacked does have a £19.99 price tag written all over it, and we have to congratulate what appears to be a small development team for doing their best, but with so many quality games now in the Xbox Classics range, it makes us question just why they bothered to make it? That said, it will no doubt please everyone who's ever played Burnout and thought to themselves, 'you know what, they should have bikes in this as well'. Oh, and here's a tip - don't worry too much about hitting oncoming traffic in any direction other than from head-on - the chances are you'll just stop or bounce along the road, free to continue your race. See what we mean about clunky?

Verdict

What does a disinterested shrug look like in words? If a not-particularly-outstanding update of Road Rash is your thing, dig in.

Ben Lawrence

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