Will You Find Joy in This Ride or Did the Apple Subscription Kill Your Jetpack?
Barry Steakfries is back with his guns and attitude in the hectic action shooter Jetpack Joyride 2. Halfbrick Studios makes Jetpack Joyride 2 an Apple Arcade exclusive, so the game is not available to Android users. Apple Arcade allows a one-month free trial and then after that it costs $4.99 per month. The Apple Arcade subscription is a big strike on the rating for this game since the first Jetpack Joyride is free to play. The decision to make Jetpack Joyride 2 available to only Apple users means the developers are missing out on a large portion of fans who own Android devices. The game’s high-definition graphics, customization options and humorous dialogue are good reasons for playing. The story and characters are creative and will capture your interest.
Jetpack Joyride 2 begins with a tutorial that introduces the player to Craig, a scientist who works for Legitimate Research, a top-secret laboratory and the first story mode area. You learn the basics like how to fly with your jetpack, collecting coins and how to shoot at enemies. The easy controls keep the game fun and helps you keep up with the game’s fast pace as the levels get progressively harder. If you are the type of person who enjoys diving straight into the action of a game and not having to learn too many controls then this game is worth your time to play.
Jetpack Joyride Now in High-Definition
The graphics for Jetpack Joyride 2 are in high-definition making for a better visual experience versus the original game’s graphics in the first Jetpack Joyride. There is no endless mode in Jetpack Joyride 2, whereas the first game allowed for endless play. This means that you cannot continue to challenge yourself to break your personal high score record and achieve a higher score.
If you remember from the first Jetpack Joyride the Lil’ Stomper or Gravity Suit, you can enjoy revisiting them in Jetpack Joyride 2 as the Big Stomper and Gravity Suit MK-2. The game introduces a new vehicle, the Galaxy Ship, which is a UFO that you steer in outer space. If you grab a vehicle token for the Gravity Suit MK-2 or Galaxy Ship, you transport to a different scene. This transportation process does not happen when you get the Big Stomper vehicle. I’m not sure why the Galaxy Ship and Gravity Suit MK-2 transport you to different scenes. I would prefer to have the vehicle token grabs behave like they did in the first Jetpack Joyride where you never left from the current room you were in.
Customizing Your Hero and Battling Bosses
The level of customization in the game is a really cool feature. There are a variety of costume skins you can change into for your hero and jetpack. Some of the options are rather hilarious such as the Wizard outfit and the Fruit Barrel jetpack. You can upgrade your jetpack with different cores to increase your health, attack and score bonuses. You can add up to three badges to your character. Each badge comes with different abilities such as the Super Magnet badge that attracts nearby coins to you. Then there’s the Lucky Shot badge that adds a chance to do critical shots. Something that will appeal to female gamers is that they can choose to play as a girl named Betty Beefpies.
There are three main boss villains to the game. They are Professor Brains, Minertaur, and Mikhail. Professor Brains reminds me of the mad scientist, Dr. Wily from Mega Man. In story mode, Professor Brains has a boss machine similar to the Wily Machine. He launches missiles, giant fireballs, and a big laser beam that covers a third of your phone screen. I had a good laugh from seeing Professor Brains’ ridiculous gadgetry. I would not consider the boss battles to be hardcore in difficulty. The bosses could be more challenging or there could be an option for hard mode.
A Great Story That Ends Too Soon
The game’s story ends much too quickly. After the three lab areas, Legitimate Research, Subterranean Labyrinth and Arctic Industries are complete then you have beat the game and there isn’t much left to do until the developer brings out new content. As a result, there’s no point in keeping your Apple Arcade subscription beyond the one free month needed to beat the game because you would essentially be paying monthly fees for a game that you cannot progress further in. This is a big reason why this game should be a free download.
Final Comments
I very much enjoyed the run and gun Jetpack Joyride 2. The customization options are rather awesome. I love that I can play the game as a jetpack Wizard or Robo-Barry. If you like farming for items then you should appreciate the Factory, which has rooms with scientists who passively farm materials for you. The big minus from the score on this game is the need for an Apple Arcade subscription.
Jetpack Joyride 2 could really benefit from having an endless mode. I beat the game in a day, so I would not say this game scores high for being hardcore. There are annoying enemies and levels that can get frustrating at times but a hardcore player would certainly be wanting more than what this game offers. A game is hardcore to me if I have to retry more than just a few times and I have to look up strategies on how to beat the challenge I’m facing. The hardest of levels only required a few retries and I never had the need to look up strategies. The game needs a hard mode or challenge mode to make it more interesting.
Jetpack Joyride 2 is worth the play through for its hilarious story and fun shooting action. The game’s HD graphics are a big step up from the first Jetpack Joyride. The game has easy controls and good level design. Casual gamers will enjoy blasting through fast-paced levels with the variety of super cool weapons and vehicles.
