For a couple of months now I’ve been on the beta test programme for those entertaining games people at int13 Production who brought us such delights as CrazyKart and Darklaga. 

Interestingly, the common perception that writing and testing games for a living is great fun is very quickly put to rest when you test them.  While learning and playing the games is enjoyable, as a tester it is necessary to think beyond the games and try to break or improve them - the repetitiveness also tends to distract from the fun too.  Nonetheless, Crazy Jack is a character who I have come to know and love (hate?) over the last few months and I have enjoyed helping bring this new game to life.

“ Baby Jack was born with a gift. He was (and still is) the pride of his parents. His gift was being the first genetically modified disco child! This put a little touch of groove into his every move and mind. Everybody knew him as Groovy Jack. But as always, being a little different brings its share of jealousy and Jack felt more and more negative vibes around him and became Crazy Jack, ready to kick some ass.

Time for action: disco fever is coming.

Crazy Jack features:

• Groovy character,
• Funky music,
• Defuse tons of bombs set by your enemies,
• Loads of bonuses,
• More than 60 levels in 6 different colourful worlds
• Special level bonus: rising water, bonuses collector, time attack.
• Bad weather,
• Keypad or stylus controls,
• Expandable levels: check out additional levels and new environments at www.int13.net,
• Don't forget to put on your dancing shoes (not included).. ”

Crazy Jack is a game of the arcade genre, in my opinion neither adventure, action or puzzle but actually sitting somewhere inbetween.  Based on the game Bomb Jack from the 80’s, the character Crazy Jack has to navigate his way through a series of worlds (multiple levels) defusing bombs and  gathering prizes (for points) while avoiding a variety of obstacles, traps and attackers, all within the time limits imposed by the time bombs.

The game has a total of six worlds (totalling 60+ levels) to play including a training world.  Initially only training is unlocked - it is necessary to play all the levels within each world to unlock and progress to the next world.  The purpose of the training level is, quite obviously, to familiarise the user with all the aspects of the various worlds which will visited;  to unlock the first world it is necessary to pass through the whole of training.  Better still, there are more levels and worlds to come due to the int13 approach to using add-on games paks.

Each level consists of a series of platforms which Jack has to traverse by walking and jumping (and falling!).  On the platforms may be found various prizes (the fruit), obstacles, traps, attackers... and bombs!  Collecting the prizes increases the point scored and avoiding the traps, etc. keeps Jack alive but it is the bombs which add a time dimension to the game.  Each level has a number of bombs set within it, each of which has a different length of time set before it explodes;  an alarm sounds and a white flame appears at the top right when a bomb is less than 15 (or so) seconds from exploding.  Jack must reach all bombs to defuse them or he loses a life when one goes off - completing a level adds one life to Jack’s life count, dying takes one away!  Codes are supplied at the end of levels to permit the user to move quickly to the most recently reached levels.

Jack is moved by using either the device buttons/nav-pad or the stylus.  Using the buttons, the user assigns the functions Left, Right, Jump and Map to any of the available hardware keys.  Given that the nav-pad has no diagonal capabilities I found it difficult to jump left or right if the up is used for jump, but this is a problem with PPC devices and not the software.  Using another button for the jump does improve things but it's still not perfect. 

Using the stylus simply entails touching the screen in the desired direction - a ball appears at the point of contact connected to Jack by an ‘elastic band’.  To move Jack using the stylus simply requires the contact point to be to his left or right.  To make Jack jump requires the point to be above him - he simply bounces on the end of the elastic, the longer the elastic the higher he jumps.  To jump diagonally only requires the point to be above and to the left or right of Jack.  This is probably the only aspect of Crazy Jack that bugged me, both input methods had that slight bit of imperfection about them which could occasionally be a little frustrating but, given the limits of the hardware, I'm willing to overlook it.

When each level starts, Jack is found standing on one of the platforms.  The location of the bombs may be found by looking for arrows displayed around Jack which indicates the number of bombs in each of the four compass points and diagonals - these indicate the number of active bombs and thus guide your movement around the world.  Alternatively bombs maybe found by displaying a map (radar) of the level (large on-demand screen or small semi-permanent window) which indicates the location of bombs and Jack.  The traps consist of spikes in various forms - some concealed, some moving - and the gaps between the platforms (falling to the ground is fatal to Jack).  Attackers take a variety of forms, from masked budgies to shooting disks and other nasties - contact with any of these is generally fatal.

When moving around a level Jack will regularly come across fruits, sometimes simply waiting for him and sometimes appearing after a certain trigger event occurs - collecting the fruit earns Jack additional points.  On occasion Jack will also encounter items which can help to defend him against his attackers, the precise nature of these depends on the type of attackers.

Oh by the way, did I happen to mention that Jack is a hippopotamus, a blue one with a groovy sense of rhythm and an afro haircut?  Hmm, forgot that bit, didn’t I.  One of the delightful aspects of this game is the excellent 80's disco soundtrack;  combined with superb graphics, the sound helps makes playing the game highly entertaining and great fun as Jack grooves and moves his way around the screen - John Travolta, eat your heart out!

Crazy Jack is a really fun game to play.  It successfully blends high quality graphics with great sound and a simple game concept to produce a very enjoyable and quite addictive game.  Don't think though that the simple concept means it is too easy to play though - I can assure you that, were it not for the testing 'hacks' available to me I'd probably still be in training having never seen the latter levels.

Crazy Jack from int13.net is available from the 7th of June 2005 at USD$12.95

I give Crazy Jack a fab and groovy 9.9/10