Also On: PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Developer: Rohan Narang
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E
Just looking at screenshots from Jack Nโ Jill DX, it probably wonโt surprise you to learn that the game is arriving on the Vita (and pretty much every other platform) years after it was originally released. What may surprise you, though, is its age: it may look like something that could have come out on the Game Boy, but itโs actually a little newer than that, having first been released as a mobile game 5 years ago.
Spiritually, though, its roots lie in the dawn of handheld gaming. Jack Nโ Jill DX looks a lot like some of the games that graced the Game Boy, with graphics and characters that look not too far removed from, say, Kirbyโs Dreamland. The gameplay, too, is pretty rudimentary, with one button being all you need to navigate Jack (or Jill, depending on your preference) from the start to finish of every level.
Thatโs not to say it never gets difficult โ though not all of the challenge is intentional on the part of the developers. While they clearly meant to put spikes and enemies scattered throughout every level, Iโm assuming they didnโt intend for the hit detection to be so wonky. There are times when my character died just for landing in the general vicinity of a spike, and there are times when I killed floating baddies just by hopping somewhere near them; neither felt quite right.
Iโll also add that even if the quality of Jack Nโ Jill DXโs content is occasionally slightly wonky, thereโs undeniably a lot of it: there are 140 levels here, plus another half dozen or so bonus minigames, which means that your interest in the game will likely wane well before you run out of stuff to do.
And, as a sidenote, Iโll add that this game features probably the easiest Platinum trophy you could ever imagine. You can easily obtain one in under 15 minutes โ the time it takes to beat the first world, plus one minigame โ even though beating the whole game will take you significantly longer than that..
As was the case with Tetraโs Escape, I leave that up to you to decide how much you want an easy Platinum. If, however, youโre just looking for a solid โ if short โ platformer, then youโve come to the right place, because Jack Nโ Jill DX delivers on that modest promise.
Ratalaika Games provided us with a Jack Nโ Jill DX PS4/Vita code for review purposes.