Bite-sized Review:
Jett Rider

By Chris Picone, 03 February 2024

Jett Rider is straight up one of the best platformers I've played.  It hits all the right notes for those nostalgia vibes without ever feeling dates.  Plenty to see, plenty to do, and very professionally put together.

Aesthetics

Retro aesthetic but with very modern, highly detailed, super polished pixels.  Likewise, the soundtrack is a delightful modern chiptune.  Animations are smooth, special effects are flashy, and honestly the whole game's just super polished.  There's a good range of biomes and enemies and the levels are also exceptionally well designed for the genre.  Best:  The jetpack's your main means of getting around, and it really lets you make the most of each level's vertical space.

Gameplay

Core gameplay is like most other platformers - make it from one side of the level to the other, shooting up various enemies in order to collect their loot as you go.  You start the game searching for recylable debris and later for spaceship parts.  The story progresses as you get further in and meet the oppressed aliens and rebellious space monkey.  It seems interesting.  There's a good range of enemies; flying fish, mostly innocuous but some will shoot or dash at you.  There are also huge golems that protect themselves with rock and attack you with huge quakes, bouncing betties, and plenty of others.  Like any platformer, the game's also full of traps like flamethrowers, lava, spikes, etc. There's a good range of weapons to collect along the way: Machine gun, flamethrower, mine launcher, shurikens, plasma gun, and you can wield two of them at any given time. Some are better at attackings specific creatures than others but they're all upgradeable so none of them ever become obsolete, which is a nice touch. Upgrades are purchaseable with the crystals from the loot you collect but you also collect experience and level up, adding to your max health and jetpack power.  Sometimes it's worth revisiting levels because there might be whole new areas higher up that you couldn't reach before.  There are tons of secrets to find and sometimes you need your weapons to help. Mines blow up rock obstacles, flamethrower removes vines.  The boss fights are lots of fun if relatively easy.  Jett Rider also features some really cool inspired levels like the Pacman level in the Arcade Tower where you have to zip around and collect all gems while avoiding ghosts as you try to collect the keys and unlock chests. 

Verdict

Jett Rider is an absolute gem.  I love it, both retro and modern platformer fans will love it, adults will love it, kids will love it, it's really just a fantastic game with a lot to offer.

Links: 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2505250/Jett_Rider/