Review: Jett Rocket

I’m all for games that take chances with their design and gameplay ideas, but sometimes there’s nothing wrong with sticking to the tried and true, and Jett Rocket does just that. Shin’en offers something that Wiiware has been lacking for quite some time, which is a true 3D platformer that is as beautiful to look at as it is fun to play. Seasoned gamers may be turned off by how short lived this experience is, but for those people who choose to go along for the ride, they will not be disappointed. So fuel up that jetpack, and get ready to collect those solar panels, because it’s time to save the world.

Developer:Shin’en Multimedia
Publisher:Shin’en Multimedia
Genre:3D Platformer
Platform:Wiiware

Welcome to Yoroppa, a beautiful planet that is being attacked by the evil Power Plant Posse. It is now up to a pilot named Jett to find out what is going on, and restore peace to the world. Along the way, you will explore such places as a tropical island, a swamp, and a frozen glacier. This is no deep storytelling going on here, it is just your typical case of good versus evil, but it works.

One of the first things I noticed is how beautiful the game looks. This is truly the most beautiful downloadable title to ever be released onto the Wiiware service. Each environment is bright and vibrant, and has a glossy look to it, which for some reason reminds me of Mario Galaxy 2. The characters themselves have a surprising amount of personality as well.



As good as the game might look, the same can’t be said about how it sounds. I’m not saying everything was bad, the explosions sound great, and the music was lively and engrossing, but dear god, the voice acting was just plain awful. The controls are simple, press a to jump, use the joystick on the nunchuck to move, use the d-pad to adjust the camera, and that’s it. They work fine, just wish the camera didn’t fight me at certain points, would have made it alot easier to survive some of the more challenging levels later on.

Here’s how it works, each world is separated into three or four different stages, all of which have a certain amount of solar panels that need to be collected in order to unlock the next area. Collect as many of them as you can, traverse through each level as fast as possible, hit the switch at the end, then rinse and repeat. Most of the time, simple platforming is all that needs to be done. There will be a few times however in which Jett may have to grab a magnet to move across large gaps, grab a propeller to fly up to a high platform, ride a jetski to move across water, or use a hanglider to travel to areas that are farther away. All of this, along with the boss fights, add some variety to the gameplay, which is nice to see, but things can still get repetitive after awhile.

All in all, Jett Rocket can take up to 3 hours or so to complete. There are a few things to do once the journey is over though. A gallery of concept art can be viewed, and there are 20 in-game achievements that can be unlocked. It’s nice to see a developer of a downloadable title care about the dedicated people who want to see every aspect of what it has to offer. Some online leaderboards for speed runs of levels would have been nice to see, other than that, 1000 Wii points is not a bad price to pay for this one.



Jett Rocket is a real treat for those of us who have been waiting on a game that sticks to the basics. The idea is simple, it looks gorgeous, and has replay value to boot. If a few minor quirks here and there are tweaked in the sequel, this might just be the next hero that the video game industry has been waiting for. (B-)

 - Matt H.