Microsoft’s venture into the world have indie gaming, through their wonderful Indie Games channel, has been both a boon and a… well… misery for indie press like ourselves. The platform is great because it gives a huge distribution channel for indie developers on the second most popular console in the world. We’re talking about access to millions of gamers, instantly. Sometimes the games are really good and other times the games are really… well… bad.

Luckily for us, we were given the opportunity today to review one of the good ones; Jump!

Jump!, by Arkedo Studios is a great indie game. In fact, it almost epitomizes exactly what an indie game should be. It’s fun, has very quick yet addictive levels, has a very unique style to it, and a completely batshit insane story to go along with it. Yup, it has everything an indie game should have…

In Jump! you play as Jumpman, an Indiana Jones/Pitfall-esque hero whose job it is to disarm all the bombs in each level before their individual timers run out. That’s basically it. Each level has it’s own challenges and obstacles. Sound too simple for you? Think again. While Jump! may seem like a simple game, the challenges get very hard as you go through. Jump! is not an easy game by any stretch of the imagination.

Gameplay

Jump! has a very fun structure to it. What I mean by that is that each level is short enough so that you don’t ever worry about spending too much time. It’s the epitome of a game that you can quickly jump into to play for a little while. Likewise, it also has a gnarly “just one more level” vibe to it that makes you want to keep playing and playing. Jump! is very addictive.

Each level has various obstacles. They start off easy enough, but as you continue to play through level by level you’ll begin to notice a sharp increase in the difficulty. Around level twenty you’ll be dying more often than surviving unless you’ve got a really good grip on the game. Unfortunately, while the levels did get harder I was noticing some hit detection that actually made some levels easier than they should be. Falling, spikes, for example, didn’t seem to hit me when I jumped into them at times. While some may be thinking that this is a good thing, I do enjoy a good challenge and am not afraid to eat my own death to a good level that’s going to require a lot of skill.

Jump! features challenge levels alongside the main adventure mode. Apparently these are levels that are just harder versions than the normal level that accompanies it. You access these levels by completing the original level and getting all coins, diamonds, and basically everything within the level. This sounds cool, but I didn’t actually get to try it out. You see, Jump! doesn’t actually tell you which levels will unlock it’s adjacent challenge level and after attempting  about 15 levels I had still not unlocked a single one. It’s a neat idea to add some more gameplay to the game but there should be a better indication of what levels can unlock a challenge level.

Jump! has an interesting philosophy behind it’s gameplay, one that I don’t necessarily agree with. Basically, it’s a retro game at heart. As such, you only have so many lives. Once your out of lives thats it, time to start over from the beginning. There are no continues, no “checkpoints”, no nothing to keep you from starting over if you lose all your lives. The only saving grace is the fact that most of the levels have a “1up” hidden somewhere inside em and, more often than not, they aren’t terribly hard to find or get to.

Style

Jump! has a truly fantastic style to it. Actually it’s one of my favorites so far this year. The style is very retro but with a sort of gloss and sheen on it that makes it also very modern. Think giant pixels, but with clean cut lines and vibrant colors that absolutely make the game pop. There is little you can compare the game to, which is definitely a plus amongst the dole-drums of games out there featuring the same tired graphics over and over again.

Additionally, the game has a funky beat to it. It provides a sort of cheery backdrop to the game. About every ten levels or so the music will change. Unfortunately, after a few levels you’ll have heard all the music for that ten level block and, the more musically-inclined of us will begin wishing for something new. It’s a give and take really. The music is fun and interesting, but there’s not enough of it.

Story

Jump!’s story line is basically this: a giant crab has invaded your world and dropped a bunch of bombs on your planet. It’s your job to disarm all the bombs before they explode. Needless to say… it’s fan-bloody-tastic. Simple yet great in so many ways. Just don’t expect a grand epic storyline and you should find an equal amount of charm in the story.

Everything Else

There is one thing that just really, really bugged me about Jump! There is absolutely no way to get back to the homescreen without either dying and losing all your lives or by exiting out into the Xbox menu and restarting the game. This can be quite annoying, especially if you are wanting to play some challenge levels.

That’s it! I really enjoyed Jump! and I believe it’s one of the better Xbox Indie games out there. Plus it’s only 240 MS points, which makes it a very nice steal. I know some games come in at 80 points, but this isn’t one of those games, nor should it be. It has the capacity to give you hours worth of gameplay and that, my friends, is totally worth $3.

If your hankerin’ for a new puzzle-esque platformer with a unique style you could do MUCH  worse than Jump!

[The developer/publish of this game gave DIYgamer.com a free copy of the game for review purposes.]