Games

Jetpack is a platform game available as freeware, originally published as shareware by Software Creations in 1993. The object of the levels is to collect all of the green emeralds scattered around the level while avoiding obstacles and enemies. Once accomplished, a door opens which the player must go through in order to advance to the next level. There is a single player, and a local multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode supports up to eight players, where players take turns on the same machine. The player is aided in his quest by a jetpack and a phase shifter, which allows tunnelling through certain walls. The environments, which usually consist of mazes of bricks, also feature vines, gold, ladders, ice, boxes, pillars, and conveyor belts. Other obstacles include jagged rocks, force fields, teleport pads, and indestructible bricks. In order to keep his jetpack running, the player has to collect fuel, by means of single/double tanks or fuel grids. The game includes a simple level editor. Numerous levels have been published on Adept Software's website. The registered game features 100 pre-built levels. The developers also released a hintbook containing screenshots and a short piece of advice for every level.

Fly the F/A-18, F-16, and F-14 in a hypothetical invasion of the U.S. west coast by the Soviet Union. Missions range from combat air patrols to bombing runs to intercepting cruise missiles. Plus, carrier launches and landings are also possible. Graphics include a detailed model of San Francisco -- the Golden Gate Bridge, Transamerica tower/pyramid, and more are all represented. This game is effectively an enhanced version of F/A-18 Interceptor from the Amiga (same setting, programmers etc) with extra missions and the addition of the F-14.

War erupts once again along the west coast of America, although this time it is with a drug baron. The military is put to action, and the most advanced jets in the U.S. inventory are put to the test: the F-14, F/A-18, and the YF-23 (Northrop's black-skinned fighter that eventually lost the ATF contract to Lockheed/Martin's YF-22). Game options include an "adventure" (i.e. campaign) mode, where mission successes and failures dynamically affect the overall war, free flight, and various other single mission scenarios. The YF-23 has the naval package, which allows it to participate in carrier-borne operations alongside the F-14 and F/A-18. Graphically, the engine has been updated to take advantage of the latest in VGA technologies, and included the popular "gradient" horizon. And like its predecessor Jetfighter, San Francisco is featured with its notable landmarks.

Willy now owns a lavish mansion with over 60 rooms linked in a 3D plane, and must tidy it all before his housekeeper will let him sleep. Each room has its own hazards, such as spikes, revolving razors and ropes. The route through the house must be navigated carefully, due to the multiple entrances to some rooms - this is perhaps the first action game where mapping is an advantage. Another innovation, to the chagrin of players everywhere, is manual protection - a sheet of colour-coded numbers.

Jet Set Radio HD is the latest remaster in a string of Dreamcast "hits" to see new life on download platforms, but Sega has been insistent that they've learned its lessons. The publisher has emphasized how hard it's trying to get things right this time, and for many, it couldn't have chosen a better game. Jet Set Radio was part of Sega's onslaught of new properties with an emphasis on flash and style during the second wave of Dreamcast software, but it might be one of the more obscure. It's a game that almost everyone has heard of, but I think few have actually played. This was remedied somewhat with 2002's Xbox sequel Jet Set Radio Future. Unlike Sonic Adventure or the arcade hit Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio HD is the chance for many to finally play a game they've only heard about. Nostalgia has the side effect of high expectations though, and Jet Set Radio HD just can't meet them. While the flash and style of Jet Set Radio HD remains untouched and unvarnished by a dozen years of progress, the rest of it can't stand up to scrutiny. Squirrely controls, camera catastrophes, and nonsensical level design make Jet Set Radio HD a better memory than game.