Jetpack Joyride

 iOS
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
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  1. Gamekult
    Sep 16, 2011
    70
    Quotation forthcoming.

Awards & Rankings

14
#14 Best iOS Game of 2011
3
#3 Most Discussed iOS Game of 2011

User Reviews

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User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 124 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 96 out of 124
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 124
  3. Negative: 12 out of 124
  1. RoosterJuice
    Sep 7, 2011
    3
    I got this game because I saw that the rating was quite astronomical on Metacritic. I also got it because I liked fruit ninja. In JetpackI got this game because I saw that the rating was quite astronomical on Metacritic. I also got it because I liked fruit ninja. In Jetpack Joyride you are basically going as far as you can through one extremely long level (ala Tiny Wings). Like Tiny Wings, there is not really a goal to the game beyond going as far as you can. This concept works extremely well in Tiny Wings, because Tiny Wings central mechanism is a developable skill. You can feel yourself improve over time, and therefore a "goal-less" system still feels rewarding.

    In JJ however, this is not the case. After many many plays you don't feel as though you've really gotten any better at the game. This is because your deaths are basically random, and not a true measure of your skill at the game. You will be flying along when randomly an "electro-wirery-killing-thing" (the main obstacle in the game), will appear on the side of the screen you are on. A lot of the time you are in a position where there it is not even actually POSSIBLE to get out of the way, regardless of your response time / skill level. This makes your death feel inevitable, and random.

    When you are done a level, you get to play a slot machine for various bonuses using tokens that appear randomly during the level. I find this rather ironic, as it is quite metaphorical of the actual game play itself. This whole app is just a big slot machine.

    What's worse, is that the upgrades are mostly completely USELESS, literally. Only about 5 of them actually do anything (the vehicle magnets), and they only improve your ability to score coins, and do not effect your ability to perform in any way. This is actually reminiscent of Tiny Wings' system, as TW just upgrades your points multipliers instead of upgrades. This upgrading philosophy keeps the game a "pure skill" game, meaning that the high scores are in no way effected by upgrades. The fundamental difference is that TW's skill ceiling is much much much higher than JJ's . Since the game is NOT a pure skill game, the developers should have included **** of awesome upgrades that allow you to get better and better and go farther and farther. What a wasted opportunity. To be clear, I have nothing against random games Peggle is one of my favorite casual games of all time. But Peggle doesn't pretend to be a skill based game. JJ does.

    There are also consumables, that are astronomically expensive... one of which could be initially conceived as useful, which is the "second chance" consumable which allows you to . However going as far as you can in the game doesn't actually feel like the goal of the game. The goal of the game feels like scoring as many coins as possible. So, if the goal is scoring as many coins as possible, why would I spend 5000 coins on something that will allow me to continue through one of my random deaths? It's completely, and utterly stupid. One of the other upgrades is a "750m head start", but again this goes under the assumption that I feel like the goal of the game is to go as far as I can, which isn't the case.

    The only place this game hits, and hits hard, is the aesthetics. It's Metal Slug-esc veneer is gorgeous, the coins and sounds are so cute you just wanna eat them. The skin of this game masks an other wise completely pointless, goalless, random, skill-less system, pretending to be the opposite.

    I'm actually dumbfounded by the positive reviews this game has received. It's clear that the critics of the game app market don't have much gaming experience. For a skill based "go as far as you can" game, play Tiny Wings. For a random "go as far as you can" game, play Flight by Armor games. This game fails on all fronts, but sure does look pretty.    … Full Review »
  2. ConnJack
    Sep 17, 2011
    10
    Addictive, fun, & easy to play, Jetpack Joyride has got to be one of the best iOS apps of the year. It has rich graphics, a cool sound and aAddictive, fun, & easy to play, Jetpack Joyride has got to be one of the best iOS apps of the year. It has rich graphics, a cool sound and a nice RPG element that blends in nicely with the game. Overall, the game is a great expirence for gamers and iPhone users.… Full Review »
  3. Andrea_05
    Aug 28, 2013
    7
    So far its good but Joyride has to improve there graphics. Games like 'Burt Destruction' and 'Temple run' has similar game play but just lookSo far its good but Joyride has to improve there graphics. Games like 'Burt Destruction' and 'Temple run' has similar game play but just look at the graphics Burt Destruction has. Its simply amazing!!… Full Review »
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