Jumping Joe! – Friends Edition – Review
On the surface, Jumping Joe plays similarly to plenty of endless runners made in recent memory such as Temple Run, Subway Surfers, and even the infamous Flappy Bird. Surprisingly, Jumping Joe keeps the genre fresh by adding the option to play with friends with up to 4 players via local co-op, multiple playable characters with different abilities and extra game modes to make the experience far more enjoyable.
Story
Most endless runners in general don’t really have too much to offer when it comes to story value, and Jumping Joe is no exception. The game literally starts off introducing Joe, a smug-faced blue square with little to no introduction, with the emphasis of only one goal, jumping and going as high as possible.
Graphics
When it comes to its graphics, Jumping Joe is more on the simplistic side which isn’t really a bad thing. The game’s art-style comes off as cartoony, with well-done color choices. The character designs are really well done, ranging from cute, weird or just downright goofy. The stages, however, don’t really do the game much justice, which was expected; aside from the certain traps or the biome changes that happen once players reach a certain point.
Sound
The sound and music in Jumping Joe are simple and funky, ironically simple enough to only have one song constantly playing on an endless loop. Besides hearing the same song over and over, the only other sounds the players actually hear are the sound effects of the playable characters jumping from platform to platform and also the booby traps that appear more frequently as time goes on.
Gameplay
Nonetheless, the meat and potatoes of this game is the gameplay. Jumping Joe is best described as a vertical endless runner or “hopper” because the player, instead of running, hops upwards to different platforms. The goal is simple, to climb as far as possible, avoiding traps, collecting coins and power-ups to give the player the highest score; rinse, wash, repeat.
The controls are very accessible, only needing the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard to play or the shoulder buttons on standard controllers. Once the player has collected enough coins that accumulate over time, the option to purchase hats and characters are made available. Aside from cosmetic options, all the characters have minor but effective perks to help the player during gameplay which can also be upgraded further, such as an extra revive, a start point boost and shields to protect from traps.
There are even different game modes that can be unlocked by progressing through the standard mode, adding more depth and replayability and these are the Race Mode and the Hero Mode. Race mode can be compared to a standard time trial mode, with each checkpoint being recorded until the player dies, which is good for speedrunning. Hero Mode is the game’s version of a challenge mode, which takes the standard mode of Jumping Joe and amps up the difficulty, adding extra traps, enemies, and even shifting the camera angles in order to hinder the player’s movement.
The game includes local multiplayer co-op with up to 4 players in a survival mode, similar to last man standing. Instead of the single-player mode with buying characters with perks, all players start out equal, gaining power-ups by surviving.
Other than the latter, there’s isn’t really much to add when it comes to stages. When traversing through the game, there are only a few changes when it comes to stage design such as the colors and background images when the player reaches a certain limit. Furthermore, the majority of the areas the player traverses, recycle the stage designs very often. Most likely the player will see the same areas even after a few checkpoints at a time which can make playing through the game at long intervals very barebones and unenjoyable.
Leveling and progression can also be viewed in the same way. The roadmap is very linear with the only real achievable goals in mind, are the unlocks of the two different game modes, plus the different cosmetics and characters. In the beginning, the prices are not too expensive but over time, the grind for gold can get very overwhelming, requiring thousands of coins especially when buying the later characters; basically showing that the player needs a hectic amount of hours to collect everything the game has to offer. There is a more efficient way to grind for currency, but even that method requires a hefty amount of coins to reach.
Conclusion
Jumping Joe is a simple but fun endless runner. There’s not much to praise when it comes to its graphics and story, but the multiple game modes, collection of cosmetics and playable characters, plus the addition of couch co-op makes the runner quite enjoyable in short bursts, especially with friends. Certainly a fun game for those looking for a score-beater, or a party game with friends.
Jumping Joe! - Friends Edition - Review,
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