Video Games : My Shareware Game of the Month is...

Jets'n'Guns Gold : Home Page

It's available for both Windows and Mac OS X.

Jets'n'Guns is a side-scrolling shooter. If you don't know what that is, watch the video below to get an idea.



Normally I'm not that big a fan of shooters. With few exceptions, I feel the frustration of playing that kind of game far outweighs the enjoyment it offers. Jets'n'Guns Gold is one of those exceptions. Don't get me wrong, it's still frustrating as all Hell. In fact, it may be the most frustrating shooter I've continued to play after an hour. It's fun enough that that's okay.


What I feel it does right:

• There aren't "lives." You have one ship and it's "health" is displayed in a gage at the bottom left. When you die it's "mission failed." ...however. This is where they do it right in my opinion. You can try again with a press of the spacebar, so you aren't limited to three, five, or 10 lives. Like many other shooters. If you've reached a checkpoint you will continue from that checkpoint. If your ship just isn't configured right for the mission you are on, you're better off hitting 'escape,' which takes me to the next thing they did right.
• Things you buy for your ship – guns, missiles, bombs, even the ship itself – don't lose value. That means if you buy an autotrack minigun for 35,000, pay 65,000 to upgrade it two levels and then decide you would rather try something else, you can sell it and get back every dime you spent on it. A lot of other games I've played either lock you into your purchase decisions, or they penalize you by only allowing you to sell your equipment back at a fraction of what you paid for it. Many, if not all, RPGs follow that "real economy" model, but I feel it's stupid for a shooter to, particularly if you are limited in the money that you can earn. More on that soon.
• The visual style is excellent. I love the look of this game. And it controls well.
• Smacking into a wall won't necessarily destroy your ship, although it will damage it.

What I'm not that keen on:

• It's sometimes hard to tell what you can pass through safely and what will mess you up.
• I'm stuck on the fifth level. I've reorganized my equipment six times trying to find a combination that will give me the edge. I've learned the patterns of the enemies that I'm facing and they still destroy me. I feel the game could really use the ability to replay earlier missions, even if you only earn 1/10th the amount of money as you did the first time through. I could probably turn down the difficulty, and I probably will end up doing that if I fail 20 more times, but I would like to have an alternative that doesn't feel so wussied.

And that's about it. I really love this game. I also feel it's a no-brainer to buy the gold version over the original version, even though it's $10 more. Rather than rewrite all of what you get for that $10, I'll just copy and paste what they say at the website:

• Game resolution raised to 800x600! More space! More enemies on the screen! More items on the list in the shops making everything more comfortable.
• Length of the game is DOUBLED! The campaign contains 21 NEW LEVELS NOW!
• 7 new customizable ships! You will have at your disposal up to 10 warbirds in total! You will have an opportunity to equip and fly anything from jet pack to captured zeppelin!
• 17 new weapons! Vast arsenal of the original JnG was widened even more! Try new stuff varying from crazy guns never seen in a shooter game to ultimate devastators, which will turn your screen into hell!
• 70 new enemies! In GOLD EDITION you will face more than 270 unique enemies, including 16 terrible bosses!
• Secret levels, items and ships! There's more to explore in the new version. Try to find some hidden guns or ships!
• Briefing texts replaced with comics screens!
• New music from your favorite band! The game soundtrack was expanded with 6 new tracks!
• Medals and ranks! Get some decoration for your heroic deeds! Make generals to envy your collection of medals!
• and much more...

Give it a shot. See what you think.

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Also, it seems that I have trouble accessing Blogger to post these days, so if you find yourself itching to see what I'll be posting in the evening, check out my Vox blog: http://fizzleandpop.vox.com/It'll usually update well in advance of this site.