By Ultan K
Developed by solo developer Nicolas Meyssonnier blasts you back to sheer nostalgia of long gone 3rd person action platformers. Instantly I was taken back to fond memories of one of my favourite childhood games, Medievil. Nicolas drew a heavy amount inspiration from the likes of Medievil, Tim Burton’s Nightmare before Christmas and Jak and Daxter. The game was finely crafted using the Unreal Engine.
In many cases of games of late you step forth into the heroic boots of your hero, not the case here. Out of the bowels of hell you step forward as the devils very own mercenary, Pumpkin Jack. Your goal is to stop the humans last hope to reclaiming the earth and let darkness forever reign on the planet. Find the wizard and kill him.
Jack teams up with a hilarious magical crow and an expositional owl on his journey to keep the world in darkness. The dialogue is extremely witty and well written and laughs ensue throughout the game. Both of the characters are very similar to the gargoyles and worm from Daniel Fortescues adventure.
The game is absolutely stunning, teeming with gothic architecture misty hills and spooky trees galore. Perfect timing for a Halloween adventure. Jack himself looks amazing, a hybrid of Daniel Fortescue and Jack from Nightmare before Christmas, finished with a fiery pumpkin head straight out of hell. The enemy designs are simple, playful and pleasant to look at and smash to pieces using an admirable variety of weapons. I would’ve liked to see just a little more variation in the enemies.
Pumpkin Jack breaks up the pacing very well throughout the game, giving you puzzles, cart racing and much more to change the tempo of your general kill everything on screen. You can slay your enemies with a wonderful assortment of weapons. My personal favourites were the ghost sword and dark magic power. These changed the way jack moved instead of running around you in fact hovered very mystically. This animation matched with a costume I bought (the samurai) looked really fantastic when paired together. I wasn’t expecting to be using a gun at all or rather a boom stick but you get one about 3/4 through the game. I really reminded me of the shotgun from Jak 2 renegade. Speaking of which the fight music is also very reminiscent of the music from Jak 2 also which further drew me into a nostalgic state.
If you’re a fan like me of the action platformers of old, do yourself a favour and pick up this game. You’ll have a hell of a time. My only issue with the game is a strange auto lock on for some enemies and an atrocious penalty shootout against Santa Claus. Yes old Saint Nick.
I’ve been Ultan,
this is my review for Pumpkin Jack on EveryThing Xbox and Gamerhub.
9.2/10
