The first time I played JetPac was actually on Donkey Kong 64! You could unlock that game and the original DK arcade game, too! JetPac Refueled was one of the first Xbox LIVE games I played.
Randomly Rolled: Jet Pac
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 On 03/25/2022 at 10:10 PM by KnightDriver See More From This User » |
I made up my own list of 41 PC games from several lists online. It's basically one for every year 1981 to the present. I rolled Jet Pac from 1983. Luckily I could play it right away within Rare Replay on Xbox Series S. I used to own it on disc but it's on Game Pass now anyway. There was even the Jet Pac Refueled remake in that collection which I played as well.
I actually played two nearly identical versions of the original Jet Pac: one in the main collection of older Rare games in Rare Replay and another as part of the Jet Pac Refueled remake. They are both nearly identical but with some slight graphical differences perhaps due to different ports. The Rare Replay version perhaps being from ZX Spectrum and the Jet Pac Refueled version from some other PC that made it look slightly cleaner because of better resolution.
Jet Pac seems a bit like Joust at first. There are platforms suspended in the air and the astronaut moves in a realistic way when thrusting or not. Like in Joust, when you stop flapping (thrusting in Jet Pac), you drop like a stone. Joust came out in 1982, so there could have been some direct influence. Anyway, you don't joust with the aliens that fly by. They're more of a nuisance. They don't seem to attack you but you die if you touch one. So, you can just avoid them or laser their fuzzy butts. I got an achievement for avoiding them for 3 levels. After a few levels, they get pretty numerous and it's hard to resist lasering them, or using your screen-clearing special attack.
The object is to put together pieces of your broken spaceship, refuel it, and get the heck out of dodge. Mission control said there are too many darn aliens down there, I guess. Anyway, you jet pack yourself up to the platforms to grab the parts or fuel that drop down from the top of the screen. There are also pickups raining down that upgrade your laser gun or just give you points.
I really enjoyed this game. My only issue is that the astronaut is quite large making it hard in later levels to avoid all the swarming aliens.
Jet Pac Refueled is basically the same game but with upgraded graphics and a little better control scheme. I really enjoyed this too.
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