Just last week we let you know that Hi-Rez Studios, makers of the console and PC game Smite, had released their very first mobile game titled Jetpack Fighter (Free). Jetpack Fighter centers around a colorful cast of characters fighting against evil robots by using swipe-based aerial combat. The game takes place on a 2D plane but the 3D backgrounds change perspective as you move through each level, and your roster of fighters can level up and gain new attacks and abilities as you play. The swipe combat works great, the game looks great, and there’s tons of stuff to do. There was just one problem: Jetpack Fighter required an internet connection to play, and while that in itself isn’t the biggest deal in the world, whatever servers the game needed to connect to were NOT acting properly just following the game’s release, meaning a lot of people were unable to play and even those that were were subjected to extremely long loading times as the game tried to connect.

Well over the weekend Hi-Rez took the servers down for the game, and when they came back up the connection issues with Jetpack Fighter were totally cleared up. I mean, you still have to have an internet connection to play which is likely a big problem for some people, but for the people who don’t have a problem with that, the game connects quickly and seamlessly while you play. This good news also gives me a chance to direct your attention to Jetpack Fighter’s amazing fake ’80s commercial.

You may have guessed but the above trailer is a riff on the old commercial for the weird competitive marble-shooting board game thing Crossfire, and Jetpack Fighter pretty much nails it. We are big fans of fake ’80s commercials around TouchArcade, like the one for Radical from Beavertap Games or the one for Move the Walls, also by Beavertap Games. Then there’s the not quite fake ’80s but still hilarious trailer for Goat Rider by… Beavertap Games. I guess those guys like funny trailers too!

While it’s great to see the connection issue cleared up, Jetpack Fighter still suffers from a pretty strict free to play energy system, which is a shame because the game itself is quite awesome. Some folks in our forums have found that throwing a few bucks at some in-game currency allows them to continue playing as much as they want, but it would still be cool to have some sort of permanent unlock IAP that could get rid of the energy altogether. Despite its flaws, Jetpack Fighter is still a helluva fun game that I’ll certainly be keeping on my device for some time, so give it a download for free now that the connection issues have been taken care of.