Review: Jet Car Stunts is an octane-filled thrill ride Amazing adrenaline rush...those three words sum up Jet Car Stunts, a 3D dimensional racer that combines dexterity, brains, and most definitely risk taking. If racing were the only selling point, then Jet Car Stunts would just be another in a long line of games in the category. However, Jet Car Stunts stands out because of the breathtaking tracks that both inspire and frustrate would be drivers. Simply put, Jet Car Stunts delivers a thrill ride that will have you coming back for more. Often tracks in racing games are the typical twists and turns weve come to expect. Jet Car Stunts takes it a new level, or actually altitude, creating a Lego Land full of nooks and crannies high above in the sky. From gravity-defying blocks to ominous-looking hoops with the clouds and sun as your backdrop, this is one game that looks as good as it plays. Visually, the game does a good job with the details. From horrible skid marks to the devastation from head-on collisions, Jet Car Stunts is quite the visual achievement. The game has two game modes: Platforming and Time Trial. Platforming provides 25 stages categorized into 5 levels of difficulty: Just Learning, Easy, Intermediate, Hard and Impossible. Just Learning provides basic tracks that must be completed before unlocking the Easy level, and each subsequent level of difficulty must be completed before unlocking the next. With each completed track, a gold, silver or bronze medal is awarded based on time. There is a catcheach track has a limited number of retry opportunities, and using up those retries without reaching the finish line means no medal and no unlocking of the next track. Time Trial consists of 11 stages divided into Easy, Intermediate and Hard levels of difficulty where the objective is to complete a set number of laps with a time to beat. Again, each level of difficulty must be completed before the next level is unlocked. A handy timer above monitors the time to beat to receive a gold, silver or bronze medal. Upon a selecting a level, the game provides an aerial overview of the track for which youll want to pay attention to because there are no mini-maps or radars for guidance during the race. Every twist, turn, and jump is brilliantly illustrated with a handy fast forward button, and a replay is provided upon finishing a race, although these replays cant be saved. Both modes keep track of retries and times to beat so you can always go back and revisit unlocked tracks to improve on times and medal rankings. In addition to global scoreboards, Jet Car Stunts has an achievement system accessible via OpenFeint where recognition is provided for completing levels, medal rankings, and even for stunts. The controls in Jet Car Stunts are some of the best and most natural in the category. The game offers 4 different control layouts so players should be able to find one that suits them. Accelerometer-based for steering, the buttons focus on 4 areas: acceleration, rocket boost, brakes/reverse and air brakes/gliding. Easily, these are some of the most responsive controls youll find, but as is typical with games, it will come down to how well you master them if youre to succeed. Aside from that, tilt sensitivity, flip screen, and music/sound options are available. One of the notable omissions is a tutorial which means youre on your own, although its not incredibly difficult to figure out. Jet Car Stunts may lure you in with its looks, but this racer is not for the faint of heart and definitely not for those who have short tempers. The game is not a joyride in the park. On the challenge meter, this is probably one of the most unforgiving racing experiences Ive had in a long time. However, driving these visually amazing tracks delivers quite the gaming punch. Heavily physics-based, Jet Car Stunts requires the prudent and skillful use of your controls where using the right amount of rocket boost to make jumps is just as important as tapping the air brakes to guide and steer through the air. Managing rocket fuel is a core part of the game since it is limited in supplyKyle Petty have mercy on you if you run out before completing the last jump. For example, when making long jumps between two platforms, easing up on the rocket boost is ideal to prevent overshooting the next platform and going over the side. This also applies to jumping through hoops where using the airbrakes to steer through them combined with the right amount of rocket boost is often the difference between success and failure. Each track has a checkpoint so if your racer meets an untimely demise, it will start at the last checkpoint rather than at the beginning of the track. Intentional or not, Jet Car Stunts does have a hitch when it comes to checkpoints. Flying over a checkpoint rather than driving through it does not count so using the rocket boost appropriately is important especially on tracks where the checkpoint is located near the edge of a platform. Another component in this game is the use of stunts where a variety of flips, tumbles and barrel rolls can be performed. While the not the easiest to perform, these require a combination of air brakes, rocket boost and steering best applied when youve managed a certain comfort level with the tracks. The game relies on trial and error as much as racing prowess which should appeal to even the pick-up-and-play casual gamer. Having said that, Jet Car Stunts could use some tweaking in the difficulty department since it ratchets up quickly even in the Just Learning level where tracks become pretty complex. While some may find the difficulty off putting especially with the lack of different camera angles and in-race mini-map, the tracks do get easier with practice as is typical with this type of game. Additional tracks and even vehicles with different attributes would only strengthen what is already a complete racer. Overall, Jet Car Stunts is an octane-filled thrill ride a minute that should exceed expectations even for the greenest racers among us. With innovative visuals and tracks that even the large development houses would envy, Jet Car Stunts is bound to be a palm sweating classic for those who dare give it a spin. Albie Meter: 5 Stars (one of the best looking racers of its kind complemented by responsive controls; visually, a game that shows off as well as it plays; innovative track designs with replay value; difficulty level needs some tweaking since it ratchets up quickly; lack of tutorial and camera angles)
Not only that, Some times I have such of a hard time going through those things. I always miss them by an inch and I don't get my check point either! It makes this game a lot harder .
5 stars on the Albie Meter? Impressive. I couldn't agree more BTW. This game pwns. And the fact that it's difficult is one of the main reasons I like it so much.
Albie, couldn't agree more. Just finished Impossible A (on the 10th try!), and turns out it's not impossible! It was seriously hard, but probably the most fun track yet. You have to maintain a really high speed throughout.
Further update for the benefit of TrueAxis: This (awesome) game runs fine on missus' 3rd gen Touch (3.1.2) but crashes the same on my son's 1st Gen Phone (3.1.0). He did mention something that might be helpful. Apparently Atlantis Sky Patrol used to crash (for him and many others it seems) if the game was started in silent mode (Mute button on). Dunno if there is a link there. It must control or effect or influence or not be compatible with some other function I guess. (I am not a programmer as you can see) And as has been posted before, for some people who may have the previously mentioned startup problem for Jet Car Stunts, starting in silent mode (or playing with headphones) can be a short term fix.
Yeah, I actually like the difficulty level on this, although I can see how tweaking it a bit may help broaden the audience. This game definitely exceeded my expectations. That's the thing...this game is all about experimenting and seeing what works.
Holy crap, does anyone have a video of someone beating Impossible E? I think that one actually is impossible (there's a tiny hole at one point to jump through).
I'm getting better at it. Just when I think I have the controlsmastered, the next level requires a new skill. Keeps it fresh for sure. I'm probably not one who will ever unlock all of the tracks and neither did I unlock everything in trackmania, but I like having a game like this in my iphone racer stable. The Time Trial mode is generally more accessible for those of us with short attention spans! Great review Albie!
Just bought it and finished the first 9 Levels - damn it's hard!! This game is the personification of trial and error. Sometimes I also get a shaky or laging camera. Mostley on the same spot on some tracks - could be a small bug... And damn, it would be so much better with anti aliasing on the iPhone 3GS. I nearly like everything in this game bht it needs AA and a polished menu, since it looks very cheap. And I like the mirrors edge type of color style. And theres missing an ingame soundtrack but I could live without it if you guys just put in anti aliasing. Did I mentioned Anti Aliasing already?
Wow, first game I've gotten in a long time that's I fell in love with at first play. Wow. The gameplay is amazing. So much like Trackmania, but the airbrakes... I love being in midair, adding in some boost, and just softly gliding the rest of the way. Amazing.
On 1st gen iphones there is a problem with sound causing a crash. There are 2 work a rounds for this. 1. Play in silent mode 2. Play with head phones This will be fixed in the next update. And sorry that this has caused you problems.
True Axis.... Please comment on the possibility of being able to shift the cars angle whilst airborne, this would really be helpful, thanks.
@ Big Albie Thanks for the positive write up I really enjoyed reading that... Some tips on playing the game. 1. Mix and Match the different play modes (You learn skills by playing both types of game mode). 2. The game may feel tough to begin with but once you get to the higher levels and go back to the beginning you will find things have become very easy. 3. Play with the tilt sensitivity and find what suits your playing style. 4. And don't give up... Once things click into place you will have a blast
You can tilt the cars nose up and down while the afterburner is on. Also in a combination of doing that you can tilt the device left and right, which will roll the car around. Doing this it's possible to alter where the car will land.
I'm just looked through all the commnets, sorry I can't respond to them all. Nice review... Agreed with everthing My number one regret about the game design, its ok for the platforming tracks... but can be unnesessarily anonoying in some spots in the time trial tracks. But, its interesting to here some feed back from somebody who claims to be a bit more of a casual gamer. You know... they tried Starbucks, here in Melbourne, but it failed... We have too many other cheeper and better coffee shops everywhere. Your missing out (So I'm told, I don't like coffee) But, actually, you wont beleive how crazy busy things are for us right now.
I cannot do that track But at the moment Luke is the only one in the world that can - it's possible but it's very very hard
