Retrospective: Jasper's Journeys

By: Eric Lilja Sunday, 22 January 2012 08:00

alt A quiet title from indie-developer, Lexaloffle Games, Jasper’s Journeys is certainly more than meets the eye. It was only recently recognized from an inclusion with a few other games by the same developer in an Indie Humble Bundle pack, specifically the Voxatron Bundle. Picking up a title like JJ is a journey, in itself, since it deceptively seems more simplistic than it is. The question is: Does it stand on its feet when stacked against its contemporaries?

When booting up JJ for the first time, the opening midi-compositions might set retro-veterans back to the old cruddy music one would expect from DOS-classics; simple and nostalgic. Launching the game propels you to a chuckle-worthy text-crawl, revealing the most epic plot in gaming history: Some nameless witch spots Jasper and his cat, Orlando, and decides that it would be a wonderful idea to steal the cat and make a potion out of it—a somewhat better story than the original Super Mario Bros., since they never tell us why Bowser kidnaps Princess Toadstool. To the witch’s credit, Jasper seems harmless, since he’s armed with fruit—the deadliest of weaponry!

So the game begins, and your first question is most likely, “What happened to the music?” The only time the game adds music is during certain underground stages, boss battles, or completing a level. This may be another nostalgic-cue aimed at titles like Commander Keen, but the decision is questionable. Given that the music is extremely simple and lacks harmony such as other midi-composed classics, it’s understandable why the developers chose to omit the same loop for every area. No music is better than bad music.

After you shrug the questionable choice (and lack) of music, there are a few mechanics to note: Jasper jumps high, moves at a decent speed, and can throw fruit, of which ammunition is, initially, scarce and well-tucked. You’ll notice a bird dropping rocks from above, so why not obliterate it with a piece of fruit? That’ll teach him! As the bird’s corpse turns into coins, you’ll find it difficult to gather more than a few, since they vanish within seconds. This means you’d better be quick about looting.

On your journey to the left of your starting point, you’ll find a house labeled “Inn” (been a while since you’ve seen those in games, huh?). Entering the inn pops up a simple item-shop menu with some cheesy midi-music. An accurate mental-statement from the average gamer would be, “Okay, I can pay 10 coins to save the game, 60 for a shield, 40 for cher—wait, hold on a second—10 coins just to save my game? Are you kidding me!?” This is especially aggravating since you’ll only have acquired two or three coins at this point. One might be inclined to quit the game, but those who persevere will discover something surprising and gratifying.

Moving right, there are noticeable clouds, containing various treasures such as shields, golden globes, coins, and fruit; most accessible by jumping from a hill. A nice touch from the game is a small “Instructions” option, which informs you about the items. The globe, in particular, is defined as: “There are 3 globes to find in each level.” This is intriguing, because after finding a key near a blue dragon (identified as the end of a level in the instructions), you’ll notice that you only have two globes. What’s missing? Good thing there’s 15 available coins now—time to save the game.

Returning to the inn, you’ll detect a peculiar arrangement of blocks placed against a wall. If you throw a chunk of fruit at the blocks, the wall shatters, revealing a hidden tunnel. As you search within this secret path, you’ll find a golden lock, which matches your key. Inside this locked room is a potion, revealed by the instructions as a “Jumping Potion” which allows Jasper to jump three times higher for the entirety of the stage. After you finish plundering all the money and fruit in this secret, you’ll return with roughly 80 coins from all the loot! It's time to save the game while jingling your pouch of excess coins, but why stop there?

While spamming the new super-jump down the path already explored, you’ll discover clouds that are higher than the others. A bit of jump-exploring here and there leads to a floating structure, filled with TONS of gems and fruits. Now that coin pouch is up to nearly 200! By the time you finish exploring the rest of the clouds for loot, you’ll be packing nearly 100 fruits and 250 coins total—the shield and save point at the inn look rather enticing now, eh?

This is a game that truly understands retro-gaming. It’s simplistic in aesthetics, both with the art-style and game mechanics, yet challenging. What is most rewarding about its challenge is that, unlike many retro-classics, the difficulty doesn’t come from poor level-design or frustrating controls. It comes from an emphasis on exploration and survival. You might find an inn selling a shield and think “I’ve got two out of three shields total, if I get this, I’ll have full health.” But then later, you’ll stumble on a shield that was in a hidden area, which means you wasted coins. If you play conservatively with your ammunition and money, you’ll end up with around 2,000 coins and 600 fruits by the time you finish the game, which is 15 levels in total. What makes the experiencing riveting, though, is the reoccurring thought, “What if I need all those coins and ammunition for the next level?”

If the game needs anything, other than sharper music, it’s more levels. There are games where length can actually do more harm than good by means of unnecessary padding, but anticipation for what the game could potentially throw is its strongest value. This game could not only do with further levels provided by Lexaloffle Games, but should also feature a toolset, so that players could mod and share their own levels. For its retail price of $11.99, it’s worth it if you’re a retro-gamer. Modern-gamers might gag at the retro design, but it wouldn’t hurt to give this a shot. Modern-gaming can learn a lot from titles like Jasper’s Journeys. This is especially true in genres that have removed exploration aspects, such as first-person shooters and action-adventure titles. Get rid of those linear corridors and dismal colors, and please—bring back the secret areas and key-cards.

Last Updated (Sunday, 05 February 2012 22:41)

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