Jazz: Trump's Journey
Score: 90% ESRB: 4+ Publisher: BulkyPix Developer: Egg Ball Games Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Platformer/ Puzzle/ Family
Graphics & Sound: You won't find a much more distinctively designed game for iPad this year, we suspect. Jazz: Trump's Journey is a visual treat, with a soundtrack that matches the game's name perfectly. The music could have been improved with licensed songs from the jazz canon, but then again, it's nice to hear original tunes. The variety of the songs playing in the background is only okay - you'll be delighted at first and then likely find yourself turning the volume down. The sound effects during Jazz: Trump's Journey show many nice touches, such as using a trumpet to play notes that affect objects in the game, and a dwindling trumpet riff when you fall to your doom. So much nicer than a blood-curdling scream, isn't it? The visuals are similarly hand-crafted to show off the time period, including grainy film-reel effects that remind us of some of the trends in indie games now that are going for a lo-fi approach to graphics. It deserves mentioning that this is a game that celebrates black history, as it retraces the steps of Trump through New Orleans in the early 1900s. It appears to be modeled loosely on the life of Louis Armstrong, down to his story of growing up and getting involved in music. Treating this as a platforming game is a nice touch that owes a lot to titles like Braid, where most designers would have previously thought to paint this as an adventure/RPG game. Critics who may point to some kind of negative racial depiction need to hit the books on life and jazz history. Jazz: Trump's Journey is the best thing that could happen to jazz in the gaming world, and we hope it may pique the curiosity of a few kids, to hit the books and learn more about New Orleans, jazz, and black history in the early part of the 20th century.
Gameplay: We mentioned Braid as a possible source of inspiration for Jazz: Trump's Journey, and that's not a bad thing. Matching the engaging gameplay and brainy puzzles of Blow's game is no mean feat. Jazz: Trump's Journey comes very close, but veers off more into core platforming territory. What you end up with is a mash-up of something like Braid and a much more full-blooded Platformer, comparable to a New Super Mario Bros. or other console hits. The bottom line for us is that Jazz: Trump's Journey plays out as one of the best 2D platforming experiences we've had on the iPad. It doesn't pull punches, but the challenges feel fair and mostly well-balanced. Where things suffer is on the control scheme, but that's a constant limitation of the iPad versus home consoles. The story of Jazz: Trump's Journey plays out through a series of progressively more challenging levels, as you follow Trump on his journey to build a band and make his grandmother proud. At first, you suspect that Jazz: Trump's Journey is going to consist of little more than timed jumps and ladder climbing, but things change once he grabs his trumpet. Suddenly, he can control objects by blowing his horn, and even freeze time. We know this doesn't really make sense in the context of jazz, but it's a cool mechanic that Jazz: Trump's Journey uses smartly throughout. There are incentives to collect items during play, but more as a bonus than a requirement. The best mark of success is that Jazz: Trump's Journey works as well for inexperienced Platformer fans as it does for seasoned pros, thanks to some of these secrets and extra incentives.
Difficulty: We've often said that the measure of a game's difficulty is equivalent to the distance between its checkpoints. By that accounting, Jazz: Trump's Journey is generous. Only in a few spots are there not checkpoints between a series of jumps or obstacles. This means that you'll rarely be frustrated, and it makes this a pick-up/put-down game that works extremely well on the iPad. Where things become challenging is the control scheme, which is strangely designed. Rather than going for the typical stick control, Jazz: Trump's Journey uses a series of arrows, some of which are contextual and only show up when you need to traverse a ladder or hanging rope. We found frequent misfires where we ended up triggering the down arrow instead of going in the opposite direction, always at crucial moments where we were stabbing around trying to time a jump. The jumping itself is a learned skill, like any Platformer, but Jazz: Trump's Journey is especially touchy and requires a lot of restraint. The "freeze time" mechanic really helps to keep difficulty in check, also. Some enemies and objects are immune to the effect of your trumpet, but the early stages allow you to stop the clock and really set up your jumps, which is helpful for newbies. In the latter half of Jazz: Trump's Journey, difficulty ramps up considerably, but players at that point know the mechanics and can accept the challenge.
Game Mechanics: We've already touched on the issues with controls, but to get this on the record definitively: Don't break with convention when it comes to controls! The joystick has been around for decades (longer, if you consider the machine controls on which it was originally modeled) and is a hard act to follow. The notion of having directional arrows take the place of a simple joystick doesn't even make good sense in terms of maximizing screen real estate. You end up with a clutter at the bottom of the screen, rather than a simple dot or circle for controls. The team did a nice job thinking about contextual controls, though. As you approach objects, you'll see specific controls (the hand symbol for action) that pop into view, rather than have to see them constantly. This also provides a subtle hinting system, if you're lost and not sure what to do. The controls are almost too responsive, but that's better than the alternative. There's nothing sluggish about Jazz: Trump's Journey, once you learn to navigate the strange layout. Saving is automatic and doesn't require a second thought. Once you've played a few levels, you can explore the initial menu by walking around and using doors to make your selection, much like in Braid. Creative platforming games with strong puzzle elements are some of our favorites from the indie crop of console games in the past few years. Titles like Braid and Limbo stand out as finely constructed gems, tuned perfectly to suit short attention spans, but not dumbed down in any way compared to their big-budget brethren. Jazz: Trump's Journey is especially nice in that it features a great backstory that promotes a really important part of American history. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock
Related Links: Jazz: Trump's Journey | iTunes App Store
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