Game Review #179: JackQuest: The Tale of the Sword (Nintendo Switch)
Reviewer: Allan Jenks
Developer: Blowfish Studios
Publisher: Level 77
Category: Platformer, Action, Adventure
Release Date: 01.24.2019
Price (at time of review): $9.99
Buy JackQuest: The Tale of the Sword from the Nintendo eShop here.
Walk Softly, & Swing a Big Sword
Who doesn’t love swinging around a comically-big sword at their enemies? I know I love it. Final Fantasy VII was a great game. You should check it out. It’s one of those hidden gems… In JackQuest: The Tale of the Sword, your story starts out like this:
Jack is minding his own business, having a date with his girl Nara, when all of a sudden she is kidnapped and taken underground by the evil Korg. Jack sets chase into the orc’s evil underground lair, as you do, and quickly discovers Kuro, a giant, talking sword who wants to help Jack along his quest. The sword is at least twice the size of Jack, and when standing still, seems to just stand there on its own. It’s great.
Gimme That Metroidvania!
Even though the sword is gigantic, and likely weighs as much as a small compact car or a large motorcycle, Jack runs smoothly and controls are quite fluid. This is a Metroidvania game at heart, and it employs many of the beloved standards, like wall-jumping, double-jumping, new unlockable abilities like underwater breathing, new weapons that are discovered as you progress like the bow and arrow, etc.
A Love/Hate Relationship
One thing I both liked and hated were the save points. I like them because they are hassle-free and auto-trigger when you walk through them for the first time. I hate them for the same reason… I found myself accidentally stumbling upon these save points at very inopportune moments, often times saving my game in a bad area with no health left, and no enemies around to get any health bottles or even coins to buy health from the merchant.
Sometimes, if I was lucky, there was a crate nearby that would yield a health bottle or some coins. This would allow me to save up the coins to buy health from the merchant, or just add to my health via the extra health bottle, and then I could save with the extra hearts and coins, kill myself, and restart at the same place with more money and life. Rinse. Repeat. It got a little tedious at times, but it was better than where I am currently stuck, which is at an underwater save point that is just far enough away from oxygen that I can’t get to the surface to break the death loop. I will likely have to end up starting my entire game over.
Audio/Visuals
So this is yet another entry into the ever-growing library of “modern-retro” indie titles gracing the eShop with their presence lately. This one is done in 8-bit fashion, with great attention to authenticity and detail. The soundtrack is also full-on 8-bit era awesomeness. I loved the upbeat midi music and classic NES sound effects. I hope this trend—and genuine respect being given to the era by modern developers—continues for a while to come!
Wrapping Up
JackQuest: The Tale of the Sword is a great action platformer in of my favorite sub-genres, Metroidvania games. I will likely have to restart my game due to the above-mentioned auto-save incident, but even still, this is a genuinely fun game, with fun and challenging bosses, great platforming and wall-climbing, and an overall fantastic and nostalgic aesthetic, so I won’t really mind experiencing it all again to get back to where I am at currently. If you like a good Metroidvania-style 2-D action-platformer, then you NEED to pick up JackQuest! Go get it!
Score: 8.5/10
Buy JackQuest: The Tale of the Sword from the Nintendo eShop here.
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*Review Code Provided by Stride PR