The developer of last year's most criminally underappreciated titled, the fantastic Viva Pinata, takes a crack at Xbox Live Arcade to show all the recent retro releases how they should have handled things. Rare has issued notice to all developers looking to release retro games by raising the bar with Jetpac Refuelled.
Though redesigned for the 360, the game holds its simplistic and challenging gameplay from the original. Gamers have the basic task of gathering up rocket parts and fuel, taking them back to the base rocket piece on the ground level, and using them to slowly build and fuel their escape from the level. Enemies float around the level in predictable fashion, making the route back to the ship a difficult one.
The game's slightly awkward controls will earn it comparisons to the classically challenging Joust. The controller's triggers work the actual jetpack that keeps the main character floating in the air. The trick, as it was with Joust, is avoiding enemies both above and below you while trying to float through the air. At least in Jetpac, gamers have their trusty gun to shoot with, rather than relying on running into enemies at the right angle.
In the Refueled version of the game, you have the chance to upgrade your laser with airdropped upgrade capsules. The upgrades allow the character to shoot (with the 'A' button) further and in additional directions. If you die, you lose your weapon upgrades; and are back at square one with a weak straight-shooting laser that piddles out a few feet in front of you. When the enemies overrun the screen, gamers have the option to use an 'EMP' with 'X', killing anything on the screen. Being all-powerful, gamers start each game with three 'EMP's and earn more as their score increases.
Rare earns bonus points for cleverly throwing in the mediocre retro mode as a way of offering up a nostalgic gaming experience for anyone who remembers the original, and showing off just how much work they put into the Refueled version. Gamers will not want to spend much time in the moldy original version beyond grabbing the achievement points for doing so. The limited playing space and bulky enemies makes for challenging gameplay.
