Jetset Willy 2010 Demo

Retro platformers have made a comeback in the last few years, mainly because indie developers now have access to much more powerful and easy-to-use applications to put their imagination into practice. Hence, everything from Super Mario Bros. to old Amiga games has been reimagined, although not everything out there is worth your time.

Jetset Willy 2010 is also a remake after a really old video game in which you play as a guy who jumps around. There’s nothing else you can do, other than run and try to avoid making contact with the enemies, while searching for keys to unlock the way further. However, this remake is quite close to the original, which makes it just as challenging and frustrating at times, yet very rewarding when you manage to get past a difficult section.

There’s not much of a background story to talk about, but the game doesn’t need one in order to make things intriguing. In fact, you’ll barely have any time to ask questions about the plot or anything else, seeing how you’ll be too busy avoiding deadly traps. All you need to know is that you seem to be a simple guy caught in a rather unpleasant situation, somewhere in a dark dungeon full of awful monsters.

An interesting gameplay gimmick is the fact that you are often forced to backtrack through the levels, because that’s sometimes the only way to reach inaccessible areas. Not only that, but there are keys that need to be acquired before you are able to open certain doors, but these keys are usually situated in a different part of the level. Sometimes, the entire thing can get pretty disorienting, which is a good thing.

From a technical point of view, everything is designed to come as close to the original look of the game as possible. Hence, the environments and the characters are obviously in 2D, but you can tell that plenty of work went into the level design itself. Sound-wise, the tunes playing in the background are not particularly memorable, but they certainly do not hurt the overall atmosphere.

In the end, it’s the combination of puzzle and platformer elements that makes Jetset Willy 2010 so exciting to play, not to mention the pretty graphics and the smooth controls. Hence, if you are up for a bit of nostalgia, this game can certainly provide you with quite a bit of fun.