JumpJet Rex

I pulled up JumpJet Rex expecting a breezy retro throwback I could chill through on a Saturday afternoon, and instead I got a pixelated drill sergeant in sunglasses. That contrast is basically the game's whole identity, and once you accept it, there is a lot to love here. The core loop is straightforward: guide your jet-booted T-Rex through a series of self-contained stages spread across planetoids and space stations, threading through gold rings until the exit opens. Each level grades you on three stars: one for finishing, one for finishing without dying, and one for beating a target time. Collecting enough stars unlocks new areas and eventually the final confrontation. The movement system earns its "platflyer" label. Rex can jump, rocket straight up, dash horizontally, drop sharply downward, and spin-attack enemies. Getting comfortable with all four directions of thrust is the whole game, and when it clicks it feels genuinely slick. Levels also have hidden treasures, secret bonus areas, and coins you can spend on cosmetic unlocks like alternate head apparel and color schemes for Rex, none of which affect gameplay. The difficulty curve is where JumpJet Rex gets contentious. Normal mode gives you infinite lives and generous checkpoints, and there is an easy mode that lets Rex absorb two hits instead of one. That accessibility is welcome. But the star requirements for progression can brick your momentum hard: you will occasionally hit a difficulty spike that demands you replay a level thirty-plus times chasing a no-death or time-limit star you need to move forward. Late-game levels in particular ratchet up the precision requirements into pixel-perfect territory. The environment themes also recycle fairly quickly, cycling through ice, forest, and space-station layouts without much visual surprise by the halfway point. On the upside, the ghost system lets you race a replay of your own best run, the world record holder, or a friend, which gives the time-trial side real replay value beyond just clearing the campaign. For the couch crowd, this is where I have to pump the brakes a little. The multiplayer suite is impressively wide on paper: two-player co-op through the campaign, plus four-player Arena modes covering Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and King of the Hill, along with Party mini-games. All of it is local, split-screen only, no online. That is fine for a living-room setup, but the co-op story mode has a quirk where the camera is effectively shared, meaning one player reaching the exit can teleport the other and block their movement. Arena modes use individual split-screen and avoid that issue entirely. The bigger practical note: every player beyond the first needs a gamepad. Keyboard-only two-player is not supported, so sort out your controllers before you round up friends. For solo speedrun chasers and retro-platformer fans who genuinely liked the punishment of NES-era Mega Man, JumpJet Rex lands well above average. It scored a 76 on Metacritic and sits at 91% positive on Steam, which tracks with the experience: charming, well-built, occasionally maddening. Ragequit Rex mode, which strips you down to three lives and no checkpoints for the entire game, is there if you want to feel truly terrible about yourself. Less than one percent of the player base has cleared it. The campaign itself clocks in at roughly four to five hours on a first playthrough, with leaderboard chasing and the Speedrun mode adding meaningful time for players who want it.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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