{"id":103439,"date":"2020-10-25T01:05:42","date_gmt":"2020-10-25T01:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gamerant.com\/pumpkin-jack-review\/"},"modified":"2020-10-25T01:05:42","modified_gmt":"2020-10-25T01:05:42","slug":"pumpkin-jack-review-game-rant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2020\/10\/25\/pumpkin-jack-review-game-rant\/","title":{"rendered":"Pumpkin Jack Review | Game Rant"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As the genre has slowly phased out of the AAA sphere, several\u00a0modern games\u00a0have attempted to resurrect the\u00a0late 90s to early\u00a000s 3D action platformer.\u00a0Insomniac\u00a0released a much shinier take on the original\u00a0Ratchet\u00a0<\/em><\/a>and Clank<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>in 2016, Other Ocean Emeryville undertook the task of remaking the first\u00a0MediEvil\u00a0<\/em>game last year, and THQ Nordic remastered\u00a0SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini\u00a0<\/em>Bottom\u00a0<\/em>just\u00a0a few months ago. However, very few\u00a0studios have attempted to\u00a0kickstart the genre with a fresh IP.<\/p>\n

Pumpkin Jack<\/em><\/strong>, a new\u00a0Halloween-focused platformer\u00a0devised by a single passionate developer, sets out to do just that. Introducing the player to a tongue-in-cheek world of ghosts, ghouls, and dastardly demons, it’s a game that’s not shy about wearing its influences on its sleeve, delivering a mix of platforming and combat that riffs on some of the genre’s most iconic names. Unfortunately,\u00a0this soon becomes as much\u00a0Pumpkin Jack<\/a>‘s\u00a0<\/em>gift as its curse, with the game ultimately relying too heavily on its nostalgic roots and never cementing what sets it apart from the pack.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0Pumpkin Jack is Jak and Daxter Meets MediEvil<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For players itching to revisit the glory days where action platformers were a staple of the AAA scene, this lack of a unique selling point\u00a0likely won’t immediately set in.\u00a0Nicholas\u00a0Meyssonnier, the sole developer of the game, has gone on record\u00a0stating he was a\u00a0diehard fan of\u00a0Jak and Daxter<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and the\u00a0aforementioned\u00a0MediEvil, <\/em>and the influence of both\u00a0becomes apparent from the moment the game begins. Not only does\u00a0it stand as something of an ode to the fun-focused action platforming\u00a0featured in both classic titles, but its wonderfully tongue-in-cheek tone\u00a0replicates what made them such\u00a0enduring cult-icons.<\/p>\n

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Following an appropriately whimsical storybook prologue, the player is thrust into the role of the titular Pumpkin Jack<\/a>, an imprisoned spirit who makes a deal with the devil to free his soul. He soon discovers that this will be no easy task, with Satan instructing Jack to journey to the land of Boredom Kingdom\u00a0and\u00a0defeat a sorcerer who’s challenging his dastardly plans. The only problem? The kingdom is filled with the devil’s most frightening minions, including ghostly scarecrows, flying skeletons, and spectral knights.<\/p>\n

Pumpkin Jack’s<\/em>\u00a0endearing\u00a0humor and dialogue immediately\u00a0leave quite the impression. While its story really isn’t anything to write home about, its characters\u00a0and world\u00a0are, with the\u00a0witty\u00a0text-based\u00a0conversations and\u00a0smart world-building\u00a0feeling oddly reminiscent of\u00a0classic platformers like Banjo Kazooie\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Conker<\/em><\/a>. Whether chatting to the shifty costume salesman who often remarks about the sheer number of graves he’s dug up or Jack’s cowardly crow partner who pales at the sight of scarecrows,\u00a0Pumpkin Jack\u00a0<\/em>never takes itself too seriously and is all the better for it.<\/p>\n

Jack’s action-packed adventure leads players\u00a0to\u00a0six distinct levels, with each offering a colorful\u00a0new\u00a0Halloween<\/a> environment to explore.\u00a0\u00a0All in all, it takes around\u00a04 – 5\u00a0hours to see everything the game\u00a0<\/em>has to offer, with\u00a0the journey\u00a0wasting\u00a0little time\u00a0pumping in a\u00a0variety of\u00a0wacky mini-games and side-mechanics. In fact,\u00a0Pumpkin Jack’s <\/em>most interesting moments frequently come when it’s\u00a0showing off how diverse its\u00a0six levels can be.<\/p>\n

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Whether it’s mounting a ghostly horse and giving chase to a flying carriage or hopping into a minecart and attempting to not careen off its precarious tracks, it seems Meyssonnier has taken extra care to ensure\u00a0Pumpkin Jack\u00a0<\/em>never wears out its welcome. It always has something fun up its sleeve, and even if the mini-games<\/a> grow repetitive towards the climax of a section, it’s nice to know that the next area\u00a0will have some fresh activities on the itinerary<\/p>\n

The same can be said of the levels themselves.\u00a0From a war-ravaged castle to an eerie graveyard, each area has a unique style to call its own, featuring fun elements not present in other levels. One\u00a0segment tasks\u00a0players with bouncing over spawnable mushrooms to reach elevated positions, while another introduces a semi-open hub that requires\u00a0them to accomplish several objectives to progress. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s nice to see that time was poured into making each area feel individual.<\/p>\n

Outside of these varied mini-games and mechanics\u00a0is where the game begins to lose some steam, with Pumpkin Jack\u00a0<\/em>offering a fairly mundane mix of\u00a0combat and platforming<\/a>. The former is definitely the weaker of the two, with a lack of real weight or punch to battles. It often\u00a0seems like\u00a0Pumpkin Jack\u00a0<\/em>wants to offer something more compelling when it comes to enemy encounters, making an assortment of weapons available for the player to try their hand at, but it soon becomes clear that this is little more than a frantic, button-mashing affair. Health\u00a0plentifully cascades from dead enemies, meaning\u00a0brute force is often the most direct path to success, and there’s such a small variety of\u00a0foes\u00a0to contend with that it’s hard to ever feel compelled to\u00a0switch up playstyles.<\/p>\n

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Platforming is still somewhat uninspired but definitely offers a more satisfying experience.\u00a0While Jack doesn’t control as precisely\u00a0as fellow\u00a0genre stars like Mario<\/a> or Crash, a number of his acrobatic sections are simple but\u00a0gratifying to play, often requiring some fun navigation that never spikes the difficulty to the extreme. It could use a few more hazards and some additional depth to keep late-game setpieces interesting, but for the most part,\u00a0it’s a solid platformer.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it often feels like\u00a0Pumpkin Jack\u00a0<\/em>doesn’t aspire to be anything more than just that. While the game is a fun callback to\u00a0a variety of esteemed classics, it\u00a0constantly fails to carve a niche of its own, relying on a base lineup of serviceable mechanics and a hefty load of nostalgia with little else to sweeten the deal.\u00a0Few moments stand out as truly trying to push the bar, with the entire game\u00a0resembling\u00a0a cushy stroll down memory lane\u00a0rather than an\u00a0inventive modern platformer.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0What to Play Before Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart Releases<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Looking back on what made Pumpkin Jack’s\u00a0<\/em>influences so iconic, they\u00a0were all defined by something unique.\u00a0Jak and Daxter\u00a0<\/em>turned levels\u00a0into expansive open-world areas,\u00a0Ratchet and Clank\u00a0<\/em>had its wonderfully over the top weapons, and Sly Cooper<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>had its stealth mechanics. In comparison,\u00a0Pumpkin Jack\u00a0<\/em>tends to feel slightly forgettable, bringing\u00a0an endearing story and functional\u00a0mechanics to the table, but never managing to\u00a0be anything\u00a0more than an entertaining callback to a bygone era.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, players’ enjoyment of\u00a0Pumpkin Jack\u00a0<\/em>will\u00a0crux on how\u00a0nostalgic they are for the 3D action platformers of yesteryear. The makings of a great game are definitely here, with witty dialogue, a wonderful selection of fun mini-games, and some serviceable platforming. But, outside of\u00a0its clear homages and lofty inspirations, Pumpkin Jack\u00a0<\/em>feels like it has nothing new to say\u00a0and no modern insights\u00a0to add. It\u00a0ultimately\u00a0winds up\u00a0a jack of all trades but a master of none, offering plenty\u00a0of ideas rife with potential\u00a0but never\u00a0honing\u00a0in on one long enough to make it\u00a0stand out.<\/p>\n

Pumpkin Jack\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>is\u00a0avaliable now\u00a0on PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.\u00a0Game Rant was provided with a PC code for this review.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0MediEvil Review<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n

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Pumpkin Jack is a solid platformer with plenty of nostalgic charm, but it struggles to be much more than a fun callback to a bygone era.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Pumpkin Jack Review | Game Rant - ITTeacherITFreelance.hk","description":"Pumpkin Jack is a solid platformer with plenty of nostalgic charm, but it struggles to be much more than a fun callback to a bygone era."},"footnotes":""},"categories":[607],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103440,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103439\/revisions\/103440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}