Game review: Adventure of Jabba
Adventure of Jabba
Adventure of Jabba is a child friendly 2D platform game on mobile made by Gameone. You play as Jabba the adventurer clad in a red and blue outfit topped off with a red cap whose objective is to pass each level which leads to the final boss battle of each themed world.
This game has a good level of difficulty. Like most it started off easy for players to get accustomed to the controls but as it progressed it required a little more thinking but not to the point where it was too involved - small strategies needed to be thought up to get to more difficult places or to land and avoid attacks.
Right off the bat, the factor that hooked me in was the music. It was the classic old school game music which really brings you to childhood. It's definitely difficult to discuss the music and sound effects without hearing it in person first, but if you just imagine game boy music - if you've lived that long - you'll know what I mean. However I wished the music would change as the game progresses it become repetitive after the 10th game and doesn’t seem to fit the theme of some worlds.
The charming visual aspects of the game are crisp, nicely animated and colourful - saturated colours which attracts younger audiences. Nothing in the background is too distracting for you to lose focus on the character you control, as a matter of fact the most eye catching object on the screen is Jabba as it's the only red colored component. There are 6 worlds in total, each with a different theme. Downside is, these themes are overused. I know I shouldn't expect much from a mobile 2D platformer, however the world themes of garden, dessert, magical, forest, island, and lastly the scary boss theme are definitely too common. If they had more distinct ideas, it would boost the game up a notch.
Since this is a mobile game, the mechanics cannot be too complex due to the lack of space on the screen for placement of controls. The simplicity of the controls is decent: on the left there's the d-pad which only consists of left and right, and the jump and attack (hammer throwing) is located on the right. The simplicity allows younger players to participate without too much difficulty and corresponds to the games clean and cute image. What can hook you in is that when you complete a level, it doesn't jump back out to world map view, instead it continues on straight away which is a good way to keep players playing continuously.
The barriers of this game are just the edges of the screen; nothing too complicated which can prove as a disadvantage at times as you cannot pan the view box up or down to check if there are any collectable items present. You'll have to physically move up or down to explore off screen areas. However a positive factor is that actions made by the character still happens off-screen e.g. when you throw a hammer and it flies off screen, it will still hit whatever objects are in its path.
Much like Mario and any other 2D platform game, the objective is to reach the portal at the end of each level under the time frame - which varies depending on the level and power ups at hand - and beat the boss at the end of each world segment of individual 14 levels. The continuous side quest is to collect all the coins on each level, which is optional but these coins can be used to upgrade powerups such as coin magnet, shield, amount of lives and attacks.
Rules of this game - like its many other aspects - are quite simple. You can only store up to a certain amount of attacks (hammers) unlike Mario where the attacks are infinite and this adds a certain degree of difficulty to the game which makes it more interesting and more aware of your actions. Another factor that adds to the difficulty and variation between each level is that as you progress within the game, the enemies increase in level - where some cannot be killed - which nicely balances out your increased skill as you get accustomed to the games controls. Another common rule which is also present in Adventure of Jabba is that when you get touched by an enemy, you lose a life or you shrink if you have drunk the potion beforehand.
Obstacles to prevent completion are a must in a game and this has quite a few. There are a few interesting powerups - coin magnet, shield, extra lives, and a potion which makes you grow - much like the mushroom in Mario. These powerups really help you out in the game, especially as you progress and the difficulty increases. There are a variety of enemies which serves as an obstacle - if you touch them you lose a life, and once your life bank is depleted, you have to start from the beginning. An area where I think they could they could improve with their components is the layout of the levels in each world. There are 14 individual levels which at first are entertaining, but get tedious as the game progresses. It can be improved if there was a sub boss level half way so it's less repetitive. This game, unlike some 2D platformers has no cutscenes which makes this game perfect for players who wish to have a quick play without having to run through said cutscenes.
The first thing I noticed when I launched the game was its heavy resemblance me to Super Mario Bros series both in terms of components and game space, in fact I almost mistook this game for Mario without looking at its name. In a way, I feel like this game is playing it safe, following almost every aspect of Super Mario Bros which is understandable due to its success, however it provides little originality and maybe because I'm biased but I feel Adventure of Jabba still falls short when placed side by side to Super Mario Bros. I know there isn't a wide range of variations when it comes to 2D platform games, however the resemblance is too great for me to not point out. Another downside is the amount of ads that pop up in the game, every time you pause or launch or touch the screen after a period of inactivity, it takes you to an ad. Now I know this aspect isn't part of the actual game, but I just had to point that out as well.
Overall this game is entertaining and as you play each level, you look forward to the next as each level varies from the last with different layout of obstacles and different enemies - simply it knows how to catch your attention and it really brings you back to childhood.