Review: Jack N' Jill DX

I've always been a big fan of platform/side scroller games so I was very pleased when I got the opportunity to get to review Ratalaika Games latest title, Jack N' Jill. I've now played a bit through the game and I as always, have some things to talk about.

Platform: Xbox One S. Introduction Jack N' Jill is a difficult plattformer that focuses on Jack and Jill. Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of water. However, things went wrong, which results in Jack (or Jill since she's also a playable character) having to save Jill. 

The game starts off pretty quickly, with a quick tutorial in the first levels to get you sorted into how the game works. Visuals/performance Visually, the game holds up decently. It's obviously not a game that focuses on gorgeous graphics but in a game like this, it's not really that important. For old-school gamers, it can be a great throwback, however. When it comes to the sound design, though, there can be a bit much of the same after a while. Hearing the game's same repetitive song throughout can get a bit annoying. 

Performance wise, I never stumbled upon any sort of framedrop or bug and frankly, that is to be expected with a game like this. Overall, the game's graphics are good considering it's only asking for $5, with the sound design being a bit tedious but not bad, while not having any problems at all regarding performance. Great job, Ratalaika Games/ Rohan Narang (the developer). Gameplay Jack N' Jill is all about pressing A. That's literally all that I was doing in the game. To move forward as Jack (or Jill), I had to press the A button, while having to press A again in order to jump over dangerous hazards when it was necessary. As I moved through the game's levels, I noticed that it started off very easily in terms of difficulty but kept getting harder and harder the longer I played. 

When I reached the first world's last levels, I really got a sense of how difficult it became. Throughout the worlds, I was introduced to different power-up abilities that helped me in certain levels, such as shoes that give you faster movement speed, for example. I also unlocked the wall-jump ability when I reached the second world, that further helped me with certain tasks. There are 7 worlds and 140 levels in total, which to me is a great amount of content for a game that only costs $5. Despite the A button being the only button I ever pressed, with the same thing going in each level (pretty much, even though each level did a good job in being varied), I never stopped having fun. Some of that fun also comes out of the difficulty due to all the attempts at wanting to beat a level. 

If I have to be honest, It was actually pretty addictive. Each level has a certain amount of coins that I was able to pick up, either small coins or larger coins. With coins, I was able to purchase an entry into a mini-game, with mini-games (the first mini-game was priced at 100 coins), I was rewarded tickets with each task done. Tickets are a way to purchase clothing parts for Jack or Jill, such as a chef or army hat. I was also able to purchase a color for the game, since the game is pretty much without any colors overall. I bought a green color and it looks rather good. Mini-games are small activities that you can take part in, such as first one where I needed to save enemies from falling down a bridge. 

I was given 60 seconds to save as many as possible. I think all this adds more content and enjoyment to the game, which is great. I think they missed a great opportunity to add a local multiplayer mode, though. The game is also perfect for achievement hunters, I was able to unluck them all in under an hour! There are also challenges in the game but I do not know exactly what they unlock. All in all Jack N'Jill is a very enjoyable and moderately difficult platformer that offers a surprisingly good amount of content, especially for its price. It could've been even better if there were any local multiplayer elements featured but with how easily obtained the achievements are, it sort of makes up for it. At least for me. Its performance is flawless and the game looks decent in terms of visuals, but the sound design could've been better.

Jack N' Jill is available digitally on the Xbox Store for the low price of $5.

A review copy was provided for review purposes.

This review is written by Jesper Ingemansson and is based on his honest opinion about the game.