$30? Are we being real right now? Thank god for Humble Bundle, do not pay full price for this game, not even half if you can manage it.
Wonderful artistic direction with really smooth platformer gameplay completely drowned out by some of the worst writing I've experienced in a long time mixed with baffling music choices. Whenever it's not the actual OST and instead some sort of remixed, royalty free classical piece straight from a 90s family friend movie I was this |-| close to alt+F4-ing.
Then the writer decided to break out his best Redditor impression at every opportunity and undermined the entire game. We're talking real Minion Mom humor, clichés even a child wouldn't even utter. Thank god skipping cutscenes is snappy and you miss nothing.
Thank god the gameplay was fun. The game felt like it took elements of Jak II, MediEvil, Ratchet & Clank, and a touch of Sly Cooper to make the brisk 4 hour run time never lag too much. Some of the mini games overstayed their welcome, but so long as I could skip all the writing, deftly glide over platforms, and bash in some skulls to the tune of a spooky Theremin I was content.
Wonderful artistic direction with really smooth platformer gameplay completely drowned out by some of the worst writing I've experienced in a long time mixed with baffling music choices. Whenever it's not the actual OST and instead some sort of remixed, royalty free classical piece straight from a 90s family friend movie I was this |-| close to alt+F4-ing.
Then the writer decided to break out his best Redditor impression at every opportunity and undermined the entire game. We're talking real Minion Mom humor, clichés even a child wouldn't even utter. Thank god skipping cutscenes is snappy and you miss nothing.
Thank god the gameplay was fun. The game felt like it took elements of Jak II, MediEvil, Ratchet & Clank, and a touch of Sly Cooper to make the brisk 4 hour run time never lag too much. Some of the mini games overstayed their welcome, but so long as I could skip all the writing, deftly glide over platforms, and bash in some skulls to the tune of a spooky Theremin I was content.
Really fun indie game. I liked the story, it was not very rich but a well established one. Dialogues are top notch and I really had a few laughs. Shame the ray tracing option makes my GPU sweat. I died 35 times and 20 of this was in that cursed forest, that area really wore me out. Couldn't get 4 of crow skulls but I got every gramophone. Music is WONDERFUL.
Un action-platformer très basique
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Good game. It captures that classic PS2's 3D platformer feel, even in how standard and unoriginal it ends up being. While it doesn't bring anything new to the table, it's still a well rounded title overall.
"This is Halloween! This is Halloween! Halloween! HALLOWEEN!". Basically if 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' was a PS2-era 3D platformer and Jack Skellington was a pumpkin scarecrow...thing. There's a tangible nostalgia to the way the linear levels are designed. No massive open-world designs, no hub worlds. Just level after level after level. It's simply a short, sweet and amusing platforming adventure - nothing more. But then again, it doesn't try to be anything else but that, and that's why it succeeds for the most part. Collectible crow skulls throughout each level to unlock cosmetics, and gramophones for music. Again, straight to the point. No upgrades or skill trees. Just jump, hit and run. Kinda refreshing when you think about it!
The combat however is downright tedious. Smack smack smack, occasionally dodge, smack smack smack. That's it. There's no variety despite six weapons being available. Literally a shotgun behaves the exact same way as a scythe, and when most of segments separating the platforming areas are combat heavy...ehhh, it's not twisting my pumpkins (if you catch my Halloweeny drift). The puzzle minigames, which are played through Jack's detached pumpkin head, are far too basic to be enjoyable as well.
Aside from that though, it's got that Halloweeny atmosphere that makes it super suitable for a quick and easy October adventure. The six levels (each taking roughly 30 minutes to complete) have plenty of variance, from their environment to the speedy sequences (minecarts, ghost horses, gargoyles etc.), and it genuinely has charm. Just, y'know, the pumpkin needed more carving. It's more of a treat than trick. It puts the "boo" in "boogeyman"...okay, I'm done.
The combat however is downright tedious. Smack smack smack, occasionally dodge, smack smack smack. That's it. There's no variety despite six weapons being available. Literally a shotgun behaves the exact same way as a scythe, and when most of segments separating the platforming areas are combat heavy...ehhh, it's not twisting my pumpkins (if you catch my Halloweeny drift). The puzzle minigames, which are played through Jack's detached pumpkin head, are far too basic to be enjoyable as well.
Aside from that though, it's got that Halloweeny atmosphere that makes it super suitable for a quick and easy October adventure. The six levels (each taking roughly 30 minutes to complete) have plenty of variance, from their environment to the speedy sequences (minecarts, ghost horses, gargoyles etc.), and it genuinely has charm. Just, y'know, the pumpkin needed more carving. It's more of a treat than trick. It puts the "boo" in "boogeyman"...okay, I'm done.
Very good Gen6 like action platformer. Hope a sequel is in the cards.
Gioco sicuramente interessante, sicuramente molto simile a vecchie glorie del passato (MediEvil), tuttavia non mi ha soddisfatto a pieno. Il combattimento non mi ha entusiasmato, anche i movimenti non mi sono sembrati particolarmente ben fatti. Nonostante ciò Pumpkin Jack si lascia giocare, anche se mi aspettavo un pochino di più.
Great 3d platformer, tries for a bit of fun with the minigames.
Combat get repetitive and puzzles are lacking.
Fuck writing as well. It's refreshing to play this.
Combat get repetitive and puzzles are lacking.
Fuck writing as well. It's refreshing to play this.
Not bad but painfully bland.
This adorable platformer is a great homage to the old greats of spyro and crash. With one developer, this game has a lot of soul and is well made. It was a delight to play and I hope more is made.
En sonunda "Ehhh amq" deddirti bana.Bi süreden sonra acayıp sıktı beni.
Hacía tiempo que no jugaba un juego de plataformas que me entretuviese. No tiene un montón de ideas como tantos otros, ni 400 coleccionables, pero la estética, que no cansa, los minipuzzles.... No tiene calidad para ganar ningún premio importante, pero que bien me ha entrado y dudo que hay alguien, incluso un niño, al que le entre mal.
Short, fun unique 3D platformer.
MAKING THE MOTHER OF ALL PUMPKINS, JACK
Way too simple, far too easy, and extremely boring.
Jogo curto legal pra passar o tempo, principalmente no halloween.
mas depois de um tempo acaba ficando enjoativo.
mas depois de um tempo acaba ficando enjoativo.
A nice homage to the PS2 era of platforming with some charming character and good ideas but it falls victim to a repetitive playstyle that the developers tried to make feel different with each setting, but the formula for each level still nonetheless plays out the same unfortunately making the concept old after the first level. I think with some polishing and a bit more variety, this game could have been decently good and a lot more fun than it was.
Charming little platformer. Some parts were a bit subpar though.
I hated the head sections so much
Pumpkin Jack is a game which does a lot of things competently but fails to excel in any of them. It's the epitome of a PlayStation 2 era platformer, complete with all the dust and jank that brings along. The game is repetitive, has some boring minigames, same-y weapons, and floaty platforming. It does have some good style choices and it's also a pretty game, but beyond that it's a basic platformer. If that's what you're in the mood for, you can't really go wrong, but I didn't find any depth beyond that.
This game succeeds at looking pretty and the general atmosphere of the game is fun. The environments are somewhat fun to traverse and the costumes are also good looking. That's all the game does good. From here on out I will be taking a big stinky on the game.
The platforming feels floaty and it doesn't feel precise at all. The game also isn't nice to control and makes the platforming feel sluggish.
For some reason the game also dabbles in 'combat', sometimes it makes you do these tedious battles and you need to kill the same 3 enemy types over and over until it let's you continue to the next part. It's really repetitive and it controls like shit. You wouldn't have guessed it, but the bossbattles are also really boring and dull.
To break from the 'intense' gameplay, they make you do these insanely boring minigames. They honestly feel like flash games you wouldn't even have bothered playing when you were 8.
Not going to complain about the story, because it's a platformer and honestly I don't even remember the setup. But I am going to complain about the dialogue. There's too much of it and it's just poorly written filler that tries to mask itself as funny.
I payed for the game and I already sunk some time into it, so I just wanted to finish it and get it over with. I didn't succeed and the game broke me when they forced me to play this tedious awful no good Christmas present minigame for a third time. I gave up on the game and I will never beat it. If they removed most of the minigames, I would have atleast finished it.
The game isn't awful or something, but it's really mediocre and hinges on being kinda bad. The reason I'm rating it this low is because the game does have potention and it got bogged down because they were trying to do it all. The consequence of this is that not even one mechanic is polished or really that fun. And if you are going to try to do different things at the same times, do it confidently and make sure it's fun to play.
The platforming feels floaty and it doesn't feel precise at all. The game also isn't nice to control and makes the platforming feel sluggish.
For some reason the game also dabbles in 'combat', sometimes it makes you do these tedious battles and you need to kill the same 3 enemy types over and over until it let's you continue to the next part. It's really repetitive and it controls like shit. You wouldn't have guessed it, but the bossbattles are also really boring and dull.
To break from the 'intense' gameplay, they make you do these insanely boring minigames. They honestly feel like flash games you wouldn't even have bothered playing when you were 8.
Not going to complain about the story, because it's a platformer and honestly I don't even remember the setup. But I am going to complain about the dialogue. There's too much of it and it's just poorly written filler that tries to mask itself as funny.
I payed for the game and I already sunk some time into it, so I just wanted to finish it and get it over with. I didn't succeed and the game broke me when they forced me to play this tedious awful no good Christmas present minigame for a third time. I gave up on the game and I will never beat it. If they removed most of the minigames, I would have atleast finished it.
The game isn't awful or something, but it's really mediocre and hinges on being kinda bad. The reason I'm rating it this low is because the game does have potention and it got bogged down because they were trying to do it all. The consequence of this is that not even one mechanic is polished or really that fun. And if you are going to try to do different things at the same times, do it confidently and make sure it's fun to play.
Certainly one of 2020's best games
A semi-retro action adventure game made by a Lyonnais french guys alone in his garage. Wonderful considering both the actual game and its conditions of production
A semi-retro action adventure game made by a Lyonnais french guys alone in his garage. Wonderful considering both the actual game and its conditions of production
I like the protagonist and it's not a bad game but it's pretty meh. At least it's short.
it's a 3d platformer that doesn't aim to do anything innovative other than being a 3d platformer in 2020, but does the basic stuff very well. graphics are beautiful, the spooky soundtrack feels terrific and the story is goofy but creatively narrated from the "evil" perspective. however, here the game's differentials ends, it turns out to become a bit monotonous, the weapons do not add any new mechanics, the pre-existing mechanics are not expanded and only repeated at other stages, apart from the puzzles which are easy but pleasant. speaking of being easy, maybe the game is also too easy and has no option to choose difficulty. as i really love 3d platformers, it was worth playing this one.
if you want to play a old school 3d platformer it can be good choice
Plays like Jak and Daxter, which I liked, but without any of the charm or quirks that made a game like that so memorable and special. I liked how this game felt to control but ultimately the level design was not very interesting to me. It's short enough that it doesn't overstay it's welcome, which is nice.
I heard that Pumpkin Jack was mostly made by a single guy, which is really impressive.
I heard that Pumpkin Jack was mostly made by a single guy, which is really impressive.
Great homage to Medievil from the PS1.
I actually think I enjoyed this more than the remaster of Medievil as this game had more modern controls and the environments were a bit more varied. Still has some of the usual frustrations with platforming that these types of games have but overall it's a enjoyable and well put together tribute to the PS1 era of gaming.
I actually think I enjoyed this more than the remaster of Medievil as this game had more modern controls and the environments were a bit more varied. Still has some of the usual frustrations with platforming that these types of games have but overall it's a enjoyable and well put together tribute to the PS1 era of gaming.
The devil himself needs a champion to take on a powerful wizard that is protecting the earth. Enter Jack, a trickster spirit and the perfect guy for the job. Jack is sent back to earth as a possessed pumpkin to track down the wizard and take him down!
Visuals
Pumpkin Jack doesn’t look great. The graphics are quite blurry and muddy looking, at least on the Switch. But there also isn’t too much to look at. The levels are pretty empty and desolate. Perhaps that’s the look they were going for? Seeing the same trees, fencing, and crates over and over and over gets boring real fast. I do like the lighting. It has an early evening, Halloween night vibe for it. I just wished the landscape was more interesting.
The Jack character looks fine. He’s essentially a walking scarecrow with a flaming pumpkin head. Not a lot of detail, but he looks about how I’d expect this type of character to look. His owl and crow companions are simple looking, but not very cute or interesting.
Sound Effects + Music
I love the music in Pumpkin Jack. It has that stereotypical tip-toeing through a graveyard music, which works perfectly. I just love Halloweeny music in general, so it worked for me.
I also loved the narration. The opening story portion is fully narrated, as are the scenes that transition between levels. The narrator is enthusiastic and humorous. It sounded like it could be part of a real Halloween animated show or movie.
Unfortunately, Jack sounds awful. There’s no other voice acting. He just makes one grunting noise whenever he has dialogue. I was over it by his third line. It’s a very annoying sound and we heard it over and over and over and over…
Gameplay + Controls
Pumpkin Jack is a 3D platformer which comes with all of the inherent problems. Jack’s controls are fine. He can walk/run, jump, double jump, attack, and dodge. He also has a crow companion that you use the L shoulder button to dispatch. Combat does feel pretty clunky (especially when combined with the wonky camera), but for the most part, button mashing is a good solution if you can’t get more precise hits in.
The camera does rotate in every direction, but it always snaps back to either the center of the screen or behind Jack, depending on the situation. I wish there was an option to lock the camera or if it simply stayed where the player puts it. It became a real problem during the chase and auto-runner levels, because Jack is running and jumping but not in a straight line. So when he moves to the sides, the camera spins back to center which made me miss jumps because I was jumping straight based on where I placed the camera, but it snapped back so his jump should have been to the side. It’s annoying.
That said, I did love the variety in level design. The main portions are classic platforming levels with various hazards and jumping across different types of platforms with the odd enemy thrown in. Then you have the “headless” levels where you control Jack’s head as it scuttles around to solve some kind of puzzle. You’ve also got chase sequences, frustrating auto-runners with a phantom horse, and even mazes. I think my favorite was the haunted boat ride.
Aside from the crazy camera, I did experience several glitches throughout my time with Pumpkin Jack. The first happened as soon I opened the game for the first time. Not exactly off to a great start. The opening narration was happening, but the captions didn’t match up, and the background was frozen. I simply restarted the game and it corrected. I had a similar glitch happen with the cut scene after defeating the Vegan Witch.
Another annoying glitch that had me restarting was during one of the pumpkin head puzzles. Somehow Jack’s head fell through the floor. He was still fully controllable, but the camera got stuck in the floor since it couldn’t follow to wherever he went.
Replayability
Pumpkin Jack was an okay game and pretty short. I would not play it again from the beginning given the frustrations I faced. If the controls and camera weren’t such a bother, it wouldn’t be a hard game to go back through to get anything you missed.
Overall
I wished I enjoyed Pumpkin Jack more than I did. I loved that it was a Halloween themed 3D platformer with pretty straight forward levels (no side quests and collectables to distract you). But the camera and constant glitches were hard to overlook. Perhaps these are just issues with the Switch version, or maybe not.
Visuals
Pumpkin Jack doesn’t look great. The graphics are quite blurry and muddy looking, at least on the Switch. But there also isn’t too much to look at. The levels are pretty empty and desolate. Perhaps that’s the look they were going for? Seeing the same trees, fencing, and crates over and over and over gets boring real fast. I do like the lighting. It has an early evening, Halloween night vibe for it. I just wished the landscape was more interesting.
The Jack character looks fine. He’s essentially a walking scarecrow with a flaming pumpkin head. Not a lot of detail, but he looks about how I’d expect this type of character to look. His owl and crow companions are simple looking, but not very cute or interesting.
Sound Effects + Music
I love the music in Pumpkin Jack. It has that stereotypical tip-toeing through a graveyard music, which works perfectly. I just love Halloweeny music in general, so it worked for me.
I also loved the narration. The opening story portion is fully narrated, as are the scenes that transition between levels. The narrator is enthusiastic and humorous. It sounded like it could be part of a real Halloween animated show or movie.
Unfortunately, Jack sounds awful. There’s no other voice acting. He just makes one grunting noise whenever he has dialogue. I was over it by his third line. It’s a very annoying sound and we heard it over and over and over and over…
Gameplay + Controls
Pumpkin Jack is a 3D platformer which comes with all of the inherent problems. Jack’s controls are fine. He can walk/run, jump, double jump, attack, and dodge. He also has a crow companion that you use the L shoulder button to dispatch. Combat does feel pretty clunky (especially when combined with the wonky camera), but for the most part, button mashing is a good solution if you can’t get more precise hits in.
The camera does rotate in every direction, but it always snaps back to either the center of the screen or behind Jack, depending on the situation. I wish there was an option to lock the camera or if it simply stayed where the player puts it. It became a real problem during the chase and auto-runner levels, because Jack is running and jumping but not in a straight line. So when he moves to the sides, the camera spins back to center which made me miss jumps because I was jumping straight based on where I placed the camera, but it snapped back so his jump should have been to the side. It’s annoying.
That said, I did love the variety in level design. The main portions are classic platforming levels with various hazards and jumping across different types of platforms with the odd enemy thrown in. Then you have the “headless” levels where you control Jack’s head as it scuttles around to solve some kind of puzzle. You’ve also got chase sequences, frustrating auto-runners with a phantom horse, and even mazes. I think my favorite was the haunted boat ride.
Aside from the crazy camera, I did experience several glitches throughout my time with Pumpkin Jack. The first happened as soon I opened the game for the first time. Not exactly off to a great start. The opening narration was happening, but the captions didn’t match up, and the background was frozen. I simply restarted the game and it corrected. I had a similar glitch happen with the cut scene after defeating the Vegan Witch.
Another annoying glitch that had me restarting was during one of the pumpkin head puzzles. Somehow Jack’s head fell through the floor. He was still fully controllable, but the camera got stuck in the floor since it couldn’t follow to wherever he went.
Replayability
Pumpkin Jack was an okay game and pretty short. I would not play it again from the beginning given the frustrations I faced. If the controls and camera weren’t such a bother, it wouldn’t be a hard game to go back through to get anything you missed.
Overall
I wished I enjoyed Pumpkin Jack more than I did. I loved that it was a Halloween themed 3D platformer with pretty straight forward levels (no side quests and collectables to distract you). But the camera and constant glitches were hard to overlook. Perhaps these are just issues with the Switch version, or maybe not.