Lunar Jetman
Come with me dear reader, into my time machine and let us revisit 1983. It's time to revisit another Ultimate classic, chance to catch up with an old friend. Let's load up Lunar Jetman.
Now the last time we met our hero he was assembling his rocket ship piece by piece ( well in three pieces ) and refuelling by dropping cans of fuel from a great height onto it in Jetpac . I did express concern at the time over this reckless construction behaviour. But his lack of health and safety has returned to bite him well and truly in the jetpac. After his rocket ship has managed to fall apart ( well you do always have some parts left over don't you!?) in mid-flight , he has managed to crash land on an alien world. Not surprisingly the inhabitants are slightly surprised by Jetman plummeting (dis) gracefully from the skies and decide that he can supply the ingredients needed to enable them to make an assault on earth.
Armed with his trusty Moon Rover, (let's hope that one is better made than the rocket was ), some bridging units (lots of craters on this planet) , his jetpak ( which eats fuel like there is no tomorrow) and anything else he can find, he has to destroy missiles and bases to save himself and planet Earth. Easy, eh?
I have to say I was excited to get my hands on this game, Jetpac had been such a hit with both myself and my Dad . Due to both the game play and the comedy element of boasting the sound effects through a large set of speakers. The loading screen promised such riches , as all Ultimate loading screens did, each one a work of art.
I have to say I was excited to get my hands on this game, Jetpac had been such a hit with both myself and my Dad . Due to both the game play and the comedy element of boasting the sound effects through a large set of speakers. The loading screen promised such riches , as all Ultimate loading screens did, each one a work of art.
I would have to say this game does take a few goes to really start to enjoy, those aliens do have a habit of homing in on you and splatting you. But once you get yourself into that little Moon Rover you can start going places. Now the aim of the game is to attach the bomb and then drop it on an enemy base all within a time limit. Needless to say with my game play the Earth was destroyed many times along with Jetman and his Moon Rover. But you can't deny this game is very addictive, you do just keep coming back for more. The graphics are beautiful, there is always something so solid and believable about graphics in Ultimate games.
Very early on we discovered a little cheat in this game, you don't need the bridging sections to get over craters , you can just get in and out your rover and gradually move it forward. A tactic not dissimilar to getting my Dad's Austen Allegro to get going sometimes. Immediately this became our comedy element "Dad...Jetman has the same make of car as you!" . Very soon with a child's imagination the fantastical science-fiction element of this game had been somewhat brought back down to earth.
Very early on we discovered a little cheat in this game, you don't need the bridging sections to get over craters , you can just get in and out your rover and gradually move it forward. A tactic not dissimilar to getting my Dad's Austen Allegro to get going sometimes. Immediately this became our comedy element "Dad...Jetman has the same make of car as you!" . Very soon with a child's imagination the fantastical science-fiction element of this game had been somewhat brought back down to earth.
For all the world saving and missile base destroying that should have been happening , I'm afraid the thing that always makes me smile about this game is the sneaky bumping along of that Moon Rover. Perhaps that could be seen as sacrilege, all that missed game play. I've not even told you about the teleporter pads or the cannon.
But the fact is , when you are 12 sometimes it's the little things that make you laugh. Sometimes a game doesn't have to be played just to save the world or destroy an enemy base. Admittedly for some people this game will have been about saving the world and getting the high scores.
But for me I always imagined Jetman cussing and pushing his battered old Austen Allegro Moon Rover towards the enemy base, hitching up his bomb and moaning about the price of fuel for his jetpac. It helped me to find humour in the everyday world around me. Instead of me being drawn into Jetman's world, he had become drawn into mine.
Alien bases may not have been destroyed, but something even better had been created.
Smiles and happy memories , which last even today.
But the fact is , when you are 12 sometimes it's the little things that make you laugh. Sometimes a game doesn't have to be played just to save the world or destroy an enemy base. Admittedly for some people this game will have been about saving the world and getting the high scores.
But for me I always imagined Jetman cussing and pushing his battered old Austen Allegro Moon Rover towards the enemy base, hitching up his bomb and moaning about the price of fuel for his jetpac. It helped me to find humour in the everyday world around me. Instead of me being drawn into Jetman's world, he had become drawn into mine.
Alien bases may not have been destroyed, but something even better had been created.
Smiles and happy memories , which last even today.