There are 15 stages across three worlds, all featuring generous checkpoints. The bonus stages are one-shot affairs, so failure to beat them within the allotted time period means you will have to replay the main stage in order to have another crack. Solar Panels can be used to play a slot machine mini game between stages, which can earn you extra lives or vitality hearts. It soon becomes quite compulsive, and you will find yourself replaying levels to ensure you mop up every last collectible. The pace is pretty slow and deliberate, with a focus on exploring your surroundings and finding all of the Solar Panels (think: coins, rings), hidden concept art, and side-stages. There are some rather unimaginative robotic enemies, and boss encounters that feature lazy palette swapping. But then you have the generic boringness of the Jett character – even though it is essentially a throwaway platformer, there isn’t much to invest in emotionally here. Steady 60fps is the order of the day, and there are some fine touches – the way dispatched enemies fly outwards in a Mode 7 style, for example, or the excellent use of lighting and textures. Graphics and design are as mixed up as the perspectives on display. Getting used to judging distances and jumps when the viewpoint alters to 3D can be annoying, particularly when you are attempting to use the spin attack to crush an enemy and end up whizzing all over the place. The constant switching doesn’t always make for a fluid gaming experience. Sometimes the perspective will change within a level – find a portal into one of the hidden bonus stages and you may find your 2D platform hopping interrupted by a foray into three dimensions. Once you have gotten used to controlling Jett on a two dimensional stage, the game mixes things up – with some 3D levels appearing, some of which present themselves from a fixed camera angle, and others which allow you to roam freely as you could on your Wii. You will obtain use of a jetpack at regular intervals –which is limited to the areas where you encounter a refuel point.
You can jump, wall jump, and execute a rolling spin attack to smash your enemies or break through destroyable scenery. It feels resolutely old school, like you are playing a golden age SNES game, with some lovely 3D effects thrown in. Unlike its predecessor which limited Jett to a 3D plane, here the action kicks off as in 2D with gameplay reminiscent of Megaman but without the shooters. This isn’t a title that is going to set the world on fire, but it does provide a great-looking, pleasant distraction with some decent replay value. The Germans behind the superb Nano shooting games have ability in spades – they always seem to be able to squeeze brilliant performances from their hardware, delivering commendable Western takes on traditionally Japanese fare. They may be an official third party developer to Nintendo, but anyone in this day and age needs some brass balls to engineer a title of this ilk on a console that is home to the pinnacle of handheld platforming. This second go-around with the Jett Rocket character, first seen on WiiWare, is a thoroughly competent affair – a well-designed take on games of yesteryear, with a nice bit of modern grunt.
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