Pumpkin Jack

Pumpkin Jack feels like a throwback to early 3D action platformers from the PS1 and PS2. The game may be linear but due to the simple, addictive gamplay accompanied by great graphics (especially with RTX) and the fun writing/characters, I can say with confidence that Pumpkin Jack is definitely worth the price! Especially during the Halloween seaon!

How everyone can give this game 4 or 5 stars and seemingly mean it is beyond me. It controls poorly. The platforming in imprecise. It's not fun to to float past a corner and fall off a ledge and then need to run around a climb back up just to do it five more times. But what made me quit, during the FIRST level, was the combat. Jack turns and runs too slow to dodge painfully slow moving projectiles shot at him by low level grunts that take way too many hits to die. And while you're standing there smashing the single combat button to swing your weapon as slowly as possible the enemy continues to get in licks at close range, not to mention if someone decides to shoot you from behind. From very far away. to whom you will have to eventually turn and "run" toward over a very empty landscape. Movement is floaty garbage. I wanted this game for a long time because it seemed like it was made for me. The atmosphere is really cool, Jack is a neat idea for a protagonist, and there was one truly hilarious moment where he finds a music box and does a ridiculous dance. It made truly laugh out loud. But that was the only fun to be had. Aesthetics and easily missable jokes shouldn't be the best part of a platformer, but it sure seems like they bamboozled enough people to overlook how poorly the game actually plays.

I found this game on GoG, bought it, played it and today I've finished it. The game was only 6 hours long but it was so much fun that I really want to give it 5 stars. Almost everything here was done right. The graphics look gorgeous (especially the lighting), the controls via mouse and keyboard is pretty responsive and the music fits perfectly. The game also offers some fun mini-games and some (easy) puzzles. I highly recommend this game to any fan of 3D platformers!

The best way to imagine playing this game is like you've discovered a lost version of MediEvil on the PS2, given an HD treatment. It has the melee combat, the environmental puzzles and navigation and the cartoonish spooky atmosphere you'd imagine it to have. It has a solid art style and direction that feels like something you've seen before, but it does enough to distinguish it as its own, like Overlord (2009) or Subcon Forest from A Hat in Time, the music is "spookified" versions of classical music that sounds like would've fit in, again, like Subcon Forest. Everything feels familiar, but it doesn't feel like it's rip off another game. Everything fits well, has variety and intentional direction. There's clear passion and effort woven into it, and it's difficult to deny or ignore it. I wasn't blown away, because I've experienced way too many games of a similar type, but that's fine. It can feel unrefined at times, but that's to be expected. I do wish it would figure out its target audience, as that's the one part that feels directionless. And the barriers in some levels need to be more obvious, or at least use unique models; some fencing was used interchangeably as an invisible barrier, and some was just level dressing. I was able to get it on a sale, and for myself, I felt like the price I got it for was more than fair. GOG didn't properly track total playtime, and while I missed 3 collectible items, after getting 100% of the game done, it totaled to roughly 4 hours. Everything is straight forward with little in the way of branching out. It was enjoyable though, and I couldn't ask for much more.

While game has certain charm in it and does all its aspects well enough to play it through, there is not anything exceptional or new. You will jump, double jump, have attacking crow and couple different weapons to use. Game also includes some different minigames, which work more or less as they should. They are pretty easy but as is the game as whole, why i think this would be good game for someone having first look at these kinds of games. Game took me around 5 hours to complete with collectibles. Normally i would think that length is short, but with Pumpkin Jack it felt just right. It is good game for what it is.