OCTOBER 21ST, 2020
HAMMER JACK
GRAPHICS: 7/10
SOUND QUALITY: 8/10
GAMEPLAY: 6/10
CHARACTERS: 7/10
STORY: 8/10
OVERALL: 7/10
Hero? Villain? It doesn’t matter if you have a hammer and funky music. Hammer Jack is a free-to-play homage to old school arcade climbers that will suck you in for an hour or two without you realizing it.
Hammer Jack was released on September 9th, 2020, by Studio Leat, a two-person operation based out of Cape Town, South Africa. Lian Kruger and Ettienne Kruger spearhead this up-and-coming mobile game company. I’m looking forward to knowing more about their team and studio in the future.
GAMEPLAY 6/10
In Hammer Jack you only have 3 controls: left, right, and up. This helps to keep the game simple and easy to jump into for all ages. The only downside to the controls is that the jump button doesn't always take you as high as you would expect. It requires you to give a couple of seconds between jumping between levels which slows down the gameplay. This can be frustrating while you try to escape sinking buildings. However, the floors have only a little bit of traction to them which makes calculating which block to strategically hit very engaging. The boss fights are distinct enough from each other to keep the progression of the game from feeling stagnant. These fights take considerable calculation: you have to time when you can jump on the boss safely as there is only a small window of opportunity to send them to collect an L&I check with their underlings. The boss fights have a different speed and feel to them that don’t match with the jump mechanics of the game so it feels extra good when you clear a boss and make it to the next level.
GRAPHICS 7/10
Hammer Jack’s key selling point is being an old school style arcade climber game. This game features inoffensive pixel art with detailed buildings in the background that contrast with smooth textured characters, enemies, and blocks in the forefront of your vision. Despite the clear difference in art styles, the graphics blend nicely together to provide an easy experience on the eyes as you navigate your mission of delivering union builders job security — something unusual in most mobile games.
SOUND QUALITY 8/10
After over 24 cumulative playing hours, I have developed a taste for Hammer Jack’s level music that features xylophone overlaid with smooth bass plucking. Its “overworld theme” is a relaxing soft string rhythm accompanied by an equally soothing clarinet melody — it’s great music to take a nap to. The noises for powerup noises when you send one of the many builders to collect an L&I check are reminiscent of those old school powerup noises in arcade games we all get excited to overuse.
CHARACTERS 7/10
Hammer Jack has three distinct characters: you, the builders, and their bosses. Each of these ranges in some type of anthropomorphic animal. There isn’t too much beyond that — but it does leave enough room for fun head cannon. The art for the game indicates that you are wanted for the destruction of property in your quest to climb through higher and higher buildings, making it simple enough to jump into. It makes sense why builders are trying to stop you and replace the blocks you slap around to make. I don’t blame them — I wouldn’t want to deal with a construction boss who was part dog, rabbit, or panda. The inclusion of a bear makes it worth playing alone, in my opinion, however.
STORY 8/10
In Hammer Jack, you aren’t bogged down with too much lore or story, which is a good thing for an arcade-type game. All you need to know is that you like climbing through buildings (structural integrity be damned) while dodging union workers who are trying to stop your adrenaline-fueled hobby of reaching rooftops. Coming from a background of commercial plumbing, I understand the “bad guys” in this game — but I still feel a strong purpose in juking them between floors of buildings.
OVERALL 7/10
As far as mobile games go, you can't really go wrong with Hammer Jack. It's simple, easy to get into, and has music to keep you locked in the journey between levels and buildings — all of which culminates in boss fights with different types of anthropomorphic animals. The only gripes I have with the game are certain gameplay mechanics (that are honestly just nitpicks of mine).
