Glu Mobile’s Jump O’ Clock, is a fun-filled endurance-style game where the protagonist resembles Tik-Tok from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The main objective is to jump from cog to cog in order to reach a pre-destined vertical height. Sometimes you’ll even be forced to use the walls as well. You gain extra points the higher you jump, and the jumps gradually become more difficult the higher you go. Soon you are faced with metal spikes on cogs and cogs that are electrically charged. Watch out though, you can take a few blows from the obstacles along the way, but one too many and it’s “Game Over.” Along your ascent, you can pick up hex nuts, collect enough of these and you’ll unlock a “Super Jump” power up which can propel LE0 the robot at top speeds for several feet, just be careful where you land.
Jump O’ Clock also offers 15 Challenges which include reaching a specified height within the time limit and not “taking a hit” while jumping. You must unlock the challenges to advance, and I found these really enhanced the gameplay, making it more well-rounded, increasing re-playability.
The game’s crisp steampunk style graphics complimented the game play and are surprising for such a simple game. They are both colorful and detailed. The almost anthem-like soundtrack just seems to fit the game as well. Jump O’ Clock has full OpenFeint integration with achievements and global leaderboards. In fact, while you are making your harrowing cog climb in endurance mode, you’ll see performance lines marking both your OpenFient friends’ and your previous height records, so you can instantly see how well you are doing.
In Conclusion
Obvious comparisons will surely be made to Doodle Jump, but Jump O’ Clock proves there is still room for new titles in the genre and this game makes for a nice alternative. Glu has taken some of the best innovations from the titles that came before and then added some ideas of their own like the Challenges mode. Jump O’Clock is a great pick up and go game that any casual or more experience gamer can enjoy. That being said, some players may find the gameplay a bit repetitive, but that’s pretty much par for the course for endurance-style games. Normally selling for 99¢, if you act quickly, you can probably still pick up this title for FREE as Glu has dropped the price for a limited time.
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