Post-Game Game Post: JUMPGRID
I don’t tend to be publicly “wowed” by games based on their trailers alone these days. In the modern era where any one release can end up looking so different from what it was, it’s hard to gin up a lot of genuine excitement for a piece of marketing material. Regardless, when I first caught eye of Ian MacLarty’s JUMPGRID back in December, I was struck by the simplicity of what was on display. The bright, stark colors; the pulsing, mechanical electronic beats; MacLarty’s own description of it as “bullet hell speed-Pac-Man;” it became something to watch, and then I promptly forgot about it because my brain is a trash fire, host to little more than the names of craft beers, Dark Souls bosses, and Destiny lore.
Jump ahead to this month, where I am incredibly pleased to say that JUMPGRID is not only all of those things listed above, but a worthy successor to the reflex/dexterity dodge-’em throne that Super Hexagon has so long reigned upon in my heart.
At the outset, JUMPGRID has little in the way of subtlety: you control a floating diamond with two rings rotating around it, and move along a grid to pick up squares. Collect every square on a level, and a portal opens up that warps you further down into madness. Obstacles begin to show up, whether they’re laser lines that you have to time jumps across, or screen-filling walls that set harsh-but-fair time limits on your attempts in a level.
The average flow of a JUMPGRID level goes something like this:
1) Okay, this doesn’t seem too bad.
2) Oh no, wait, this is horrible.
3) Fuckgodshitugh that attempt was so close.
4) Okay, I think I’ve got it! Just a few more attempts and it’s on to the next level.
5) DAMMIT.
6) I made it! What’s next?
I can do anything now, for I am akin to a square-nabbing god!
7) See Step 1.
Broken up into four distinct themes/skins/songs, JUMPGRID shines when it starts deliberately messing with the player in a good way. The titular grid is obscured in so many strange, creative ways - first with mere blocks and pills, followed by segments that reveal squares just as often as they remove others, and even more devious tricks continue from there. You begin to realize a few tricks that make navigating these hellish grids that much easier, the most crucial being that the grid wraps around, so you can press left and end up on the right side of the grid.
What initially seems like a game of pure reflex and reaction reveals its true nature: JUMPGRID is a puzzle game played at breakneck speeds, and it’s utterly fantastic.
There is a devious rhythm to games of this ilk, and I dislike making the constant comparison to Super Hexagon, though I think they do share some aesthetic DNA if nothing else. That DNA expresses itself in the very idea of being “in the zone,” that extra heightened focus that settles in when you’ve really started to get the hang of the movement, where your cursor becomes less something you’re staring at on the screen and more an extension of yourself and your will to get through whatever obstacles are presented. The marriage of this pulsing soundtrack to the visual language of every threat being immediately identifiable encourages that zen-like state, and the split-second restart time in the vein of Super Meat Boy or Trials makes all the difference. If there was even a second longer to wait between attempts, I think the magic of JUMPGRID would fall apart almost instantly.
Instead, the sight of that next portal on always feels just a little bit closer, a little bit too close to say, “Okay, I need a break, I’ve had time to breathe and the moment is gone.” That sense of propulsion carried me through the totality of the quadrants on offer, even when some of the latter levels in the final (and by far most brain-wracking) quadrant started to get at me. It’s also definitely worth mentioning that JUMPGRID does have an option to turn down the game speed right in the options, which is a wonderful nod to accessibility.
It’s not a perfect game, and I think my biggest issue with it comes down to the “boss” stages that cap off each quadrant. For clarity’s sake, I don’t think they’re actually referred to as “boss” stages, but it’s the closest shorthand I can think of: these few stages charge you with merely surviving the gauntlet thrown at you, rather than having to collect squares to open up the next door. While they do work as a culmination of the skills you’ve picked up in the previous levels of that quadrant, the last one in particular - where your movement options are suddenly confined to a single axis at a time, rather than the full grid - felt like an extra level of cruel in comparison to, well, the rest of the quadrant and the game. It’s by no means enough for me to even consider not recommending the game, but it merits a mention.
I remain humbled and incredibly pleased by JUMPGRID, well after completing it and going back in to the Speedrun mode to see if I can even remotely lower my average death count. I cannot. I am bad at this game, and still love it. It is immediately approachable, devious in its depth, and a thoroughly engaging visual trip that will prove just as challenging as it is refreshingly straightforward.
Final take: I heartily recommend JUMPGRID.
JUMPGRID can be purchased on itch.io or Steam.
I don’t have a referral link or anything of that sort, I just like to make these things known.
Review details: I played through the game to completion, as well as several Quadrant 1/2 speedruns.
JUMPGRID was reviewed with a Steam code given to me by the developer.
