Jack Attack

Jack Attack

Game No.	477
Voting	6.19 points, 16 votes
Developer	Kevin Kieller, John Traynor
Company	Commodore
Release	1983
Platform	C64, C16, C116, Plus/4
Genre	Arcade, Miscellaneous
Gamemode	1-2 Multiplayer
Operation
Media
Language

Description[edit | edit source]

Jack Attack is a relatively simple platform strategy game. In the centre is the red character named "Jack" who is attacked by monsters. Aim of the game: defeat all monsters and by this get Jack safely through the 64 different levels.

Jack can move in all directions on all territories except for water (ground, blocks, barriers). When getting in contact with water, Jack instantly drowns and loses a life. Jack can jump down from any height: The main thing is that there is no water beneath him. Jack can jump upwards to a maximum of three game blocks. After each gained 20.000 points, Jack always gets a bonus life.

The monster enemies can move freely everywhere, also on water (which is announced with a text before every level: "Beware, Monsters float but you don't!"), and hop arbitrarily up and down and from left to right and vice versa. The longer you "spend" in a level, the faster and more incalculably will they hop and maybe change the direction which they have taken shortly before. The monsters cannot move through barriers or game blocks.

Design[edit | edit source]

2D screen without scrolling effect - which means: each level is on one screen and can instantly fully be seen with the eyes. The colours of the monsters, the game block, barriers and the ground is newly defined in each level. What keeps its colours are the character (red), the background (black), the water (turquoise) - if available in the level - and the labelling with the game displays. Jack Attack is played alone, if you play in the 2-player mode, you play in turns.

...a short animation from the game.

Hints[edit | edit source]

The monsters need to be defeated completely in each level, otherwise you cannot end the level. There is no time limit for a level. There is a countdown, but it is only for the bonus points and the barriers. The barriers disappear after the counter has run out.

The counter always runs out within each level. If Jack defeats all enemies before the timer runs out, he will get the rest of the time added to his score counter as points.

Jack defeats his enemies by:

a) stomping them by jumping on them.

b) pressing the with a game block against another game block, barrier or outer wall of the level.

c) dropping a game block onto the monsters.

Jack moves one (or as many as wanted) game blocks as far to the left and right as required (max. to the end of the game area) on the height on which he currently is. He himself can also get under a block and die, when it falls onto him. Furthermore, Jack has the ability to trail (only) one block. Blocks are pulled or pushed by pressing the fire button. For pushing or pulling a block during the countdown Jack will get points.

Barriers are the bars onto which you can jump. Once touched, you have "marked" them and they glow. When you have touched all barriers/bars in a level while the timer has not run out yet, you will get the corresponding bonus points (it is shown at the start of the level how much that is). The bars disappear directly after a certain time has run out, then there are no barriers any more - logically there is no bonus possible for this then. Barriers themselves cannot be moved, they are a fixed installation that disappear without a trace after the timer has run out. Jack can find protection from the enemies below a bar or temporarily "lock in" monsters when there are certain constellations of the barriers.

Game blocks can be moved or pushed down on barriers (as long as they have not disolved yet). If Jack is standing on a bar which then resolves because the counter has run down, Jack will of course sink to the ground, same as the game blocks stored there.

The game also explains itself in short steps, if you wait a short time at the beginning (while the game demo runs). But it is also very easy to grasp without any manual - simply try it and have fun :-).

...the short explanation.

Solution[edit | edit source]

Do not "play the hero" and try to defeat the monsters one after the other - except the situations allows that. If possible, look for a higher location and watch out that the monsters (which attack bit by bit) cannot crash at you from above. Touching all bars in a level within the time limit gets you many points. However, you often should rather pass that on depending on the aggressiveness of the monsters and the difficult constellation of the bars.

Cheats[edit | edit source]

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
6.19 points at 16 votes (rank 753). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	4	19th July 2008 - "acceptable" - 2565 downs
Lemon64	7,2	19th July 2008 - 14 votes
ZZap64	58%	Issue 85/05

Reviews[edit | edit source]

Shakermaker303: "My first, own C64 game, even as a cartridge *hehe*. And one of my best as well. I liked the game idea from the start and still today like playing Jack Attack. It is fun to destroy them by hopping on them or squeeze them with the blocks. The graphics are totally secondary, same as the missing sound. Well, the game is rather old. Small point of criticism: After the end of the game at level XX it was rather frustrating to start again at level 1-9. A savegame function or a bigger palette of levels to choose from at the beginning would have been nice. Nevertheless, in my opinion it gets full 10 out of 10 points."

H.T.W: "Funny game, very good to play with addictiveness (and you are the next to be hopped to defeat.... ;) ). You should also think a bit, or it will happen to you like Rockford from Boulderdash, a stone can quickly land on your nob. And it is not as easy as it looks, already from level 2 onwards you need to take care not to get caught right at the beginning. To cut a long story short: You just need to try it!

Flodder: "Cute game from the early times of the C64 when Commodore still produced games themselves. Still today I find it astonishing that the game was actually allowed to be released with this name as the title is a distinct wordplay on the then Commodore boss Jack Tramiel, whose legendary fits of rage were called "Jack Attack" in the company.

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

Print on the package:

"Jack Attack is the best arcade-style yet produced expressly for the popular Commodore C64 system, and rates as an absolute must-buy. - Electronic Games Hotline"