Jump Stars (PC) Review

Don't know about "Stars" but there's definitely a reason why "Jump" is included in the label, as lots of it will ensue here. The cubed blobs that will be your avatars can pull of a vertical or horizontal punch, but they'll mostly jump - jump on the platform, jump from the platform, jump away from danger, and jump over your opponent. By all means, this is just an assortment of mini-games (for up to four players), with every single one needing nothing more than jumping.

Jump to avoid the trap, jump to reach the pie that will keep you alive and kicking (and jumping), and jump to avoid being given a soon-to-be-explored dynamite that your enemy is carrying. Long story short: all that jumping around just isn't fun. The cornerstone of every party game is variety, and this feels like the same thing all over again, no matter the mini-game at hand.

This fails to impress even in terms of presentation, with its gameshow-like theme making it all look mundane, and even ugly at times, as this would look far better in a setting that was a bit more colourful than these dull, half-made sets - not to mention the narrator/presenter, who never stops trying to be funny, although he soon ends up being insanely annoying.

What's worse, however, is that, for a party game, it doesn't let you party as much as you would want to. While the lack of a single-player mode is bad and all, that's actually acceptable as the genre was never meant to be a solo business. Unfortunately, unless real tangible humans are around, there's no way to enjoy this online, something that makes one wonder if the developer ever knew what it was doing.