Jack Move | PC Review
Jack Move, the new RPG on the indie scene by So Romantic, is not shy about what it is. It is a hacking game. It has lots of hacking terms in its dialogue. And there’s lots and lots of actual hacking. Did I mention the hacking? Hack the planet!
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One
The world of Jack Move is pretty much every near-future ultra-capitalist dystopian cyber-future. Mega-corporations have effectively taken over the world and destroyed the environment, everyone is kitted out with cyber-ware that enables them to hack into the mainframe along with literally everything else. You play as Noa Solares, a hacker for hire out to both make a buck and take down Monomind, one of the above-mentioned mega-corps. And you do this by whipping out your cyber-deck and hacking your enemies to death. Wait, that sounded wrong…
The battle system is a pretty standard turn-based affair with a rock-paper-scissors elemental weakness system. You have access to three types of color-coded hacking programs, alongside your basic physical attacks (again, in cyberspace…somehow). Jack Move differentiates itself by having a limited amount of space for your programs, so you have to consider what enemies you’re fighting and how best to take them down. Fortunately, you can spend a turn in combat to redo your deck, swapping out less effective programs and swapping in ones that will give you an edge.
And that’s an edge you’ll need, because Jack Move can be pretty punishing. Enemies are able to deal a sizable amount of damage, and you have no party members to absorb hits or support you. Noa’s all alone in this cyber-punked world, at least as far as combat is concerned. It doesn’t help that the encounter rate is very high by default, though to be fair to the developers, you have the option to tone it down or turn off combat entirely (though they do warn you that if you do this, you likely won’t be prepared for future encounters). Your programs can also level up to be more effective, though by the time that’s happened, you’ll likely have replaced them with higher-tier programs.
Jack Move Final Verdict
Jack Move as a whole definitely has a ‘theme’ going for it, and depending on how nostalgic you are for 90’s-era hacking, it can be a nice warm cyber-blanket for anyone who misses the era of Hackers, Mega Man Battle Network, and similar media.
The problem is there’s not much to the game as a whole. It looks very pretty, the soundtrack slaps, but it only runs about 5-6 hours. This is long enough for them to tell a story, true, but not really long enough to get invested in the characters and the world. Likewise, you don’t go very far. It’s all fairly well-contained in a few different neighborhoods within the same city, which never feels very big, considering the scope of the story’s consequences.
Jack Move is currently available on Steam and all major consoles for $20 USD. It oozes style, but lacks substance with its short story and relatively small game world. It certainly works well as an introduction to the world and the characters, and if So Romantic comes back with an expanded sequel with more to explore and a more complex battle system, it should be one to watch for.
This review is based on a PC copy of Jack Move provided by Vicarious PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Epic Games Store and Humble Store.
Jack Move
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Pros
- Strong Sense of Style
- Great Soundtrack
Cons
- Length
- Goes a Little Overboard on the Hacker Lingo
