Jack Lumber review – Easily the best lumberjack game on Windows Phone

Concluding month we reviewed Snuggle Truck, the kickoff Windows Telephone game from Owlchemy Labs. Snuggle Truck impressed with its sense of humor, vast array of levels, level editor, and great visual mode. Sure, the level select bug I encountered still needs to be stock-still (ahem!), but the game remains my option for all-time side-view driving game on the platform.

This month Owlchemy returns with an every bit exciting game: Jack Lumber. The game plays a bit like a more methodical fruit ninja, as the titular lumberjack must slice through mass quantities of wood that fly on-screen with his trusty axe. But Jack Lumber is much funnier than Fruit Ninja and packs a lengthy entrada way filled with singled-out levels, missions, and tons of silly things to collect. You lot won't believe just how fun chopping through trees and bottles of syrup can be until y'all play Jack Lumber.

Grandma got run over by a pine tree

Believe it or not, Jack Lumber has an bodily story that comes to life through well-fatigued animated cinematics and clever letters that Jack receives between levels.

As the game opens, Jack's poor granny meets her demise at the hands of a mysterious tree with blueish pino cones. Our hero takes Granny'due south decease to heart and sets out to avenge her by chopping downward whatever trees that are dumb plenty to get in his way. As the game continues, he'll contend with a rival lumberjack on her ain quest for vengeance and a park ranger intent on protecting the local flora… Information technology'south all very silly and fun.

Chop till y'all drib

During each level of Jack Lumber, multiple sets of logs will fly on screen. Jack's chore is to chop through them all before they autumn off the screen. Just this isn't but a Fruit Ninja clone, so don't think the chopping will be that simple!

To offset with, all of the logs and sliceable objects in a batch must be chopped through in a single, lengthy swipe. The moment your finger touches the screen, everything slows down and y'all're free to commencement drawing a curly line of devastation through the wood. This "Lumbertime" doesn't last forever, so you need to draw quickly. When time expires or you lot elevator your finger, everything you drew through gets skewered and anything you missed goes unsliced. No second slices here, folks.

You can't just chop the wood any old style, either. The cuts have to pass through the logs vertically. Hit a log from the wrong side and information technology counts equally a miss. Nada likewise complex for our human Jack.

Equally the game goes on, the logs kickoff appearing in new shapes and sizes. Jack volition encounter L-shaped logs that require a curved cutting and plus-shaped logs that take to be cut both vertically and horizontally. Logs with numbers on them must be sliced the same number of times as their number, while logs with arrows tin only be cutting in the management of the arrow.

Every at present and and then a jar of syrup appears inside a batch of woods. Attempt to chop it last, because striking the syrup always ends the wave. It also brings up a quick bonus moving ridge in which Jack gets to piece through a circumvolve of logs coated in the sweet stuff.

The final wave of some story levels throws a helpless into the mix. You don't want to striking the bunny, owl, eagle, or whatever because it will end the level in failure. Permit the critter become gratuitous and it will move into Jack's cabin in gratitude.

Map quest

The campaign consists of numerous levels spread across a rustic map. These levels are divided into worlds, with each world taking place on a different groundwork. Each time players beat out a level, they receive a star rating based on their score for that level. This provides some incentive for replay, since reaching star milestones will unlock new items in Jack's cabin.

Immigration all of the levels in a world unlocks an detail in the cabin. Information technology also opens upwardly the Infinitree fashion for that world. Infinitree is your basic endless mode à la Fruit Ninja. Unlike normal levels, players only get three lives to work with. Missing a log, making a bad chop, or hitting an fauna will cause Jack to lose a life. The gameplay hither is well-suited to Infinitree mode's longer settings, though it gets a touch repetitive afterward a while. Information technology'due south a shame Jack Lumber doesn't accept online leaderboards to inspire score-based competition.

Jack can also view "Granny's Errands" from the map. Errands are optional side missions such equally splitting a certain number of logs, getting multiple straight cuts (slicing multiple logs without angle the line) during a level, hitting an beast, and more. Players become three errands at in one case, as with Jetpack Joyride and other games. Although Jack Lumber lacks a leveling system, completing errands does get yous some logs (currency) to spend in the cabin.

Motel in the woods

Jack's cabin serves as his base – a place to chill out between levels. The animals that Jack rescues announced in the cabin and will bounce around and make featherbrained sounds when tapped. You can also milkshake your telephone to shake them all upwards or activate the disco ball and start an animal trip the light fantastic party. When you're done making an axe of yourself, feel costless to read the letters that slip under Jack'due south door every at present and and so.

The cabin too houses Granny's Cupboard, the in-game store of sorts. The logs that Jack chops or receives from completing errands tin be spent on items and unlockables in the Closet. Similar Snuggle Truck, you can't buy currency in this game. And so man upward and earn it in the forest!

Things to buy in the cupboard:

• Syrup: These four flavors of syrup are disposable items for utilise inside levels. Purchase them to brand certain logs easier to cut, dull time downward, undo a miss, and more.
• Beards: Jack Lumber features an innovative stackable beard system. The more beards you put on, the harder the game becomes – and the college your score multiplier volition go. Owlchemy Labs even included a Windows Phone-exclusive bluish beard. Equipping information technology will make you have to piece a certain log in each moving ridge before the other logs.
• Memorabilia: Buy pretty pictures to display on the motel wall.
• Hat Rack: Equip the critters of the cabin with a variety of silly hats.

Almost too colorful

Jack Lumber looks nifty for the nearly part, specially the cutting scenes. Everything comes to life in a distinctive drawing art manner that perfectly fits the game'due south lighthearted tone. The color palette uses a lot of pink, purple, and blue , just like Smuggle Truck. Kind of Sega Genesis-like, I guess.

The one matter that doesn't match the game's standards is the map. For some reason, the map and Jack'due south easily that hold information technology look awfully low resolution and pixelated. The rough appearance might be intentional, but information technology clashes with the rest of the visuals.

Got forest?

Screenshots don't do Jack Lumber justice. Games with like core mechanics tend to exist pocket-size-scale score hunts without a lot of meat on their bones. Jack Lumber brings a real story, lots of existent levels, and a crazy cabin to the table. This game but oozes personality and charm.

No it doesn't have a trial, but take my word for it. Even if y'all've never dreamed of wearing loftier heels, suspenders, and a bra, you'll take a better than okay fourth dimension with Jack Lumber.

• Jack Lumber – Windows Telephone 8 – 26 MB – $1.99 – Store Link

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/jack-lumber-review

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