Developer Final Form Games has launched Jamestown+ onto the Nintendo Switch, a fast-paced game in the shoot ‘em up (shmup) and bullet hell genre. The port feels long overdue, as the game has been available for PC since 2011, and the PlayStation 4 since 2015. With an outstanding combination of great art, music, level design, and an approachable difficulty curve to a normally brutal genre, Jamestown+ is great addition to the Nintendo Switch.
Some games take themselves seriously when it comes to world-building and lore, and then there is Jamestown+. There is no hint of seriousness in this game as players take control of a character who has seen it all. In between every level, there is a brief cutscene, all of which can be skipped, but that should be watched purely for the entertainment value in their ridiculous ideas.
The Approachable Bullet Hell
The game appears at first glance like any vertically scrolling shmup from a 1980s arcade, complete with ships that fire projectiles at waves of opponents who are more than happy to fly directly into your path. For the unfamiliar, bullet hell games are often characterized by gameplay with the sudden appearance of an overwhelming number of projectiles on-screen that players must carefully navigate, with touching one often resulting in immediate death.
This is where Jamestown+ shines with five different levels of difficulty. Normal is the first, but it should be classified as easy, or "for beginners," because it is by far the most casual shmup experience that can be found anywhere. It is the perfect difficulty for players who may love the look of the game, but might be turned off by brutal difficulties. Players do need to play on greater levels of difficulty eventually to unlock certain parts of the game, but they are led there gradually rather than thrown to the wolves.
Ship Customization And Different Weapons
There is one ship unlocked by default, but a total of four eventually become available, each with their own primary and secondary attacks. For the most part, the general attack covers a wide spread and is great for most of the opponents that come flying across the screen, whereas the secondary attack is often more focused and deals more damage, but has a drawback in making the ship slower, thus being riskier or even deadly to use if not careful.
The ships also have a Vaunt Mode that can be activated after collecting gold from defeated enemies, which has the triple effect of providing you with a life-saving shield, more firepower, and adds a multiplier to the scores made during that time.
The gold that is collected can be spent within an in-game shop, which allows for the unlocking of ships and weapons, and provides a great amount of personalization in how one proceeds in the game. Levels need to be completed in order, but one can choose exactly how they want to blast their way through. This also adds a nice level of replayability to the game, as attempting to defeat higher levels of difficulty is a challenge and rewards gold that can, in turn, provide more options for playing.
Great Looking, Familiar Design
From the beginning, the game’s art design for levels and ships feels great. After playing for a while, I understood that my love for the look of Jamestown+ was rooted in another classic, which is the Metal Slug series of games. The pixel graphics and backgrounds all have the same familiar color scheme as the Metal Slug games, which is a sure way to creep into the hearts of older players in a subtle way.
The music too falls into a league of its own. Rather than being filled with the loud, electronic sounds of similar-looking arcade games from the past, the music feels like it is from an exciting RPG. It's as though the developers first decided to make a grand RPG adventure, but then changed their minds to instead to make an action game, while keeping all the music.
Locals Only
A common critique against too many Nintendo Switch games holds true for Jamestown+ as well, and that is that while the local co-op is an exciting, jumbled mess on the screen, there is no way to play online. This is especially a missed opportunity because PC users on Steam are seeing big advances in playing games previously considered local co-op only through the new advances in streaming with friends. The lack of co-op on the Nintendo Switch is the only real critique to be made of the game, which may feel minor, but should be a given in today’s online gaming market.
A Success On All The Martian Fronts
Jamestown+ sets out to be a well-made port on the Nintendo Switch, and it succeeds in every way. The game was great when it released eight years ago, and the same holds true today. It’s not often a game retains that kind of staying power, and this is one title that even casual players of action shmups should add to their collections.
A Switch copy if Jamestown+ was provided to TheGamer for this review. Jamestown+ is available now on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC.
Jamestown+