Wow this game really surprised me when I finally bought it.
The graphics are crap, I'm not going to lie, but there bad in a way that makes the game more fun, and more funny. Its all 2-D and all the birds and jousters look surprisingly good for their age. The pterodactyls look kind of funny, but are easy to identify and still look like pterodactyls. Their is a option between the enhanced graphics and original graphics, and when you play the game for the first time you'll probably think that its on original, but its not its on enhanced which just offers a background, instead of the black abyss in the original graphics setting. Other than the background there is no apparent difference between the settings.
The sound effects of Joust are really outdated, and the fact that there is no music in the background, doesn't help. Though this game with music would probably seem wierd. Joust has an opening theme and thats it. The best part about the sound is the pterodactyl's scream its very distinct and makes you piss your pants, because your not going to want to deal with one, because they're so freakin hard. Actually your probably not going to piss yourself, because the scream sounds so crappy it doesn't have any real effect, but it still is really cool. The wings flapping and running around sound decent. The jousting action sounds like crap, but it works so well for this game. That all said the graphics and sound effects are probably pretty close to the original arcade classic and blend together well.
There is plenty of value with Joust if you've got a buddy to play with, otherwise this game is probably not worth it. The achievements are very challenging to get, and the leaderboards may keep you interested in Joust. The game is only five bucks, which is a pretty good deal.
The gameplay of Joust is relatively simple, but hard to be good at. You just have to run and fly around on your flying ostrich reeming other jousters in the ass with your lance. Though you can take them out from the front. Just be sure to maintain the high point since your going to have to be above you opposing jousters to kill them. Pterodactyls are a lot harder and appear on later stages and if your taking to long on any particular stage. You just have to joust them in the mouth and in some cases you yourself may get reemed in the ass and kill them instead, that is if your level with their mouth anyway. The level begins to fall apart throughout the stages, which makes things a little more difficult and complex. The singleplayer and multiplayer games are pretty much the same except you get an allied jouster or extra enemy jouster. There are two modes in multiplayer Joust. They are Co-Op and Versus. Co-Op combines your score with your ally, while versus your both competing for more points and in certaint stages you get a bonus for taking out the other player or not killing the player. Playing Joust with a good buddy is just really fun and full of "OWNAGE". That is the best word to describe the gameplay is it owns and there are no other jousting games out there that I'm aware of. Joust overall offers refreshingly old school gameplay with a price of five bucks making it all worth it if you've got a buddy to play with, and half the fun is just the communication in the multiplayer, but without a buddy you probably won't get much out of this.