Loved this game in 1983, and I love it today.
Ultimate changed mine and many other school boys lives in the 80's, all thanks to the ZX Spectrum 16k. What a great partnership. It's hard to forget the ZX Spectrum and it's host of Ultimate games. JetPac, Underwulrde, Nodes of Yesod etc... It's also hard to imagine loading games from a cassette recorder by pressing play. Listen to that beautiful machine code loading boys! Ah Nostalgia. JetPac for the 16k Spectrum spawned Lunar Jetman for the 48K Spectrum and went on to become a comic strip in the Crash magazine in 1984. Those were certainly the heydays of computer gaming. Crash Online has the full list of Ultimate games as they came out for each of the ZXs - plus reviews and a cool look at the ZX Spectrum itself.
JetPac... I can't help remember it as JetPac Willy for some reason, (that may just be my memory as I waste away at the grand age of 40) as well as Underwurlde etc, were advanced for their time and they hold their inventiveness today. The game may get repetitive, but it's a great repetition.
Flying has never been so much fun! Nostalgia! The original version of the game is included - a great move - a trip down memory lane. May I say nostalgic? It also sets the stage for Refuelled to blow you away. The textures, reminded me of the flash animations used to produce the classic Dr. Who series on the BBC's website. A surreal treatment of the backgrounds, platforms etc...
The sound for JetPac Refuelled is incredible. Hook this up to a 5.1 surround system and you'll be looking over your back for the next meany coming to get you.
The gameplay in Refuelled has been turned up a few notches, bringing tougher levels more quickly. There is more space to fly around in, slight scrolling and more headroom to drop and kill as you go. The meanies spawning adds more tension as you have to watch out for them spawning on top of you! I'm still getting used to 360's version of controls, I seem to remember it being easier on a keyboard - albeit squishy. Add to this the 200 gamer points and it's a no brainer.
All in all, no matter what modern day critics may say - mostly jaded by the incredible technology available today - JetPac Refuelled is a blast. It's a wonderful reminder, that much like films before special effects made up more than 2/3's of the film's budget, there were video games that had a fun variable that is sometimes lacking in our modern day "miracles of modern day console technology."
Worth every penny - download it today and get aboard.