Previous Next

Jack-Jack-Jack your body with Jack-Jack-Jackal, hot off the duplicator from the makers of the arcade original, Konami. Is Jackal a bit of a dog? After Konamfs poor showing with the Speccy versions of Jailbreak and Nemesks, I was expecting something just as tacky. But no! Jackal is actually quite playable. No masterpiece to be sure, but in a funny kind of way it isn't half bad.

We're back in classic Commando land here, but in place of the lone soldier of fortune, substitute an army jeep. This vehicle is controlled by tough guys, Bob and Grey. If you play the two player option, Quint and Decker join in the fun. The idea is very simple: using the firepower of the jeep, destroy everything and everybody. You've got an endless supply of bombs so there's no need to go easy. Along the way several of your buddies have to be liberated from enemy camps, and in true Rambo fashion you have to take them to a helicopter pick-up point further along in the game. Your payment for this is the usual 'super-weapon' option, which you most certainly need in the higher levels.

Graphics are average to sloppy, with a good dose attribute clash, but they work all right. The dozy collision detector is another matter though. Animation is far from smooth and the scrolling landscape has the jitters! Jackal's certainly fast enough but at £7.95 it's overpriced. Day of the Jackal? Nearly, but not quite.

A fair attempt at converting the coin-op. Fast, playable, but let down by poor graphics.