{"id":12661,"date":"2022-08-19T14:41:01","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T14:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/19\/jetpack-joyride-2-is-worth-an-apple-arcade-subscription-on-its-own\/"},"modified":"2022-08-19T14:41:02","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T14:41:02","slug":"jetpack-joyride-2-is-worth-an-apple-arcade-subscription-on-its-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/19\/jetpack-joyride-2-is-worth-an-apple-arcade-subscription-on-its-own\/","title":{"rendered":"Jetpack Joyride 2 is worth an Apple Arcade subscription on its own"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/23311972\/jetpack-joyride-2-apple-arcade-review<\/a>
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Jetpack Joyride 2<\/em> is the first mobile game I\u2019ve loved in a very long time.<\/p>\n

I was obsessed with staying on top of the best iOS games in the early days of the iPhone \u2014 titles like the original Angry Birds<\/em>, Hook Champ<\/em>, and Ridiculous Fishing<\/em> \u2014 but as the vast majority of mobile games have shifted to a time- and money-gobbling<\/a> free-to-play model, I\u2019ve largely stopped playing them. I have enough entertainment to juggle already; managing yet another free-to-play game just isn\u2019t appealing.<\/p>\n

But to my surprise, I kept finding myself opening Jetpack Joyride 2<\/em> when I had a few minutes to burn. It happened during my Dedicated Video Game Playing Time, too. Over the course of a few days, I just couldn\u2019t stop collecting coins, dodging missiles, upgrading my gear, and getting as far as I could through each level.<\/p>\n

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Levels can get chaotic, but that\u2019s part of the fun.<\/em><\/figcaption>Image: Apple<\/cite><\/p>\n

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Jetpack Joyride 2<\/em> is an Apple Arcade-exclusive sequel to Jetpack Joyride<\/em><\/a>, one of my all-time favorite mobile games. (Maybe it shouldn\u2019t surprise me that I love it.) The core of Jetpack Joyride 2<\/em> is much the same as the first: your character, equipped with a jetpack, will automatically rush down a hallway as you jet up and down to collect goodies and dodge obstacles. As you complete missions and gather currency, you\u2019ll be able to upgrade your gear and buy new items and in-game gear.<\/p>\n

But the sequel mixes things up in a few key ways. Jetpack Joyride 2<\/em> adds enemies that you have to contend with as you\u2019re dodging obstacles like missiles and electric lines \u2014 but the new game also gives you a gun and special weapons to take the baddies out. And while the original was an infinite runner, meaning that the primary goal was to survive for as long as possible to get as far as you could, in Jetpack Joyride 2<\/em>, you\u2019ll be trying to get a certain distance in individual levels. <\/p>\n

The switch to levels is what really got me hooked. Levels typically take just a few minutes to finish, and at the end of each one, you\u2019ll attempt a bonus challenge to get some extra coins or fight a boss of some kind. (There\u2019s a Mega Man<\/em>-like warning alert<\/a> before the bosses that always made me smile.) The structure made it easy for me to attempt a level when I had a bit of time, or, if I knew I could play for a little while, I wold often take on a bunch in a row. More than once, I told myself I\u2019d play through just one more level but would actually work through three. <\/p>\n

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The bosses aren\u2019t too tough, but I enjoyed taking them on all the same.<\/em><\/figcaption>Image: Apple<\/cite><\/p>\n

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That drive to just keep going is encouraged by the game\u2019s many upgrades you can invest in. You can improve a lot<\/em> of things, including your health, firepower, vehicles, and power-ups. You can even upgrade the \u201cfactory\u201d that passively farms some of the in-game currencies. And even though there\u2019s a fair amount of stuff to enhance, I was almost always able to boost at least a couple of things after each run, which helped me feel like I was constantly progressing forward.<\/p>\n

Jetpack Joyride 2\u2019s<\/em> economy also feels well designed to scale naturally with your progression. That\u2019s different from many other mobile games, which can be weighted in such a way that you\u2019ll want to spend real money so you don\u2019t have to grind for currency. Apple Arcade games don\u2019t have in-app purchases, which means developers have the opportunity to be more thoughtful about in-game economies \u2014 and I think Jetpack Joyride 2<\/em> is a model to emulate.<\/p>\n

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