Jet Set Willy Review
This is a review I have had on my list to do. As a big Manic Miner fan my expectations are set high. I do not really remember if I got this to work on my good old C64 back in the days. But this really is history as we are here and prepared to put our action into this Jet Set Willy Review.
The game is as good as it’s successor – it is decent difficulty in obtaining the goal that is to collect as many items as possible.
All the crazy rooms are there, even though in my humble opinion Manic Miner has a little more spike to the game experience. I do not know if it is because I’ve played it before and that the surprises that come with the crazy rooms and personalities/creatures does not become as original the second time.
The game itself is a great play, the nerve to try to get all the items is there. And to be honest with you I have not succeded that yet. But well worth playing. The only thing I can be a little negative to is that the steering when jumping over your obstacles is not as smooth as it looks like when you are walking around. I need to put in the reservation that it might be my technique as well.
You have several rooms coming up to increase your skills and jump around – what I like is that some rooms are really designed for the novice and by this helps us to understand the game easier. Be aware when you enter a new room, a good technique is to enter and leave fast so you can register all dangers. By playing that way you resist from dying many times where the suprise moment would have led to that.
My best scene is when trying to enter the Master Bedroom before objectives are cleared and Maria sends you off in a decisive finger pointing. It’s a finger saying – get out.
If you haven’t played the game it’s a must. And if you haven’t played Manice Miner either, you must or you’re not a true retrogamer.
Now Enjoy the game.
In the Magazines
After the usual false starts, broken promises , and delays, the review copy of Jet Set Willy for the Commodore 64 finally arrived at the C&VG offices. Someone said “It’s here”‘ and a brawl immediately broke out on the review office floor. After a struggle, I managed to wrestle the cassette away from the Editor who was attempting to pull rank and write the review himself. Bit keen on Jet Set Willy — the C&VG review team.
I didn’t have to play the game for very long to realise that it was worth the fight. It’s all here — the Nightmare Room, Banyan Tree, Chapel, Kitchen, Nomen Luni, Bathroom — even Maria, tapping her foot and pointing her finger in Willy’s bedroom. As far as I could see, the game is virtually identical to the original Spectrum game.
If that means nothing to you, let me give you a brief Miner Willy history. It all began in Surbiton where Willy stumbled down a mine shaft full of several items. Twenty screens, and several collected items later, Willy became a very rich miner The profits from his Surrey strike were invested in a huge mansion where our hero took to throwing lavish parties for his nouveau riche friends. After one such party.
Willy’s bossy housekeeper refuses to let him get to bed until he has cleared up all the empty bottles and glasses from around the house. This is where Jet Set Willy begins and it is your job to guide Willy around the house collecting all the empties. If you enjoyed Manic Miner on the 64. you will enjoy this too. I rate the game higher than Manic Miner and it is certainty in the Top Five best ever games for the 64. One extra nice touch in this game worthy of mention is that a scrolling message appears on screen at the beginning of the game pointing out that it is illegal to copy games and that if you do so you are stealing from the people who spend months programming them. Well said, Software Projects.
From Computer and Video Games (CVG) nr 038 December 1984
From the covers
Miner Willy, intrepid explorer and nouveau-riche socialite, has been reaping the benefits of his fortunate discovery in surbiton. lie has a yacht, a cliff-top mansion, an Italian housekeeper and a French cook, and hundreds of new found friends who REALLY know how to enjoy themselves at a party.
His housekeeper, Maria, however, takes a very dim view of all his revelry, and finally after a particularly boisterous thrash she puts her foot down. When the last of the louts disappears down the drive in his Aston Martin, all Willy can think about is crashing out in his four-poster. But Maria won’t let him into his room until ALL the discarded glasses and bottles have been cleared away. Can you help Willy out of his dilemma?
He hasn’t explored his mansion properly yet (it IS a large place and he HAS been VERY busy) and there are some very strange things going on in the further recesses of the house (I wonder what the last owner WAS doing in his laboratory the night he disappeared). You should manage O.K. though you will probably find some loonies have been up on the roof and I would check down the road and on the beach if I was you. Good luck and don’t worry, all you can lose in this game is sleep.
From Software Projects Inlay
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Our rating of Jet Set Willy
This game together with Manic Miner have influenced many generations of gamers. It is a landmark from where many games have arisen. To give this game less than five Willys out of five would be criminal. But remember to have time when you play it.
