Demo Review 12: Jam City

Jam City “Rollergirls” is a racing game, but not quite a regular one... In fact, the racers are girls on rollerblades and their race track is located inside a large room. As soon as you start the demo, you can select between two difficulties: Fresh Meat” or “Veteran”. “All-Star” is available only in the full version. You must also play on the regular race track; the full version gives you the option to play on a reverse track. Oh hey, a Mirror Mode! You can also use only one team out of the five “Rollergirls” teams presented to you. Likewise, you must select your opponent, but only one opponent team is unlocked for you in this demo. Same for the race tracks.

I'll give the game that, it looks nice, the rollergirls have cool designs. As for the game, it doesn't give you a lot of explanation on how it works. Usually you shouldn't have to resort to the instruction manual. Still, as I was playing, I realized what each button was for. No, wait; not each button, as I didn't quite understand each button's purpose. Plus, even though you can use powerups to help you in the race (kinda odd, don't you think?) and even punch around to make your way through the other rollergirls, it doesn't add much strategy. Doesn't help that I couldn't understand how to use the damn strategies in this!

Also, the scoring system is a mess. How did we count the number of turns? I mean, the numbers seemed to jump randomly, instead of going up by 1 each time a lap was completed. It's weird. Anyway, I managed to complete quite a lot of laps in the allotted time. At the end, I didn't get the final score, the demo jumped directly to the full game preview screen!

In the full game, we can use all five Rollergirl teams and play on five different tracks. We can also have a Story Mode of sorts, called Season. We can also customize our skaters, apparently. And there's a Multiplayer mode in the full version too.

Even though it was sort of fun, the controls were messy and the game just felt a little bland. The race track was just an oval shape, so it never felt very difficult. Even though it looks nice, I cannot say I'd buy this game. It just doesn't seem up my alley. But if it sounds like the sort of game that you'd be interested in, head to the Wii Shop Channel and look for it. I suggest you try the Demo first.