Purchase Game                                         About Our Rating System

Like free games? Click here to follow us on Twitter.

When people meet me for the first time…or so, I come across as a completely serious person. I don’t smile or laugh…I even look too serious to be part of the British Royal Guard. However, after people spend some time around me they realize that I’m rather goofy spirited individual with a dry wit. So why am I talking about myself you ask? That’s because something rare happened when I played Just Funny Games Jake Escapes HD, I cracked a smile…a small one but still quite the rare achievement.

In Jake Escapes HD, we’re introduced to Jake, a master thief, and his scientist buddy, Doc. They steal an artifact in Area 51 which transports them to other territories (2 locations at the moment). Throughout their escape, Jake climbs buildings, eludes the governments greatest agent, Bob and takes down crime lords hell bent on stealing the artifact from him! Why this simple story works so well is not from any type of plot twists, instead it’s the whole character of the game. The cutscenes are told in amusing comic panels and the character designs are easily my new personal favorite as far as iOS gaming goes. Add on top of this the other absurd people Jake encounters and yes you’ll find a smirk appear on your face as well.

Through each stage you’ll take control of Jake by having him crawling up the building from windowsill to windowsill. However Jake’s escape becomes more problematic with having boarded up windows (Jake can’t get a grip on these) as well as a laughable cast of characters that Jake encounters on each building. In Paris the buildings are crawling with suicidal-like mimes who strangely get joy by walking along the ledge of the windows. So make sure your fingers don’t get stepped on! Jump over to Moscow and you have women dropping Tetris-like pieces from their windows as well as bears wearing Shriners hats. Are the characters absurd? Yes. Luckily these people will not stop Jake since he has one more trick up his sleeve, his buddy Doc. In each level you can tap on any person and you’ll see Doc fly to the rescue and zap the person out of the way. These two elements turn a casual-like experience into a deeper challenge.

I’m just going to come out and say it, no clever paragraph transitions or anything like that. I’m exhilarated that Jake Escapes HD feels and plays like it’s conceived for touch devices! No virtual analog sticks or any other virtual buttons, instead intuitive and responsive finger swipes will have you jumping Jake from window to window. As already mentioned, calling Doc in for back up is as easy as a simple tap. Controls this intuitive create an experience unlike any other. All I can say is that I hope other developers take note of this and put more thought into their games.

Jake Escapes HD is a great game but it does have some faults…very few I might add but here they are. First off is that it feels a bit short with only two environments. (Fortunately, more levels are in the works.) The other snafu is that the levels rarely feel distinctive from one another. Besides the Boss Battles (which are great by the way), the stages have you collecting objects again and again which tends to hinder the variety that I so desire.

The Bottom Line:

Jakes Escapes brings a remarkably new enjoyable experience over to the iPhone ad iPad. Smile.