Reviewed by Melissa Yamamoto
Jake Power seems to be one of Ubisoft’s promising franchises for a non-mature audience. The first two games were released on the same date (February 17th), and the third version, Jake Power: Handyman was released a month later. The game is aimed at young children (up to 10 years old) and only offers about a dozen easy levels, but Jake Power: Handyman can be a relaxing and rewarding experience for kids, since the main objective of this game is to help the city become a better place to live, by repairing and solving whatever problems the citizens are facing.
There’s really no story line behind this game. Jake Power works at a repairman’s agency. It’s simple and easy to manage the tasks, although it can become difficult for the little ones as they move forward. To start the missions all you have to do is click on the boss’ office and he’ll get phone calls from a desperate citizen asking for help. Driving his old van around the city, Jake will encounter several weird problems, such as the mysterious missing hamburgers and the infestation of “butter roaches” (a butterfly cockroach mixture).
On the agency main screen you can choose between the map (as soon as you start playing and finishing tasks, the locations will appear on the screen in case you want to replay a mission), the garage shop and your boss’ office. The tasks aren’t that difficult and the levels consist of finding a missing part of a tool, hammering nails, climbing stairs and containing the butter roach infestation. The problems the citizens are going through don’t differ much and the game doesn’t require you to be skillful with the stylus. That being said, the game is for younger children and they will have fun when playing it, but older ones can become bored and finish the game within an hour.
The levels can grant you from 2 to 7 yellow stars gained after completing each task within the ‘star meter’. After finishing a mission, you’ll be back at the agency and depending on how many stars you collected, an item from the garage shop will be unlocked. Then you can upgrade and personalize the van by changing the wheels, bumpers and siren – which turns out to be quite helpful, since Jake will drive across the city and as you move forward in the game, traffic will become worse.
The sounds and music make for a good combination and keep the game at an electric pace. Each character and objects have their own specific sound, which I thought it was nice. The game is colorful, with a cute cartoon vibe that can be attractive for the little ones. Overall, the game is easy and relaxing, but there’s nothing really special about it. However, for a non-mature audience, Jake Power: Handyman is a good option, and kids will hopefully enjoy it.