Jack Move – Review

The significance of 1997 in Jack Move’s timeline is not coincidental. This turn-based Japanese RPG takes place in the year all electronics stopped working due to a solar storm. It caused global anarchy, which in turn gave rise to the megacorporations that rule our heroine Noa’s dystopian cyberpunk society. Jack Move owes a lot to the groundbreaking JRPG Final Fantasy VII, which was released in the real world in 1997. (right down to its menu plink plink sound). Creators So Romantic have admitted openly that it was a major influence on Jack Move, and the game’s shadowy corporate powers and gritty urban landscape are consistent with ShinRa’s tyrannical rule over Midgar.

However, the top brass at MonoMind aren’t planning to poison and drain the world of its vitality in Jack Move. Their focus is on using their technological prowess to achieve immortality, a classic “upload your mind to the metaverse” kind of story that readers of cyberpunk 101 novels like William Gibson’s Neuromancer or Greg Egan’s Permutation City will recognise immediately. The plot of Jack Move’s story isn’t particularly original, but the characters of Noa and Ryder, a hacker friend of hers, are so full of fire and determination that the six-hour saga of espionage and rebellion against its cartoonish villain is worth dipping into. Indeed, you have correctly read the sentence. A Japanese role-playing game that can be completed in a single sitting. Bliss.

Jack Move’s engaging combat system is its other major strength, alongside the game’s manageable length. While you’ll spend most of the game looking down on Noa’s hometown from above, battles will take place over your shoulder in a Tron-inspired virtual realm, allowing for some slick ‘cyber clashes. You never actually see most of Noa’s enemies in the world around you, but I think the idea is that they’re trying to hack her brain (the game never really does explain itself very well on this front). Instead, the cyberspace deck Noa carries on her arm has a threat level metre, similar to that of Yu-Gi-Oh, and when it reaches full, enemies are free to attack at any time. The same thing under a different label: chance meetings.

The battle animations are fantastically detailed, adding an extra layer of visual relish to the experience, regardless of the presentation. All the hardware references strewn throughout the rest of the menus are a nice touch for the tech-savvy user. For example, melee attacks are called “hacks,” and all of your special abilities are pieces of “software” that you must “execute” using your available “data” (or magic points, if you prefer a more conventional reference). Cyberware, electroware, and wetware attacks can all be categorised using the rock-paper-scissors rule set. As a cute aside, you can also “cache” a turn to delay it until later in the turn order, giving yourself a nice little defence boost while you wait, and “patching” lets you use items like healing packs.

Gaining the ability to deal out devastating Limit Break-style specials to everything on screen, the game’s eponymous Jack Move metre fills up the more you attack. These are unmistakably Final Fantasy, right down to the three quick-time event button prompts you’ll need to perform to determine the overall strength of the attack, and they add a welcome sense of rhythm and flair to the game’s otherwise solid combat system. These cyber battles are great old-fashioned fun thanks to the smooth battle animations and meticulous spritework. They satisfy my inner JRPG nerd, and I devoured every last bit.

The technical jargon continues throughout Jack Move, as you have a finite number of slots (memory) in which to store your software attacks (imagine Resident Evil’s inventory Tetris crossed with Pokémon’s four-way moveset), and a separate Hardware menu from which to equip three supplemental ‘expansion’ abilities. You can use them for anything from temporary increases in RAM to boosts to particular stats to scanning and counterattack options (which you can upgrade permanently if you stump up the cash for them).

Scanning enemies not only reveals their weaknesses, but also provides subtle clues about how to begin offensives.
I found it hilarious, but I can also see how someone who isn’t as tech savvy as me would be completely lost by all the jargon. The alternative explanation is that they find it too sentimental. To be honest, I quite enjoyed these cyberpunk takes on the standard JRPG framework, as they not only added personality to the game but also helped to establish a sense of realism and immersion.

However, it’s greatest strength as a departure from standard Final Fantasy fare is also one of its most underutilised features. Even if you’re restricted in the number, variety, and scope of attacks you can bring into battle by, say, RAM slots, you can always ‘install’ new programmes during your turn, effectively letting you switch up your battle strategy on the fly. In theory, this could lead to challenging, unpredictable boss fights that make full use of Jack Move’s arsenal of moves, but in practise, the game’s over-reliance on the rock-paper-scissors mechanic meant I rarely felt the need to change my approach. While I was able to breeze through much of the game with the most basic forms of the three software specials, I didn’t upgrade to the second tier (of three) until well past the point where I had met the level gate requirement, suggesting that there may be a bug in the system relating to balance. Except for when I faced the final boss, who presented such a sudden increase in challenge that it took me well over an hour (and several failed attempts) to finally take down, I didn’t have to do any grinding throughout my playthrough.

It’s unfortunate that Jack Move doesn’t make more efficient use of its RAM swaps, but given the scope of the studio, this is to be expected. Over the years, lead developer Edd Parris has worked mostly alone on this, and the finished product is still impressive due to its high quality. Jack Move feels like the beginning of something special, and it’s miles ahead of many of the other pretenders to the Japanese RPG style that I’ve had to suffer through over the years. Even though I’m curious to see how it turns out after some balancing has been done, you should check out the demo on Steam because it’s free. A small Final Fantasy VII-style fix that will take you back to 1997 before the release of Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII – Reunion later this year? Jack Move should fit in your gaming library very nicely.