Jump the Track - Review (PC)

Choices, choices, choices

Jump the Track is a visual novel combined with arcade minigames, developed by Seed by Seed. This is quite an interesting game. You play as Sam, who starts off the game in a run down laundromat, washing his bosses daughters teddy bear. He describes his boss as an entrepreneur, whilst others describe him as a mob boss, and it becomes clear quite quickly that you’re indentured to him.

You accidently ruin the bear, and then go to the fair happening in the city. At this fair, the grand prize of the tombola is a new teddy bear, so your initial aim is to win enough tickets to get that bear, so your boss won’t be mad at you. However, things take a turn. On your quest to get these tickets, you meet up with lots of various unique and interesting characters.

These characters all have their own stories to tell, and play a part in a larger story that unfolds as you play through the game. During these sections, the arcade game pops up. It’s sort of like a pachinko machine, you drop a ball from the top of the screen in a direction you pick, to hit orbs and blocks on the screen.

What makes this interesting though, is that success or failure in these are directly linked to the choices you can make and the way the story progresses. There are two types of game, one is called inner peace, and the other, action time. In inner peace, you have to hit specific coloured blocks which then allow you to unlock that option in the upcoming dialogue. For instance, hitting all the green ones allows you to do a diplomatic approach.

In action time, you simply have to get a score high enough to beat the intended target, with various higher valued orbs scattered around. Beating the target represents a success for that action. These start off as relatively small things, like fixing some machinery, to some more desperate things later on in the game.

Each character you meet gives you a specific skill, which you can use by hitting a multicoloured orb in some instances. These range from things like a respawning ball, one which cuts through all the blocks, one which acts like a magnet, and more. Picking the right skill for the right board is key in getting what you want.

It’s strangely addictive to play. Wanting to get a specific dialogue option or really wanting to successfully pass an action check pushes you to treat these little arcade boards a little more seriously. It all feeds into the story too, some of them merely affect the dialogue a little, and others change up the story path leading to different endings.

I also really like the art style. It’s got a cool punky aesthetic that wouldn’t look out of place in a graphic novel. The story is not too bad either, it has some funny moments and is generally a fun story to follow with some well written overarching themes about peoples place in society.

Overall, I think Jump the Track is a good little game. It will only take you a few hours to get through the story one time, and more if you want to see all the paths and endings. It’s currently selling for around £8, which I think is a decent price for a few hours of gameplay and a good story. If you’re looking for a game that isn’t too stressful but will still keep you invested, this might be a good pick for you.

Rating - 3.5/5