Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp, or JPBR for short, is a nice homebrew platform game. If I'd have to describe it in terms of commercial games, I'd call it a mix of Drawn To Life (NDS) and Klonoa (GBA).

The premise of JPBR is to get through each and every level by killing all enemies and going through the door that emerges after that. Along the way you can collect coffee (what's with programmers and coffee? heh) to increase the amount of lifes you have.

Let me rant about the graphics a bit first before I get into depth about the gameplay. In short, they're pretty cool. They are simplistic but with an incredible charm to them which most homebrew games lack, and all animated well. But you can judge for yourself by the screens we conveniently took from the creator's site.

Anyway, so far, the concept probably doesn't seem like something special to you. True, but there are quite a few nifty things about this game that makes it stand out from other platformers.
First of all, a level is divided over the top and the bottom screen of your DS and in a lot of levels you'll appear on the left when you get off the screen on the right, and you'll appear on the top of the level if you get off the level at the bottom. Unlike what you might expect, it actually feels very natural, and it's usually obvious in which levels this wrap-around is present and in which it's not.
Second of all, this is not just some platformer which only relies on your platforming skills; your logic is just as important! The majority of the puzzles are well-thought out and can be extremely challenging in the later levels. Game mechanisms such as the double-jump and being able to form a human bridge for a huge rolling biscuit(?) by standing under it are not uncommon.

The difficulty of the game rises pretty steadily and starts out really easy. A few levels are quite hard to figure out how to complete, as they require the use of a new game mechanism. You probably won't be aware of it until you just keep trying and messing with the game until you stumble upon it by accident. Some of the later levels are downright sadistic, but when you pull it off, the satisfaction you get out of it is immense. To be honest, considering this game has 50 levels, the few annoying levels are peanuts compared to the amount of sheer great levels. I'm really amazed at how wonderfully the creator this game came up with some of the puzzles.

As far as sound goes, there's only a couple of soundeffects. The soundeffects that are present are nice though and definitely won't start annoying you.

So, in short, everybody who owns the means to play this should give it a whirl. It's a free, homebrew game which is definitely worth your time if you like a bit of platforming and puzzles. My compliments to the creator, Craig Forrester of IshiSoft.


Upsides:
- charming graphics
- great puzzles
- very satisfying to play and complete levels

Downsides:
- saving only after each 5 levels and not after every level
- some puzzles require a new game mechanism which might not be obvious
(a hint would've helped after spending a lot of time in such a level)
- a few of the later levels are downright sadistic xD
- no real storyline

Score:
8.4 out of 10

Download Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp 20070812 Here
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