The very first thing you encounter upon loading up Jetpack Bronto is the sound and music. The music is delightfully classical, evoking nostalgic feelings. This is especially appropriate given the setting the game takes place in. The sounds are just as well done. You can hear air whoosing and jetpack engines whirring as you fly around the landscape. The best part, though, is the feeling of weight you get from the sound. The audible whumps and booms from smacking into solid objects or landing really cement the illusion of being an incredibly heavy apatosaurus.


The second thing you notice are the graphics, which take on an air of science fantasy. Mixed in with the realistic depiction of an apatosaurus are heavily stylized jet engines and a crash helmet. The apatosaurus flies around in space exploring ancient temples located on floating asteroids lush with vegetation. There are even dinosaurs composed entirely of vegetation! The impossibility of the whole situation is charming because, as the opening cinema explains, it's all just the dream of an apatosaurus as he looks at passing pterosaurs. Visual effects such as the digitization of the apatosaurus' legs as exhaust passes between them and the camera, the duplication effect and subsequent shaking upon a particularly hard landing, or particle effects of the marker rings as you fly through them are also very well done.

The gameplay of Jetpack Bronto is rather simple. Controlling the titular character, you can only move around by utilizing your jetpack. Arrow keys control your direction and space controls the thrust of your jetpack. There is no strafing, as holding left or right and the jetpack key will cause you to fly up while turning extremely quickly in that direction. Beyond the neutral state (which sends you straight up with no change in orientation upon using your jetpack), there are no other controls for you to use. There are, however, physics for the apatosaurus. You can zoom forward and let your massive weight pull you if you so wish, allowing you to coast to a stop. Things such as falling from a great height or smashing into an obstacle at great speed will stun your apatosaurus accordingly, making him fall down, flail about, and lose control of his jetpack.

There's only three kinds of challenges for you to participate in as your budding apatosaurus. These missions are:

• The Ring Courses, which are best defined as a a time race. You must fly through the rings in the course as quickly as possible. Even the easiest courses lead for some twisting and turning, so these courses are best for both learning how to control your apatosaurus effectively and for giving yourself a challenge upon mastering the movement of your character.
• The Platform Landing challenges, which are a variation on the regular ring courses. You must fly to a platform and land as cleanly as possible, then continue on to the other platforms in the challenge. Unlike ring courses, you can approach the platforms in any order.
• The Fruit Collection challenges, which are the expected collection missions most games have. They are fun, though, as they promote more exploring than the other challenges. Sometimes they are in plain view, and other times they are almost impossible to find.

Outside of these challenges is mostly exploration, which doesn't really net you anything. It can be entertaining to fly around the various asteroids in a particular level, though. It's also fun to smash your apatosaurus into the environment, making him fall over in a ragdoll (ragdinosaur?) and struggle to get to his feet. Nothing like an earth-shattering impact to relieve some tension! Upon completing challenge, you will unlock new levels with more challenges to partake in!

Outside of the game proper there are two meta-game mechanics. The first is the ever popular achievements system that is springing up everywhere nowadays. Achievements range from completing a challenge with a gold medal to slamming your apatosaurus so hard that it loses consciousness for a while. The other meta-game challenge are, of course, the leaderboards. The game currently support in-game leaderboards but no web leaderboards, forcing you to start the game to see how your fellow players are faring. This is hardly a bad thing, though, as chances are you will already be enjoying Jetpack Bronto at that point!

If one thing could be said about Flashbang Studios, it would be that they definitely know what they are doing. Crafting physics-based Unity games is their forte, and with Raptor Safari and Jetpack Bronto they show that they know how to tackle 3D games with a charming irreverence that many mainstream developers lack. It won't be long until their next mythical physics game, Minotaur China Shop, is released. In the meantime, we're sure you can find solace in the dreams of the apatosaurus named Brontosaurus. You can play Jetpack Bronto on the Blurst publishing platform. Registration is required if you want sessions, scores, and achievements to be stored. Just like Raptor Safari, Unity is required to play the game.

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