Willy Jetman: Astromonkey's Revenge is an odd yet strangely charming game. The title is a goofy 2D sci-fi shooter that unashamedly pulls references from sci-fi movies, anime, and retro video games. Exploring the environment as the titular Willy feels smooth and rewarding as you unlock new weapons and blow enemies away. The game's relatively short length is bolstered by the second half's spike in difficulty that will remind gamers of challenging old school video games like Mega Man. While there are a few hiccups throughout the course of Willy Jetman, it is mostly a very fun and rewarding game.
The game begins with Willy landing on the planet Gravos after being given a job cleaning up a cargo ship that crashed there. Willy is not a hero or an adventurer, but rather a pathetic garbageman who just so happens to carry a gun. As the game progresses Willy begins to realize that the company he works for may not be telling the full truth, and a lot more is happening on this planet than he initially realized. It is quite fun to play as a character like Willy that is not a hero, but must find a way to be heroic regardless.
The humor of Willy Jetman: Astromonkey's Revenge is one of the titles biggest selling points. Willy is constantly proving to those around him that he is incompetent, and the AI of his ship refuses to let him forget it. Players will find themselves chuckling at the ridiculousness of some of the situations that the game forces Willy into. One of the funniest aspects of the game is the amount of references and allusions to other pieces of pop culture. Players will find goofy jokes relating to things like Dragon Ball Z, Blade Runner, and many retro video games. The humor works for such a small game, but if the game was longer it may not have held up as well.
The combat mechanics are challenging and are heavily influenced by games like Mega Man. Players collect weapons that can be upgraded to do more damage, but the weapons (much like the Mega Man franchise) are also strong against particular types of enemies.
Players will want to use the flamethrower against bug enemies or the ray gun against robots, as examples. This is particularly helpful against the earlier boss battles which are very diverse. The core shooting and jetpack mechanics work well together throughout the game.
There are a few issues with Willy Jetman though. While the game is challenging, some of that challenge feels cheap and frustrating at times. A lot of the bosses have the ability to kill the player in one shot just by touching them, which is frustrating against the more difficult enemies. Occasionally, instead of adding interesting enemies, the game just decides to throw as many basic level enemies as possible at the player.
The jetpack also creates a small issue with movement as well. Players can tap the jump button and the jetpack button simultaneously in order to get a huge boost over enemies' heads. This is integral to taking out several of the games enemies, but if players don't time it correctly Willy will just lightly boost a few inches off of the ground. The room for error for such an important ability is large, and can lead to several annoying deaths. Probably the most straining feature on players' patience is the fact that there is no ability to skip boss battle cut scenes. If a player has been forced to fight a boss a dozen times in a row, those cut scenes can get annoying to wait through. While these issues can be frustrating, they are mostly just minor annoyances that players will eventually grow used to.
Willy Jetman: Astromonkey's Revenge at first seems to be a knock off of all of the 2D scrollers that came before it. The game wears those influences on its sleeve though and manages to modernize the concepts that were made famous in the 80s and 90s. Players may find themselves getting frustrated at times with the games difficulty, but they should force themselves to fight through it. Willy Jetman is a game that is worth finishing, not only because the game is fun, but because by finishing it players get to see how much love the game has for its many influences.
Willy Jetman: Astromonkey's Revenge releases on January 31, 2020 on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. A Switch code was provided for the purposes of this review.