Str: Jiglit [by Red Games]

Game: Jiglit
Release: December 2003
Genre: Strategy/Puzzle/Action
Developer:  Red Games
System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/NT/XP P166, 16MB of Ram
Price: $24.95


This year for Christmas I bought a Nintendo GameCube.  The reason?  I have 3 young girls, who really don't get into games, and I wanted something that we could all play together on.  Over the summer I played Super Mario Party 4, and watched in amazement as my 4 year old played and competed fairly well.  So at Christmas I picked up a Cube and Mario Party 5.  After being blown away by how much that game has to offer I have a special spot in my heart for party games.

Jiglit is certainly a party game though it can be played as a single-player.  The concept of the game is quite original, combining games you may have played growing up, such as Truth or Dare, with its own piece of game play.  For those looking for something that is definitely different, and meant to be played in a group, this is a good game to check out. 

The selling line for Jiglit is that it is "The Game you can play with your big toe!"  Let's start there.  Playing Jiglit isn't all that difficult when you get the hang of what you are doing.  You may think that the line above means that the game is so simple that you can play it with your big toe.  That certainly isn't the case.  Instead the game's developer believes that you should actually play the game with your big toe.  The first instructions that you see tell you to take off your shoe and your sock, place the keyboard on the floor and get ready to play.

Certainly the game presents something that no other game has done.  I don't really want to think about what it would be like to play with smelly feet touching my keyboard, and doubt that I would have guests come into my house and play the game this way.  However, it is that type of humor and avant guarde approach to the game that is necessary to fully enjoy it.  I'm quite sure that Jiglit is a game that has a fairly small market appeal, but the group that likes this game will not be able to get enough of it."

For my part I ran into a few problems playing the game.  First off was the instructions.  The instructions are four pages long.  What is worse than that is that after you read the instructions, you still likely won't have any idea how to play.  I've played quite a few party games with groups over my lifetime and can tell you that every time you get a new game out there are people in the group that immediately don't want to play because it is new and looks complicated.  In the end most of those games aren't very complicated, as is the case of Jiglit.  However, Jiglit isn't something that you can immediately pick up and play.  You need good instructions to carry you through the game, but unfortunately the instructions are confusing and lead to further frustration.  I played the game for nearly an hour before I had any idea what I was doing.  This is really unfortunate, because I believe that this is a game that when played in groups can be a real fun game.

The premise of the game isn't real difficult.  You control your character at the side of the board.  Each turn is broken into 3 phases.  The first phase, the type of shot you will take is chosen.  The shots range from straight to zigging and zagging back and forth across the board.  At the same time this is done, you are also choosing how many targets can be hit on that turn before it ends and what side of the board you will start on.  The selection of these items is made by watching a box that contains all the variables and highlights them in nearly random configurations.  Typically you would play with a timer, giving you a limited amount of time to hit your button.  When you hit the button, whatever configuration, be it straight, 2 targets start at bottom, or whatever you pick will happen.  The other players will start at different sides, but have the same configuration otherwise.  So while you start at the bottom, they may start at the left.  No two players share a side, so if you play 4 people, you will have someone starting on each of the sides.  Selecting the configuration of the turn ends phase 1 of the turn.

Phase 2 starts with you controlling your character at one side of the board.  Typically you play with a timer, and you have a limited time to find where you want your character to be.  In addition, players can press a letter key on the keyboard to skip the timer.  Once the time is done or the timer has been skipped, each of the characters fires a shot onto the board.  The shot follows the path chosen in phase 1.  The idea is to get as many points and targets as you can.  If the configuration lets you hit 2 target, then you may try to make your ball hit point and turn doublers on the way or hit a dice that increases the number of targets that you can hit during this turn.  Doing so can greatly increase your score.  As phase 2 carries on, each players score is shown while all the shots occur simultaneously.  As soon as one person hits something that ends the turn either by hitting the maximum number of targets, or hitting something that toasts them, this part of the phase is over.  (In the one-player game, the idea is to clear as many boards as possible without hitting toast 10 times)

Phase 3 starts after the scores have been tallied.  The player with the highest score challenges the one with the lowest score to "Do or Tell?" which plays just like Truth or Dare.  If the player with the lowest score chooses not to do this, then they forfeit their next chance to do Phase 1 to the player with the highest score.  As you can see, Jiglit is definitely a game that has you having a party in mind!

Graphics: 6
One of the big short-comings of the game is the graphics.  They are certainly passable, but they will remind you of very old-school graphics.  In this day and age of high-powered computers and scintillating 3D, very few people are willing to look at graphics that look dated, and unfortunately for Jiglit, the graphics do look dated.

Sound: 6
The sound is fairly low quality, though memorable.  I'm sure anyone who plays will have the word "Jiglit" repeating through their head for months.  The music seems to be very close to music from a James Bond flick and works well even after it has been repeated multiple times.

Game Play: 5
The single biggest downfall to the game is how hard it is to play and how much time it takes to figure out what you are doing.  This could have been fixed by a better, simpler set of instructions, or a good tutorial mode.  In addition to this, the pressing of the buttons during the different phases does not give you the kind of response that you would expect from the game.  I often found myself hitting every button on the board waiting for something to happen.  A good bit of tweaking here would make a big difference in the game.

Options: 6
Options are fairly standard affair. There isn't a lot that you can do, though speeding up the shots would be nice.  In fact most of the game feels like you are slowed down by the game when you would much rather have the chance to move a bit faster.

Concept: 10
No question here, Jiglit is a game that is in its own category.  The game claims to be the sport of choice by those who inhabit a parallel world to ours called Flipside.  I don't know about that, but I do know that there really isn't anything like this available.  From the moment you try to put your toe on the keyboard you will know that the game is something you haven't tried before.  The party game concept is actually the closest thing to what has been done here, and this game does do fairly well at being an enjoyable party game.

Fun: 7
The difficulties in game play, slow turns, and sub-par graphics all wear on the fun factor of the game.  This is a game that is good fun when you figure out what is going on and are able to make the game respond as you would like.  In a group, at a party, this game can be a fun time for the group, though most of them will point towards games like Mario Party over this one if they have played other Computer/Entertainment System Party games.

Overall: 6
Jiglit gives gaming some serious originality that I think everyone should see and play just to say that they did play it with their big toe.  However, the game itself is not something that all may appreciate, and if you don't have a group of people to play the game with, you likely won't appreciate it as much as you could.
Added: January 27th 2004
Reviewer: Russell Carroll
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