Review: Jet Set Knights (Nintendo Switch)

Jet Set Knights is a platformer action game in which you play one of four heroes to save the princess from an onslaught of enemies. This game is a boss rush, if you will, with waves of enemies continually attacking. These games are usually fun for me, so let’s see if this particular one holds up.

First, you can play solo or with friends. I tried the game myself at first, and I have to admit I got pretty bored quickly. I enjoy enemy waves and continuously being in battle, but this game is quite tricky by yourself.

There are four knights to choose from. According to the product page, the knights have “unique abilities.” I didn’t notice any differences between them. Even when I later played with my sister, she didn’t see any either. Each knight plays the same way, where you can run, dash, jump, and swing your sword.

There are five different levels, which simply have various backgrounds, from a graveyard to a slime area, to an icy place. The mechanics all remain the same. I was expecting the ice area to be slippery, but it isn’t. I guess the levels were made for aesthetic purposes only.

In each level, Princess Kitty stands at the bottom crying while waves of enemies, such as evil pumpkins or ghosts, try to attack her. It’s your job to protect her. By doing so, you run amok around the small level, jumping from platform to platform in an attempt to kill the enemies before they get too close to the princess.

Chests will appear, giving you arrows for a short period. Other items, such as a lance or a kitty power-up, will also appear. The lance will break after a few uses, but it one-hit KOs the enemies, and it’s delightful. The kitty power-up will turn the princess into a kitty, and she’ll shoot lasers at the enemies for a short time. Other items include a speed boost to make you move faster, and a stopwatch to put all enemies to sleep temporarily.

You can also collect wood or metal (that spawn sparingly) to build a fort around the princess so enemies can’t get to her. The metal can build tower defenses that will shoot lasers at oncoming enemies until their power runs out. It’s challenging to gather enough material to make the forts and defenses. You only need one piece to build something, but they don’t spawn often.

After a few waves of enemies, a boss will appear that you need to defeat to make it to the next level.

Jet Set Knights is hard to do on your own, though. A lot is happening on the screen. You also only have three bars of health. Once you die, you have to restart from the beginning. You will level up the more enemies you defeat, allowing you to boost your health, speed, or damage.

Unfortunately, it becomes monotonous after a while. This is where the multiplayer comes in. Jet Set Knights is much better with friends. There’s only local co-op, so, unfortunately, I couldn’t play with other friends due to COVID. My sister played with me for a little while, though, and the game was a lot more fun and manageable.

The story mode can also be played with two people. This adds depth to the gameplay because, if you die, it’s not “game over”. Your partner can revive you as many times as needed. The game only ends if you both die.

There’s a multiplayer battle mode where you can play with up to four local friends. This mode consists of three mini-games: capture the flag, protect the egg, and be the last one standing. This was fun too, though it would have been better if I had the chance to play with more people rather than just myself and my sister.

Overall, Jet Set Knights is an interesting game. If you want to make the most out of this game, you need to have a couple of friends to play with. It’s not a long game, but it’s challenging. This is one to play once in a while for me. It’s fun, but it’s also repetitive with not too much to do, especially when playing alone.

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