Each level of JumpWheel consists of a series of suspended platforms, across which you must pass in order to reach the exit. The wheel that you control, with on-screen jump and sink buttons, is in continuous motion, so to get from one platform to the next, you must jump at the right moment, by tapping on the screen.
In some cases a double jump will be required, while in others a sequence of jumps must be timed perfectly. In the opening levels, you should only need to use the hump button, but on later levels it becomes necessary to use the sink button too, terminating jumps mid-way through their parabolic curves.
To keep you on your toes, there are various power-ups and objects which impact you movement across the level. For example, green arrows send the wheel speeding in a certain direction. In some cases it is essential to "run over" these power-ups in order to to negotiate a tricky section (and thus complete the level). There are also power-downs, which must be avoided, because they mean instant death.
JumpWheel may be developers MaxPirat's first game, but it is clear that a lot time and effort has gone into developing this title. JumpWheel has attractive graphics, good background music and sound effects, intuitive game controls, and a generally well balanced level of game play. It is a great example of the kind of quality game that's available from indie developers, if you move outside the comfort zone of the Xbox Live listings in the Windows Phone Marketplace.
Marketplace description:
JumpWheel is new 3d arcade game exclusively for Windows Phone 7! Meet awesome fully 3d graphics with 60 frames per second and old school arcade action.
JumpWheel can be downloaded from the Windows Phone Marketplace. It costs £0.79 / $0.99 / €0.99; no trial is available. Normally we're hesitant to recommend games that don't have a trial available, but you can get a good idea of what the game play is like from the embedded video, and we're confident that most games will find JumpWheel an enjoyable download.