''Jump Raven'' was the second game released by
Cyberflix, in 1994. The game's technology is similar to that of
Lunicus
Lunicus is a 1993 computer game developed by Cyberflix and published by Paramount Pictures, Paramount Interactive. It shares many traits in both graphical style and gameplay with some of Cyberflix's other games, like Jump Raven. It was rated as 1 ...
, released by Cyberflix one year prior, but this time employs a more detailed storyline and environment. In an opening sequence of the game, we see future
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
, which has fallen into horrible disrepair in the aftermath of global warming and
rising sea levels
Rising may refer to:
* Rising, a stage in baking - see Proofing (baking technique)
*Elevation
* Short for Uprising, a rebellion
Film and TV
* "Rising" (''Stargate Atlantis''), the series premiere of the science fiction television program ''Starga ...
and a bankrupt federal government. The premise of the story is that gangsters, neo-nazis, and various other thugs have acquired large stores of weapons (from the government) and have ransacked New York's store of
cryogenic
In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures.
The 13th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington DC in 1971) endorsed a universal definition of “cryogenics” and “cr ...
ally-frozen
DNA of endangered species. The player's job as a
bounty hunter
A bounty hunter is a private agent working for bail bonds who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as bail enforcement agent, or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated outs ...
is to retrieve them.
Gameplay
Before taking off in a fancy
hovercraft
A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces.
Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull, or air cushion, ...
, the
player
Player may refer to:
Role or adjective
* Player (game), a participant in a game or sport
** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games
** Athlete, a player in sports
** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...
chooses a co-pilot who can navigate or fire weapons. selecting Nikki, Chablis, "Cheesestick" Limbaugh (supposedly descended from Rush, though he is black), Thrash, Lark or Dogstar. Each co-pilot is unique and may not be available for every level.
The game's three difficult and lengthy
levels
Level or levels may refer to:
Engineering
*Level (instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights
*Spirit level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical
*Canal pound or level
*Regr ...
are played in the player's hovercraft flying around the streets of New York. The opponents drive tanks or fly planes and insult the player frequently. The user can choose between one of several bands for theme music in each level. each band has a unique song per level. the bands include: x-static, deathkiller, pink flaand (a reference to
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...
), and smoove da groove. The name "deathkiller" was coined at a trade show - two Japanese girls watched the demo and described it as "deathkiller". evidently there is no accurate translation from Japanese to English for that type of video game...
Game control is rather complicated as the player can move up, down, left, right, and forward and backward. The player must also control weapons. Fortunately, the copilot can take care of one or more of these functions.
Development
Following the successful launch of its
CD-ROM game ''
Lunicus
Lunicus is a 1993 computer game developed by Cyberflix and published by Paramount Pictures, Paramount Interactive. It shares many traits in both graphical style and gameplay with some of Cyberflix's other games, like Jump Raven. It was rated as 1 ...
'' in April 1993,
developer
CyberFlix began to create ''Jump Raven'' with the DreamFactory
development environment
In software deployment, an environment or tier is a computer system or set of systems in which a computer program or software component is deployed and executed. In simple cases, such as developing and immediately executing a program on the same m ...
from the first title.
At the time, CD-ROM games tended to run slowly, but DreamFactory was designed to allow an unusually high level of speed for the era. However, CyberFlix considered its projects to be "interactive movies" rather than games, according to Jack Neely of ''
Metro Pulse
''Metro Pulse'' was a weekly newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1991 by Ashley Capps, Rand Pearson, Ian Blackburn, and Margaret Weston, and was a member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.
In 2007, ''Metro Pulse'' ...
'',
and DreamFactory placed an emphasis on storytelling.
As with ''Lunicus'', production of ''Jump Raven'' began in the basement of a log cabin owned by CyberFlix founder
William Appleton.
The game's development team was composed of four members: Appleton, creator of DreamFactory, who handled the game's programming; audio lead Scott Scheinbaum; artist Jamie Wicks; and screenwriter
Andrew Nelson. The four had originally founded CyberFlix to create ''Lunicus'', and the company was
incorporated
Incorporated may refer to:
* Incorporated community
* ''Incorporated'' (Grip Inc. album), 2004, by Grip Inc.
* ''Incorporated'' (Legion of Doom album), 2006
* ''Incorporated'' (TV series), a science fiction thriller television series set in 2075 ...
a month after its release, with the help of manager Erik Quist. Science Fiction and Fantasy Illustrator:
Debbie Hughes
Debbie Hughes (born May 14, 1958 in Lexington, Kentucky) is an American artist specializing in science fiction and fantasy illustration. Her work has appeared in over 150 publications.
Early career
Hughes is the granddaughter of Hildegarde Hami ...
was hired as a freelancer to create the "puppet characters" for the game. Hughes Illustrated over 14 characters that players interacted with in the game.
CyberFlix demonstrated ''Jump Raven'' at the
Macworld Expo
Macworld/iWorld was an information technology trade show with conference tracks dedicated to the Apple Macintosh platform. It was held annually in the United States during January. Originally ''Macworld Expo'' and then ''Macworld Conference & Expos ...
later in 1993, to public acclaim, and impressed
Paramount Interactive
Paramount Digital Entertainment, Inc. (formerly known as ''Paramount Interactive'') was a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (ma ...
employees who were in attendance. As a result, CyberFlix received a "multi-million-dollar deal for it" from Paramount, Neely later wrote.
The agreement, which the two companies closed by November 1993, contracted CyberFlix for three games.
Reception
''Jump Raven''s initial
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
release was a commercial success.
Discussing the
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradi ...
development scene in 1994, a writer for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called the game one of "the best-selling and most critically praised
ultimedia
The Personal System/2 or PS/2 is IBM's second generation of personal computers. Released in 1987, it officially replaced the IBM PC, XT, AT, and PC Convertible in IBM's lineup. Many of the PS/2's innovations, such as the 16550 UART (serial p ...
titles on the market", alongside ''
Myst
''Myst'' is a graphic adventure/puzzle video game designed by the Miller brothers, Robyn and Rand. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Broderbund, and initially released for the Macintosh in 1993. In the game, the player's characte ...
''.
Market research firm
PC Data
PC Data was an American market research and point of sale tracking firm founded in 1991 and based in Reston, Virginia. Its founder, Ann Stephens, had worked previously as the head researcher for the Software Publishers Association. Initially, t ...
named it the fourth-best-selling Macintosh game of July 1994,
and the platform's seventh-highest seller in September.
By August, ''Jump Raven'' had reached sales of 50,000 units. Around the 28th of that month, another 50,000 units were shipped for
Microsoft Windows. Erik Quist of CyberFlix expected the game to sell 100,000 units overall "by Christmas", Barbara Kantrowitz of ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'' reported at the time.
Sales of ''Jump Raven'' had reached close to the 100,000 mark by January 3.
Christopher Breen of ''
Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through t ...
'' enjoyed ''Jump Raven''s combat and "often very amusing" writing, and noted that "the game is darned fast for a CD-ROM". However, he criticized the "incredibly annoying" copilot voices and "inane dialogue", and considered its interface clumsy. He concluded, "Adequately addressing these issues might have made ''Jump Raven'' a great strategy/action adventure rather than just a good arcade game."
The game was reviewed in June 1995 in ''
Dragon'' #218 by Paul Murphy in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Murphy's review was negative, concluding "I don't care how good a game looks or sounds, how cool the animation and special-effects are, how easy it is to load or save: if it isn't any fun to play, it's a failure."
References
External links
Official websitevia
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...
''Jump Raven''at
MobyGames
MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...
{{CyberFlix
1994 video games
Classic Mac OS games
Science fiction video games
Video games developed in the United States
Windows games
Single-player video games
CyberFlix games