Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony (Game)

Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony

GAME » on June 8, 2011

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Jamestown: Legend Of The Lost Colony is a neo-classical top-down shooter for up to 4 players, set on 17th-century British Colonial Mars.

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Overview

Jamestown is a shoot-em-up for up to four players on the PC. Players control one of four different kinds of ships, and do battle on the British Colonial Mars against the evil Spanish Empire and their alien overlords. By collecting gold and powering up using the "vaunt" system, players shield themselves and navigate through bullet hell to push back the Spanish Empire and destroy the alien menace. The game was updated on November 10, 2011 with additional DLC, called the "Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot" DLC, which provided three additional ship types, and made the soundtrack available for download on the Steam service.

Story

The year is 1619, and your character is Raleigh, a criminal sentenced to death by the King of England at the Tower of London. Naturally, as a criminal who is wrongly charged, you wish to clear your name by performing the heroic feat of travelling to Mars and investigating the disappearance of the Roanoke Colony. The story takes place very quickly, over just a few days, as the war between the British and the Spanish follows Raleigh to Mars. Raleigh quickly discovers the planet's secrets, and discovers exactly what the Spanish are up to on the Red Planet.

Chapter 1: War Upon The East Frontier

War Upon The East Frontier, in which a settlement is ravaged by be-tentacled martians, loyal to the Spanish, and a villain appears!

Your character fights at the East Frontier, above the edge of the Jamestown colony. You do battle with the forces of the Spanish Armada and Martian flying saucers. Eventually, the Martian Prince gets tired of your antics, and attempts to defeat you with many bullets. Thankfully, he is unsuccessful. This is an introductory level, and eventually, Raleigh finds John Smith.

Chapter 2: Journey Through the Dark Sector

Journey Through the Dark Sector, in which Raleigh is pursued by the vigilant Spanish border guard, and the awful truth stands revealed!

Raleigh finds himself attacked by Spanish fighter planes, before arriving at the site of Roanoke, which has been attacked by a giant tentacle monster! Tentacles! Why'd it have to be tentacles? Then he proceeds to fight the giant monster living under the colony, before eventually fighting the heart of the monster itself. Once you do that, you rescue Virginia, a girl with a request that, if fulfilled, will pardon you in England (on Earth. You know, that planet over there with the water and the leaves and life.)

Chapter 3: Prisoner of the Badlands

Prisoner of the Badlands, in which a prison break is effected by simply attacking the prison and all its robotic guards in broad daylight, and Roanoke's last survivor shares a vital clue.

You attempt to free Virginia's father from a giant robot prison by, attacking everything in the middle of the day. After being a hero, you reach the prison, which is actually the level's boss. By attacking its weak points for massive damage, it explodes, revealing the father (how does he not die in the explosion?) and allowing you to find out what the Conquistador is really up to.

Chapter 4: Secret Mines of New Madrid

Secret Mines of New Madrid, in which Raleigh races time to prevent a foul desecration of Mars itself, and the villain shows his hand.

There are mining trains on Mars! Who'd have thought? Blowing them up gets you gold, and you fight your way over many well-armored trains that are attempting to attack you as you make your way to the Conquistador. When the tracks align, the real weapon appears; a giant drill train headed straight to the heart of Mars! If the Spanish can't have it, then clearly the British can't have it either. You blow up the majority of the train, leaving the drill without enough power to destroy Mars itself, but damage an ancient Martian temple, just enough to get inside. And ancient Martians don't like it when you go around cracking their temples open with giant drill trains...

Chapter 5: The Lost Temple of Croatoa

The Lost Temple of Croatoa, in which the most ancient sanctuary of a forgotten Martian culture is awakened, and made very angry, and the Conquistador goes all in!

Raleigh fights through the Martian temple, following behind the Conquistador. The Martians don't like him, and proceed to activate all the defense systems in an attempt to eradicate him. When Raleigh finally reaches the temple's inner sanctum, he finds the Conquistador, with yet another surprise in store. The Conquistador merges with the ancient Martian, becoming the Heart of Mars! Only by defeating the Conquistador and restoring Mars to a balanced state can Jamestown finally be at peace.

Gameplay

In Jamestown, you shoot down the enemies approaching the bottom of the screen using two different types of fire: standard and alt-fire. Each of these types of attacks varies between the four ships you can choose to fly. In team games with up to four people, everyone can pick any combination of ships. The goal of the game is to get as many points as possible. When enemies are destroyed, they drop gold that can be collected for points.

Ship Selection

Ship selection.

Laser (Standard): Unlocked at the beginning of the game. The standard fire is a light-damage spread shot. The alt fire is a heavy-damage forward beam, and causes the ship to slow down. This is useful for new players in aiding in bullet dodging.
Gunner (Advanced): Unlocked for 2000 credits in the store. The standard fire is a light-damage straight shot and a rotatable crescent beam. The alt-fire fires both weapons as well, but turns the crescent beam to fire in the direction you move, allowing it to swing and shoot in any direction.
Charge (Standard): Unlocked at 4000 credits in the store. The standard fire is a light-damage straight shot. The alt-fire is a ball that charges up automatically, pierces through enemies and walls, and does a lot of damage.
Bomber (Advanced): Unlocked at 8000 credits in the store. The standard fire is a very light-damage single shot. The alt-fire detonates all of your bullets on the screen, causing them to do a high amount of splash damage around them.
Gunpowder (Standard): Unlocked at the beginning of the game if you own the GTP DLC. The standard fire is a light-damage forward shot. Over time, you stock rotation "option" barrels that attack with you. Pressing alt-fire throws one of the explosive barrels forward, and it explodes doing area damage at a set distance from you.
Treason (Standard): Unlocked at 2000 credits in the store, and if you own the GTP DLC. The standard fire is a medium-damage forward shot. Tapping the alt-fire shoots a single homing missile. Holding the alt-fire lowers your speed, and stocks up to four homing missiles. Releasing alt-fire shoots all the homing missiles.
Ghost (Advanced): Unlocked at 8000 credits in the store, and if you own the GTP DLC. This ship has two modes. In the first, you have a standard spread shot, doing moderate damage to targets in the middle of the firing line. When you press alt-fire, you create a ghost that shoots forward and has a spread shot behind that remains at that location, and you have a very high damage short range "sword". When you press alt-fire again, the ghost will move from its current location to your location. You can double-tap alt-fire to return the ghost to you, and return to the standard spread shot.
Fortune (Advanced): Unlocked at 25000 credits in the store, and if you own the GTP DLC. It's a mystery ship! It can mimic and become any of the other ships.

Vaunt System

The vaunt system is key to getting a good high score in the game. When in normal mode, your bullets do normal damage. As you collect gold, you fill up a vaunt meter. Once you fill it up, further gold gains do not increase the meter beyond the max. When vaunt mode is activated, you gain a large anti-bullet shield around your ship that disappears after about a second. While vaunt is activated, the vaunt meter drains constantly, but you can extend the length of your active vaunt by collecting more gold. While in vaunt, your bullets do 150% damage, and all point gains are doubled. Also, when your vaunt ends naturally (as in your vaunt meter runs out), you gain an additional chain bonus for the total duration of your vaunt. While in vaunt mode, you can prematurely end your vaunt by pressing the vaunt button again, which creates a very small anti-bullet shield, and greatly reduces the chain bonus for your vaunt.

Ranking System/Scoring

You ranking is based on points, summarized by stars. Much like other games, a number of stars indicates your current performance in the level, and also displays the amount of points you need to get to the next amount of stars. The end of level bonus the player receives is also incorporated into the final score and star count.

Judgement Day (Unlockable Difficulty)

The game's final difficulty, Judgement, unlocks once you have beaten every level on Divine. It becomes available in the shop for 5,500 gold. Aside from throwing many multitudes of extra bullets at you, the game has the worst trick in store for you; unshieldable bullets! Bullets in green cannot be destroyed by vaunt; you'll have to dodge them the old-fashioned way, by navigating your tiny pixel-hitbox between the tiny spaces left for you.

Co-op Play

There are a few differences for Co-op play. Firstly, there are more ships on the screen. (Duh.) Secondly, your vaunt score bonuses all stack. you'll get x2 for one player vaunting, x4 for three players, and x8 for four players. All points earned by all players will earn the current score bonus, meaning in co-op, you'll want to work with your buddies and all vaunt at the same time. The enemies also have more health, but just how much isn't explicitly mentioned. Just know you'll need to group everyone up for some sections, and spread them out for others. Other mechanics are unchanged, although there are some team strategies that will help improve your co-op play, like one player using their vaunt shield to protect another player, etc.

Death in co-op will assuredly happen, and it's handled differently. Co-op players will respawn on a short timer, which increases with every death. If all players are downed at the same time, it's game over. You can also collect "Revive" powerups, which immediately respawn either one or all of your downed teammates. If you activate the unlockable Hardcore Mode in the shop, it only affects teamplay; there will no longer be an auto revive timer. The only way to revive is to have your allies pick up a revive powerup.

Story Mode

The game has five chapters, and a gauntlet. By default, the game gives you three credits, each with three lives. Chapter 1 and 2 can be played on any difficulty, Chapter 3 can only be played if all previous levels have been beaten on Difficult difficulty or higher, Chapter 4 and the Final Stage can only be played if all previous levels have been beaten on the Legendary difficulty or higher.

Chapter Availability/Difficulty Chart

Stage # and Name	Normal	Difficult	Legendary	Divine	Judgement
Stage 1: East Frontier	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unlockable
Stage 2: Dark Sector	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unlockable
Stage 3: The Badlands	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unlockable
Stage 4: New Madrid	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unlockable
Stage 5: Croatoa	No	No	Yes	Yes	Unlockable

Normal Mode

Normal mode is an easier portion of the game. The game defaults to three lives per credit, and grants three credits, for a total of nine lives. When the player selects a level, they select their difficulty. Your credits are reset per level, netting you a total of nine lives for each stage. You can pick any difficulty for any of these levels.

Gauntlet Mode

This is the typical shooter mode. The game defaults to three lives per credit, and grants you three credits. However, credits do not reset in this mode. This is three credits for the entire game, progressing through the stages. If you select a difficulty where a level is not available, then the gauntlet ends after that level. This means Normal gauntlets end after Stage 3: The Badlands, and Difficult gauntlets end after Stage 4: New Madrid.

Bonus Levels/Challenge Packs

These levels are packs that are purchased from the store (with ducats). The first four challenges begin unlocked, but you must play these first four challenges before unlocking the rest. These challenges force you to play the game very carefully to achieve the desired goal. There are a few common themes to the levels:

Bullet Hell Survival puts the focus on surviving dire situations for a set amount of time.
Ring Flying forces you to fly through all the rings in a given level while still fighting enemies.
Score Attack forces the player to find out the tricks and gimmicks of a level, getting enough score to pass the level and killing enemies in special ways to make them worth more points.

The Shoppe

Getting Ducats

You get ducats for every game you play in Jamestown. You'll earn a set amount for each stage; harder stages award more ducats. You'll then get a percentage of the base, depending on how far you got based on % completion, with 100% completion netting you 100% of the ducats. Multiply this gold by a difficulty modifier, and then double everything if you beat the boss.

Ducats Earned = (Base Level, 75) * (Completion Percentage, 0-100%) * (Difficulty Multiplier, x1, x2, x3, x4, x5) * (Boss Defeated, x2)

PC System Requirements

OS: Microsoft Windows XP with SP2 / Vista / 7
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz or better
Memory: 512 MB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 250 MB
Video Card: Any OpenGL 2.0 graphics card with 256MB+ video RAM
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c
Additional: One keyboard, controller, or mouse required per player. Supports multiple mice and/or keyboards. 3-buttons required for mouse play.

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