''Jersey Devil'' is a

3D platformer A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

developed by

Behaviour Interactive Behaviour Interactive Inc. is a Canadian video game development studio specializing in the production of 2D and 3D action/adventure games for home video game consoles, handheld game consoles, PCs and mobile. Based in Montreal, Canada, the compan ...

and released worldwide for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

and

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. The titular protagonist is a

Jersey Devil In South Jersey and Philadelphia folklore in the United States, the Jersey Devil (also known as the Leeds Devil) is a legendary creature said to inhabit the forest of Pine Barrens in South Jersey. The creature is often described as a flying bipe ...

, although he has more characteristics of a

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

. His primary mission is to stop Dr. Knarf and his army of mutated vegetables and prehistoric monsters. Jersey Devil uses his punch, jumping, and gliding abilities to defeat his enemies. In many areas of the game, it is necessary to collect all five letters of Knarf's name to proceed, adding a puzzle element to the gameplay.

Gameplay

''Jersey Devil'' is a platform game set in a 3D world, with gameplay dominated by collecting icons and defeating enemies. The player character's abilities include gliding in order to get out of fatal falls or reach new areas.

Plot

Dennis, a mutated, humanoid pumpkin, enters Dr. Knarf's lab with something he found in a small cage. He interrupts Knarf as he is about to dissect a mutant eggplant in order to show him the creature he had found. In the cage is shown to be the main character, Jersey Devil, as an infant. Knarf begins plans to dissect the infant in order to study him, but realizes that when Dennis interrupted him earlier, he ruined his last scalpel blade and locks Dennis in a cage outside before leaving to fetch more. While gone, one of his plant monsters tries to attack the infant Jersey Devil, but he eludes it and then begins to wreck the lab while Dennis watches helplessly from his cage. Knarf returns to find his lab in ruins with the Jersey Devil holding a bottle of Nitroglycerin, which he dangles in the air before suddenly dropping it and destroying the lab almost completely, the result of which sends him flying far away into the middle of the nearby town of "Jersey". The cutscene then flashes forward to many years later, the town has grown into a city, and mutant vegetable monsters are seen chasing, terrorizing and kidnapping the residents of the city. One of them stops while passing by a television store window, which is playing the evening news, and watches curiously as Dr. Knarf is mentioned. The news then goes on to mention "mysterious sightings of the legendary Jersey Devil", as a figure suddenly appears behind the mutant and pulls of the mask he is wearing, revealing him to be Dennis. The figure, revealed to be Jersey Devil, leans down and says "Boo!" scaring Dennis away, when he picked up by Knarf as he drives past in his car. The scene then pans back towards Jersey Devil, finding instead only empty streets, before revealing Jersey Devil up on the rooftops, looking down over the city as the title screen appears.

Development

Sony Computer Entertainment America Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...

picked up the title in October 1997.

Reception

'' Next Generation'' reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "it's not a bad game, just tiresome in a 'seen it all before' kind of way. Anyone looking for something fresh for PlayStation's stale platform genre probably won't be that happy with this game." The game received mixed reviews; criticism was mainly focused on the camera and graphics. A common praise given to the game was its orchestral score by Gilles Léveillé.

Footnotes

; Notes ; References

External links

Artificial Mind & Movement page
*{{MobyGames, id=/jersey-devil 1997 video games 3D platform games Behaviour Interactive games Halloween video games Jersey Devil in fiction Ocean Software games Konami games Infogrames games PlayStation (console) games Sony Interactive Entertainment games Video games developed in Canada Windows games Single-player video games