Last year, indie developer Owlchemy Lab’s Smuggle Truck was a part of the Boston Indie Showcase, and I had a blast playing it. Which was why I was pleased to see them back on the show floor this year with a new game for mobile devices, titled Jack Lumber.
There’s a bit of a tragic story behind Jack Lumber– your character, Jack, lost his grandmother at a young age when she was viciously slaughtered by a falling tree. Now, using your supernatural powers, you’re out to avenge your granny’s death by destroying as many trees as you can, armed with your axe and your trusty sidekick Buck the Beaver always by your side.
Jack Lumber is an action arcade game with familiar mechanics, but it’s a lot of fun to play. Flying bits of lumber zip across your screen, and using your finger, your mission is to chop up as many as you can using one fluid motion. The faster you destroy as many logs of wood as you can, the more points you’ll score. Some trees need to be chopped horizontally and vertically, so you’ll soon be frantically dragging your finger across the screen in crazy patterns trying to annihilate the lumber and avenge Jack’s poor grandma. Due to the mechanics of the game, it works best on a touchscreen, but I’d love to see this game someday ported to the Kinect.
Jack Lumber will be released sometime this summer for mobile devices. In the meantime, watch the latest teaser video after the jump.
