From Divo Games, creator of Sea Journey and the Be Rich! series, come a time management/simulation game that will really sweep you off your sandals. Jack of All Tribes is a bit like Virtual Villagers meets Totem Tribe while they're having a party at Build-a-Lot's house. You take on the role of Jack, unwitting chief of a tribe, and help the various prehistoric peoples get along better while you spruce up their villages. It's a very well-built game that hits that "one more level" mark perfectly, and you won't be able to put it down until the end.
Jack finds himself dumped into a prehistoric village after a rollercoaster ride goes a bit differently than planned. The people here think Jack is the stranger foretold in legends who will bring peace back to the land. To fulfill this legend, you'll travel across the continent, helping neighboring villages in trouble and doing your darndest to keep everyone busy and content.
A few simple resources, a few level goals, and a couple of buildings are your only concerns in this game, freeing your attention up to concentrate on the fast-paced gameplay. Each level has two or three objectives you'll need to complete before you can move on. Tasks range from building a certain number of huts to gathering resources such as gold, food or wood, and upgrading structures to a certain level. Some buildings generate wood and food on their own (provided you assigned a worker or two), while huts add villagers and provide a bit of steady income.
At the root of Jack of All Tribes' gameplay is keeping villagers happy. Happy villagers are better workers, so your top priority is always to take care of their needs. Fortunately these people aren't too demanding, asking only for food once in a while, a light cocktail, and maybe a dip in the hot springs. Watch your workers and schedule a break when they need one!
Special events play a big role in Jack of All Tribes, and it seems like every level has at least one or two surprises. The best of these are strange areas you'll have to explore, such as the "iron bird" you have to investigate in order to remove items that shouldn't be in this ancient land via hidden object scene. Helping visitors and exploring these areas costs gold, so make sure you keep the villager work queue well-stocked!
Analysis: Ready for a surprise awesome game? Jack of All Tribes will probably catch you off guard with how addictive it is. The gameplay is stripped down to just a few basics, focusing on moderately fast-paced action instead of heavy resource management. What this gives to us lucky players is a streamlined experience that requires just the right amount of quick reflexes and thinking, and there are plenty of surprises and bonuses to keep you intrigued as to what's around the next bend on the map.
Trophies and bonus items aren't a necessary part of Jack of All Tribes, but man are they fun to collect. Most of them will be found via natural gameplay, such as getting a trophy for cutting down a certain number of trees. The items are found at semi-regular intervals and give your crew small boosts in performance, allowing them to walk faster or get a burst of speed after taking a meal. And when time matters as much as it does in this game, little things like that really help!
Jack of All Tribes has around 40 levels to play through, which is worth several hours of solid entertainment. You can strive for perfection in each stage by completing the tasks before the timer runs out, but other than that, the game ends before you really want it to. The length feels right, however, but when a game pulls you in as efficiently as this one does, no amount of time seems to be enough!
A brilliantly-concocted mix of time management and simulation genres, Jack of All Tribes will keep you pleasantly busy and entertained with its feature-rich gameplay, plentiful bonus bits, and gorgeous visuals.
Windows:
Download the demo
Get the full version
Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Get the full version
Walkthrough Guide
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Jack of All Tribes - Tips & Tricks
Your goals are shown in the bar low right side.
In some level you will get additional goals during the level, so you want to have a quick look from time to time.
When you need to build houses, the picture in the task list will show how many stars (upgrade) it will have.
When you see an orange smiley in addition to the three stars, you need to build decoration next to the house as well.
When you want to collect wood/food/gold, you will need to click the item. The nearest villager will go and get it.
When all workers are busy, the first one finishing his actual job will automatically go.
Clicking an item/job to do the second time will cancel the order.
When you need a house to build and there is no free worker, a sand clock will appear.
Workers will join the job as soon as they are free.
For every job each available villager will go, however: each job will only be done by a max. of five workers.
If there is only one free worker to build a house, the others will follow as soon as they are available.
Your population grows with every house you build and with every upgrade you make on these houses.
There is a maximum of three upgrades per house.
Decorations such as flower beds, totems, wells or statues do not have to be build by workers. They will cost an amount of gold, but it is enough to click the silhouette of the object - it will be built at once.
Forester huts and pig farms will bring you 15 units wood/food per day per worker.
When you build a forester hut or a pig farm, one of the builders will employ himself automatically after finishing.
Clicking a forester hut or a pig farm will add a worker to it, up to a max of 5 workers.
Hovering over the building will show you images of the available workers on that building. Clicking these images will make a worker leave and doing another job. This way you can hire more workers if you need a lot or fast wood/food but you can also leave the building with no workers, if you need them all to do certain jobs.
In the later stage of the game you can build a corn mill. For the mill no workers are needed; they only have to collect the products.
There is no time limit in the meaning of "losing the level" - if you can make it before the timer runs out, you will have a much nicer flag on the map - if you don't you still win the level and you may try again whenever you want.
But there is a but: Coming back later will only give you the upgrades you had at this stage of the game. Also, if the rocket for faster moving is shown above the hut, for example, you will not be able to use it. You will have to earn your nice flag with the original state.
When a workers wants to eat, have a drink at the bar or something else, you will see an icon above his head.
At the same time, you will see the icon above the cauldron/bar/theater/bath activated.
To give the worker what he wants click the icon above the location he wants to go.
You do not have to give him his will immediately, but the longer it takes, the slower he will work, so it does make sense to let him go.
When a hut burns down, the workers which were living there will show you a sign to signal that they are homeless. They will not work before they have their home back.
To extinguish a burning hut, simply click on it. Workers will come as soon as they are free - however, if this does not happen fast enough, the building will burn down and you will have to repair it.
Only wood from the forester hut and food from the pig farm will be collected automatically. Everything else need to be collected by a worker - he will bring the gold/wood/food into the main house.
Gold, food and wood will be only counted when it is inside the main house - you will not be able to use the products/gold before.
You will have to click the gold/food/wood that is laying on the floor; the nearest worker will collect it.
When you are short on money, you can chop trees. This will cost you a small fee. The worker will only chop the tree; you will need to click the wood to collect it.
The Great Menhir and his people can be driven away away by clicking.
When you have the little dragon baby, it will take care of the intruders - your help is not needed.
When there are towers available, they will throw stones - your help is not needed.
However, when your goal contains a certain amounts of Great Menhir people to run away, you should support the dragon or the towers, as this is much faster.
Intruders who come upon houses will burn them down.
The game is pretty straight forward. Most important is wood and food. Take care that you have enough of this, especially in the beginning of a level.
Look for the lot with the images of forester hut and farm that are already built on plants or plants you have to repair.
Don't forget that you can add and remove workers from the farm or forester hut. If you have enough food, you can also remove all workers, when you need them.
Some rewards will be given automatically; for example, for chopping down a certain amount of trees or serving a certain amount of drinks at the bar.
You will sometimes have hidden object scenes. The objects have to be found in the order they are shown on the top left side.
At the end of the scene you will get an object from Jack's time.
These objects will give you, for example, a speed boost for your workers, or other helpful features.
When you see stone heaps or other obstacles you will need to remove them. Hover over it with the mouse to see how much it will cost.
When you see an exclamation mark above the head of an elder, you need to click him to talk. Normally you will get a task.
Thanks to Kayleigh for the tips!
Posted by: Mike
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February 4, 2011 2:33 PM