Jonah's Missions

### Rating

E10+ for Crude Humor, Mild Blood, Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence

### Genre(s)

Run and gun

**Jonah's Missions** is a run and gun shoot 'em up inspired by *Super Star Wars* and *Alien Hominid*.

## Synopsis

In the year 2078, the Shel empire has reached its twentieth year of invading the country of Vuurma for their oil supplies and have sent molecularly cloned, implant-controlled dinosaurs into the state as war dogs. After a cyber attack, the neural implants in the dinosaurs malfunction and they wreak havoc across both Vuurma and the capital of Shel, reducing both to lawless, concrete deserts. It's up to disillusioned ex-SWATs Jonah and Abe, as well as Vuurman scientists and closeted couple Walsh and Spindler, to take down the dinosaurs, death squads, and the Shel emperor himself in this gripping run-and-gunner.

## Gameplay

Jonah's Missions is a side-scrolling shooter and platformer in a similar vein to games such as *Alien Hominid* and *Metal Slug*, with support for multiplayer simultaneous play. Players kill waves of dinosaurs and death troopers with a primary and secondary blaster rifle although players can also melee kill nearby enemies and use a limited number of grenades to attack. In addition to shooting, players can perform melee attacks by using a Beam Blade; the player does not die by coming into contact with enemies, and correspondingly, most of the enemies have melee attacks. Advanced moves players can use include rolling under shots, jumping on enemies' heads, briefly stunning enemies, and drilling underground to drag enemies down with them.

The majority of the game's scenery is destructible and this sometimes reveals extra items or power-ups. Throughout each level, the player encounters political prisoners, who, if freed, offer the player bonuses in the form of random items or weapons. At the end of each level, the player gets a scoring bonus based on the number of freed political prisoners. If the player dies before the end of the level, the number of freed political prisoners reverts to zero. Getting hit by enemy attacks, touching hazards or falling off-stage will result in losing a life; in Ultra Assassination Buzzsaw Murder mode, players must restart the level or optionally the game after running out.

Players can collect many power-ups which simultaneously give them extra grenades, an energy shield, and unique ammo. Players can also drive cars, ride on top of dinosaurs, and pilot an attack helicopter. Completing certain tasks will unlock cosmetics players can dress their character in as well as upgrades to the blaster rifles. There are eight chapters with four levels each. Most enemies are death troopers or dinosaurs with specialized roles and corresponding attacks but there are also mechanized enemies, those being ATVs, dune buggies, Jeeps, tanks, and attack helicopters.

## Themes

The game, aesthetically themed off of mid-2000s pop culture, bases its fictional political scene in large part on the War on Terror, with the Shel empire in place of the United States and Vuurma taking the role of Iraq and Afghanistan. Notably, the Shel empire is named after Shell plc, referencing the multi-billion dollar contracts that oil corporation Halliburton received in association with the Iraq War. One level takes place at an abandoned bank in Shel territory, which dialogue confirms was deregulated to fund the war effort. Likewise, Vuurma is a Muslim-majority country in the Middle East that is shunned for its execution of LGBTQIA+ people and people of other religions, as well as where the most extremist anti-Shel faction is located. After this faction attacked Shel territory, the empire waged war on Vuurma to gain control of their oil supplies under the guise of stopping the dissidents.