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Jake and his friends definitely look like themselves. The dialogue was right on in my opinion. It really captures Jake’s tone and attitude. Huntsclan is a side-scroller action game but it has its own look and feel. The background music is bouncy and active, but I did not find it at all intrusive to my game play.

Huntsclan begins with a very nice tutorial. Jake can walk, but to really move he needs to use his skateboard. I quickly learned how to use the skateboard and how to use the skateboard to attack the bad guys. Of course you practice on some trash cans first. It was nice to learn how to use the skills before I had to risk Jake’s life and limb. If you don’t quite get the moves at first, don’t worry. The tutorial will let you keep trying until you understand the button combination to make it work.

Once the initial skateboard skills were learned, I went on to learn about collecting the focus crystals needed in order to dragon up. It’s a real kick to turn into a red, fire-breathing, tail-whipping dragon. I got to practice my moves on more trash cans.

In addition to the human and dragon fighting skills, you also get the chance to periodically summon a friend to help you out. Grandpa kicks butt as a wicked blue dragon. Trixie and Spud summon food to help restore your health. Jake’s best buddy Fu Dog summons focus points to help dragon up. Yay super friends!

Because this has been an issue for me with other games, I wanted to be sure to mention that you aren’t stuck doing the tutorial with Huntsclan. If you already know how to play, you can easily skip the tutorial and jump right into the game. I think this was a great decision by the designers.

Each game level has a number of screens that Jake needs to fight his way across. (And a few screens where he can just beat up on trash cans for goodies.) When he has made it all the way through the level, there is a summary of his current abilities and the player gets to improve one of his skills. There are 5 Jake specific skills and 5 Jake as dragon specific skills to choose from. I’m sure each person will come up with their own skill preferences as they move through the game.

There are three save game slots available, and you can always choose to restart from the beginning if you aren’t happy with how things are going. You can easily pause the game by pressing the Start button, which is very handy if you need to go in a hurry. The only thing I found a little harsh is that you can’t choose when you want to save your game. Huntsclan auto-saves after you’ve completed an important milestone, which is nice, but it doesn’t help if you really, really need to go and would like to save first. I suppose you could plug the game in and leave it in pause mode, but I’d really rather save when I choose.

I have a few words of advice to leave you in parting. When you see that hamburger meal, grab it. It refills your health bar which is oh so important. Make sure and get the blue crystals dropped by the bad guys (and sometimes out of trash cans). Without the blue crystals, you can’t dragon up. If you’re moving on the ground, use your skateboard. You are very slow without it and the bad guys will laugh at your feeble attacks. When you’re attacking the bad guys on your skateboard, get that sucker airborne. And keep moving - Jake looks sad when he doesn’t pull the right moves and instead goes sliding across the sidewalk. I shudder to think of the road rash he’s getting.

Rise of the Huntsclan is rated E 10+, I’m sure due to the violence inherent to the story. That being said, I really wouldn’t have a problem letting my daughter play this game. Yes, Jake is attacking bad guys and being attacked in return, but it’s not at all scary and there was no flying blood. Have fun and Dragon Up!