JAWS Unleashed – XB – Review

Ah … the
beach. The sand, the sun, the ocean, and some woman flailing around in the water
in a growing pool of red. While that may not sound like a reason for you to
enjoy the beach (and if it does, please seek professional help), this would
probably be the ideal vacation or just afternoon for a shark. If you’re
wondering what it would be like to actually be a shark, then you’re in luck
because one of the scariest sharks from the movies is now on the Xbox, and while
it does a great job in providing some gruesome fun and offers open ended
gameplay, there are a few major problems that may drown out a good time.

In JAWS
unleashed, you play as the famous shark from the movies as he defends his
aquatic territory around Amity Isle from the large number of humans moving into
the area who, of course, are looking to open theme parks and drilling
expeditions and things of that nature. The story mode to JAWS pretty much
revolves around you stopping progress while everyone’s trying to kill you (what
else would you expect playing as a shark?). Also, if you’re not in the mood to
go through the story at the moment, you can simply swim around destroying things
and eating people for points to upgrade JAWS’ abilities or play up to 32
different side missions to also earn points or break up some monotony.

The controls
to JAWS Unleashed are pretty simple to get into, with the left stick controlling
movement and the right stick controlling the camera, and JAWS also has a number
of special moves that he can unlock as you progress and build up his stats like
a body slam to destroy ships or a corkscrew attack. Outside of eating
everything, he can also use a tailwhip attack to demolish things he runs across,
so there’s a few ways that you can swim out and cause mass amounts of
destruction and chaos. The game also seems to get more difficult the more damage
you do and the better you build up JAWS’ abilities, since shark hunters and such
will begin to show up more frequently and in greater numbers as you go on.

JAWS,
overall, is a great game, and it’s surprisingly fun to swim around destroying
everything you can find. It’s also satisfying to devour people and other sharks,
it’s a lot of fun to play the side missions and do things like stealth killing
swimmers or pulling a boat to a buoy in a certain time period, and it’s cool to
visit locations and see people from the actual JAWS movie, so this game sounds
like a winner … right? Well, unfortunately there are a couple of major problems
with JAWS that can potentially hinder your underwater enjoyment. First off, this
game has one of the most annoying cameras that I have seen in a while. The
camera tries to stay behind JAWS the whole time, and while you’re underwater in
a large open area it’s not too bad. The problems come in when you’re in enclosed
areas or up near the surface, since it tends to get confused as to where it
needs to be, which causes it to jump over the water when it’s not supposed to so
you can’t see what you’re doing. It also seems to get lost in enclosed areas,
and at times flailed around the sides or up above JAWS which especially causes
headaches and cost me a couple of do-overs during boss battles or even at times
of just swimming around.

The controls
to JAWS are pretty clean, but another major issue is the fact that he can get
stuck in multiple areas that are a little tight since trying to turn a huge
shark in a small area just doesn’t work out too well and there’s no reverse
button. There were quite a few times that he would get trapped in between a wall
and a pier or something like that, and I had to re-load the game since I was
getting hammered with harpoons or a gun or something. In addition, the bad
camera also caused problems with trying to find enemies up on decks and things
like that and cost a loss of life or do-overs.

Overall, I
would be lying if I said that I didn’t like JAWS Unleashed or that I didn’t just
sit and play it for hours, overall enjoying it thoroughly. Outside of the
problems, they actually did a good job of bringing a game based on the movie
series to the Xbox, and taking a character like a shark and being able to bring
a game out that offers decent open ended gameplay, a decent mission selection,
and even some cool boss battles in itself says something for the game and the
developers, and it shows that they were trying to give players a fun game.
Unfortunately, the camera and control issues may give players a headache and
some annoyance, so it really comes down to whether or not you can overlook the
problems and put up with some aggravation in order to see a fun game underneath.

Review Scoring Details for JAWS Unleashed

Gameplay: 7.0
The controls to
JAWS are good for the most part, and the game is open ended and allows you to
pretty much do what you want including just swimming and eating or playing side
missions. Unfortunately, the camera causes problems and do-overs, and JAWS will
get stuck in certain areas and that will also cause do-overs.

Graphics: 7.9
The graphics in
JAWS looked really good overall, with some decent character modeling (the bodies
will flail around and flop pretty lifelike when you get a hold of them) and good
additions like bubble masses, blood clouds, and some good water effects. JAWS
was also done well, and has some pretty realistic movements.

Sound: 7.8
The game features
music from the movie, and tracks that will increase in intensity when JAWS gets
into situations or goes after someone. There was also some great work done on
the environmental effects all the way down to people screaming when JAWS
approaches and the screams actually changing to that muffled sound when you go
back underwater. 

Difficulty: Medium
The game is
pretty easy to get into, and there’s a tutorial to go through in the beginning.
The game will get more challenging as you progress to a point, but the camera
and controls can sometimes make the challenge more difficult than it should be.

Concept: 7.5
The whole idea
behind JAWS Unleashed is good, and taking something like a shark and making an
entertaining and fun title says something in itself, not to mention making it
open ended and offering players the ability to do what they like.

Overall: 6.9
If the camera and
controls would have been more solid, this game would have been one that I would
recommend for players to pick up. Unfortunately, the decision to play it is
going to come down to whether or not you can get around the issues. If you can,
JAWS Unleashed is a fun title with good unlockables and open ended play. Either
way, I would recommend a rental prior to purchase.