Steven Spielberg's JAWS is one of the greatest movies ever made. If you don't agree with that, well... We're all entitled to our opinions, even if yours is uncategorically wrong. The film has a near perfect rating of 98% on rotten tomatoes. The sequels, on the other hand, have ratings of 53%, 11%, and 0% respectively. That's a pretty dramatic turn around... Going from a near perfect score, to the worst score possible over the course of four films. So where does JAWS: UNLEASHED fit in? The critics didn't much care for the game, but fan reviews have tended to be much more forgiving. Personally, I wasn't sure what to expect, but people I've spoken to about it tended to not think much about JAWS: UNLEASHED, so I wasn't really holding my breath. I ended up being somewhat pleasantly surprised as a result. Not because the game is particularly good, but more so because my expectations were somewhat low. I've come to the conclusion that expectations play as big a role in the enjoyment we experience from the media we consume as anything, even though enjoyment should be a subjective experience.
Spielberg's 1975 classic JAWS (above), based on the Peter Benchley's 1974 novel of the same name (below).
.jpg)
First off, the camera and the controls in this game are brutal. It doesn't pay to try and explore any on the nooks and crevices in the game, because you'll inevitably get your big dumb shark head stuck in a corner and struggle feebly to free yourself. When this happens, you don't feel like the ultimate ocean predator forged by a million years of evolution to kill everything in sight. You feel like a big dumb fish. If you swim past your target, you'll have to clumsily make a loop and try it again. It's somewhat emasculating. Jaws (let's just operate under the assumption that that's the sharks name) can feel like a real weakling sometimes. There's nothing worse than being arbitrarily killed by a diver with a spear gun because you just can't get it together and lock him in your view. When it all works out though, and bear down on your foe with laser precision, tearing it asunder with your might maw, you'll feel like a champ. It's a fun game to play within certain parameters, but anything that requires any degree of precision just ends up being frustrating.
Don't bother exploring, you'll just get your head stuck in a ship wreck
When everything works out and you tear your enemies too shreds, JAWS: UNLEASHED can be pretty satisfying
The game is at it's best when you're in the open ocean, left to your own devices with no objectives other than to kill and feed. If you're moving through corridors, or attempting to toss explosive canisters at a ship, you're gonna have a bad time. Beyond the open ocean areas, the game is actually fairly linear. I'm not against linear games, per se; a guided narrative can be a powerful storytelling tool. But you're a shark in the god damned ocean. Nothing about being a shark in the ocean translates to linear storytelling. For the most part, everywhere you go you're fenced in by nets and walls and currents that are too strong to bypass.
The mission levels in JAWS: UNLEASHED can be pretty interesting, like this Sea World knock-off stage. But the effect is ruined by the frustration of navigating
The voices in this game are really brutal. Not the acting. The acting is fine. The sound quality, on the other hand, is obscene. The music sounds good, even if it is a little repetitive and unchanging playing the same familiar chords over and over throughout the entire game... But the voices are awful. It sounds as though they were recorded on a flip phone, or are being heard through twelve feet of water. I can't really recall a game with worse sounding voice recordings, at least not in recent memory. Not that it's all essential that you be able to hear the dialogue. The plot of the game is really flimsy. A third rate repeat of the plot of the original Jaws, loosely strung together to move your shark from one frustration to the the next. The ending of the game is... Well, there isn't really an ending. At least not a satisfactory one. You beat the final mission and the game just ends, with a "thanks for playing" message from the developers. Yawn.
The evil mayor in JAWS: UNLEASHED... Or maybe he's just misunderstood, like a shark
Heading off into the sunset, like some triumphant cowboy
Thanks, I guess.
The loading screens of the game are peppered with "fun facts" from the films, like "Did you know in Quint's death scene, if you look close enough, you can see that the shark has rubber teeth?". I mean, they're interesting and all, but it just feels like filler to pad an inadequate game. I'm not really worried about the fact that it hurts the immersion, because there isn't really much immersion to worry about hurting, but something about it just feels tacked on. It makes it feel like it's a game of trivial pursuit, or something to that effect.
Don't worry! The teeth are only rubber!
There's lots to do in JAWS: UNLEASHED! You can eat a seal! You can eat a dolphin! You can eat a license plate! You can eat a tin can! Okay, maybe there's only one thing you can do in Jaws: Unleashed, but just look at all the things you can do it to! That's okay though, you're a shark. What did you expect? And, as a shark, you must constantly keep moving or you die. It's a game mechanic, and it's actually pretty effective. It keeps the action moving, forces you to keep going. It helps to hide the fact that there's not a lot of benefit to exploring because the game is actually really straight forward and simple.
Jaw's keeps a collection of antique license in his den
People should consider moving away from Amity
So where do I stand on JAWS: UNLEASHED? I'm not even really sure. I enjoyed playing it, but I can't say it's a great game. It's fun to be a Shark, and when everything is going right you feel like a deadly ocean predator. But things often aren't going right. The missions aren't always intuitive in terms of the goals that they set out for you to accomplish. In the open ocean/free roam stages where you movement is unrestricted and you can do whatever you want the action is really fun, but that gets boring incredibly quickly. It doesn't take long to beat the game, so it's mercifully over before it totally wears your nerves down... The game is probably worth playing, but maybe not worth playing through. There's some potential here, you can see how an excellent Jaws based game could be made; but this isn't that game. It's also not a terrible game. It's middling, definitely. Honestly, my final verdict is that you could play this game, or you could not play this game, and it would make almost no difference at the end of the day. It's not rewarding, but it is kind of fun. It's not challenging, but it can be frustrating. Play with discretion, I guess.
