Just like the movie, a great idea is made into a mediocre product.
Maybe next time. Jumper is a game that's fallen just short of being a good, solid game. It's incredibly short, it feels unfinished, and while there are some good gameplay mechanics, the shoddy camera and total lack of instruction ruins them.
The story is about a Jumper-- a genetic anomaly who can teleport all over the world-- named Griffin who has made it his goal to hunt down the Paladins (a group of religious fanatics who hunt Jumpers). You wouldn't get any of this from the brief and unexplanatory cutscenes, however. The game is fairly barren of plot or structure. That would be fine if there were amazing gameplay mechanics and terrific experiences to be had.
Sadly, there are few of those. The game is largely a button mashing beat 'em up. Again, this would be fine if something new were thrown into the mix. Enter Jumping-- the famed ability of the main character. You can jump to any location by pointing and clicking to it on the screen. Any location on the ground, anywho. This leads to mildly interesting (if fairly straightforward) puzzles that require jumping to continue through the level. Once you get the hang of it (you should after the first level) you'll find jumping a satisfying and quick way of moving around. The mechanic is clunky, though, and in many areas its just simpler to run. Jumping in fighting seems an ingenious twist on the standard beat 'em up formula, but it's not-- in fact, minus the graphical aspect where you see your character jumping, its exactly the same. Still, sometimes the graphics are enough, and there are a few funny moments where you pull off a combo. One thing that I have noticed is strangely missing are the Jump Moments I heard of in the previews; where a cutscene is triggered showing Griffin's delivery of a Paladin to a deadly location. I have only triggered two of these, yet I am almost done the game. This may be a fault of mine, but it seems as if there would have been an effort to push this mechanic to the forefront. Speaking of obscurity, you may find it in your interests to read the instruction manual, as you will otherwise have very little idea how to play.
Both of these mechanisms that utilise Jumping are thwarted in their attempts to make the game fun by the atrocious camera. Too often in the short while I have played the game, the camera would get stuck in walls, obscure my view, or prevent me from quickly jumping somewhere. Jumper loses serious points for it's camera, as it prevents the game from becoming something I might even recommend for a rental.
All of the enemies in the game look identical, and none of them are much of a challenge. The boss fights are tougher, but not by much. While they ARE the only enemies who will ever so much as lay a finger on you, it is laughably easy to defeat them by following a simple strategy: wale on them, run around while your health regenerates, wale on them again. As far as difficulty goes, I have played most of the game and found it rather easy. You will cut through enemies like paper. The main difficulty is getting hopelessly lost in a linear level-- a massive black mark against the game. Again, the camera is mostly at fault, obscuring the proper doorways. Occasionaly, though, the design of the game comes into question, as no instruction or even any kind of hint is given as to what must be done. Lastly, the graphics are terrible-- the game looks like it was trying to redeem itself by going for a cartoony, or artistic look, but it fails.
All in all, Jumper is a rushed mess that falls just short of being good. It's passable as a game, and might even be fun if it weren't for the terrible camera.