Just when you thought it was safe to play Computer games again...
Although it surprises me that many more games have not been created to cash in on the successful JAWS Quadrilogy, each time one comes out, I'm reminded why they shouldn't be made. JAWS - Unleashed is a 3rd/1st Person Action game that features modest graphics with a control scheme fit for the Playstation 2. It should have been named "Carpul-Tunnel Unleashed".
So It's been a few years since the last Jaws movie, alright, 19, but the franchise must be still alive and kicking if Majesco games decided to pick up the license and swim with it. Die-hard JAWS fans will be craving some intense, scary underwater horror that is fit for the name JAWS. Sadly, what they will get is a budget game with sub-par graphics, a horrific control scheme and an almost laughable storyline.
It's been a while since Amity Island was plagued by the 25 foot behemoth from the deep and they have turned into a lovely, happy island with lots of dive shops and sandy beaches. Their latest attraction is "Seal Island", that's right, an island, full of plump seals ripe for the picking for whatever lurks below the glassy surface of the ocean. The seals of course, attract the player, a 20 foot great white shark. Your job, is to remove the inhabitants from Amity Island. Simple as that. Gameplay
Players who install this game will immediately realize that this is not a PC game, but a direct port from the PS2 and XBOX. There is no mouse support on the menu and the "Enter Your Name" screen is reminiscent to the old Zelda games for the SNES.
The first mission takes place as "Sharky" learns the ropes of swimming in the ocean. This is where the player will begin cursing the horrible control scheme and probably uninstall the game. This "tutorial" mission, has you breaking open dive cages and eating the divers, plucking children from the local beach, and breaking down the boardwalk so you can eat the shoppers. Of course, the coast guard will try to stop you but you can simply destroy their boats with a single chomp. You can also pull boaters off their boats by biting and shaking the boats til they fall in.
Now of course, the main reason people would play this game is to chomp down some victims as a big great white shark. Sadly, there is only one death animation, and it gets boring extremely quickly as you repeatedly pull victims down and tear them to pieces. The death animation also looks like garbage to those paying attention.
After completing the first mission, you are captured by the scientific community on the island and are put in a "Sea World" type environment (Jaws 3). Your first task is to actually, get this, pull a scientist into the water, steal his keycard, and slide it through the key reader to unlock your cage. The game lost me there. Graphics
The graphics in JAWS Unleashed are comparable to something on the Playstation 1, even on full settings. Anyone with a 233 or higher should be able to run this one with no trouble.
Constantly repeated death animations and boring textures will quickly drain this game of it's life force rather quickly, especially for gamers who are used to games like Oblivion, Ghost Recon, and Just Cause. The game's graphics just aren't up to par, even for a budget game. Controls
The final nail in the coffin of JAWS Unleashed are the utterly horrible control scheme. You need to use both the WASD and Arrow keys to maneuvere your shark, which gets tiresome at high speeds when you need somewhat good accuracy. There are 3 camera modes, one of which is comically called "Shark Vision" which is essentially the hardest to use, since you have no clue what's going on as you swim through the ocean looking at pretty colored dots which represent food. It's more like a developer on an acid trip.
You have special abilities tied to the C and Space bar keys which involve charging and "tail-slapping" boats and dive cages, but other than these minute abilities there is nothing special you can pull off.
Summary
This game could have been special, and by special I don't mean mentally handicapped, I mean a good game. The developer's obviously didn't have enough money in the budget to make anything less than a complete port of JAWS Unleashed for the PS2 and XBOX. There is no replayability except for a small "hidden" item game where you find the 45 license plates strewn around the ocean and "eat" them. Veteran or HardCore gamers should be able to wiz through this little gem in under 2 hours.