Friday, May 22, 2015

Jaws for Nintendo Entertainment System Review

Hey everyone. Today I'll be looking at the NES game that is based loosely on the Sci-Fi  thriller, "Jaws".

Jaws

As you can clearly see from the box art, this game meant serious business. You've got the classic movie poster like title and image with a quote of no escape. Despite the name, the game ties in more with the fourth movie "Jaws the Revenge" than it does the original...So.... that's a thing... The game was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1987 by Ljn. 

Ok so where do I begin with this game. Honestly I love sharks so when I saw that there was a Jaws game on the NES, I had to play it. After beating it I kinda stared at the TV screen with a look of confusion and disappointment as the game just seemed so... I dunno... groundhog day like? Allow me to explain. In the game you start off on your boat looking for the monster shark, Jaws. 

As you sail your ship around you'll collide with seemingly nothing on the map a bunch of times triggering a diver to jump in the water. At this point the game will change to a side view and you'll have to kill off things such as small sharks and jellyfish. Crabs, shells, and stars act as upgrades and currency that you can use at two ports to power up your ship against Jaws. 

Eventually as you aimlessly sail around you'll see a fin sticking out of the water which will as you probably have guessed be Jaws. The battle against Jaws is nothing overly challenging. You'll fight him in the water first and then you'll be shifted to a first person view of your ship where you'll have to time 3 strobe blasts (which was honestly the hardest thing in the game to do) to finish him off. So that's the basis of the game. Sounds exciting right? Well not so much on the NES.

The music that goes along with this game, outside of the title screen music, bears no similarity to the music in the movies. In fact the title screen is the only real reference to the music in the movies. The little side view game when you jump into the water is fun at first, but personally it got boring pretty quick. The game can be as short or long as you'd like. I've seen it beaten in under 10 minutes. Really, outside of the little diving game and actually hunting Jaws himself there is nothing to do. Sadly no multiplayer exists in this game, but there is a fun minigame you can play if you kill enough small sharks. You'll actually be able to use a plane that looks like the plane in Jurassic Park and bomb jellyfish cause why not?! 


I really can't think of anything positive to say about this game. I was saddened when I played it after being so hyped about it at a young age and now I am annoyed that I even wasted the 15 minutes it took me to beat it again. I'd be generous to give this game anything more than a 1 out of 5, and I am! I'm going to give this game a 2 largely thanks to the jellyfish bombing mini game, the fact that you can end the nightmare of the game quickly, and the underwater side view game handles pretty nicely.... which is a plus considering the rest of the game... Perhaps I'll rethink this...

Final Verdict: 1 out of 5

Stick to Jaws Unleashed for Playstation 2 or Jaws Revenge on mobile devices.

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