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  Jumper
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Also available on:
PS2, WII Let’s Jump right into it.I visited the cinema recently because I had the urge to spend an exorbitant amount on some popcorn and a refreshing drink... oh, and to watch a movie. Prior to the movie screening, the usual movie previews were showing. One particular preview that caught my eye was Jumper, a movie starring Samuel L. Jackson, Hayden Christensen, Rachel Bilson (the O.C) and Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot). The main premise of the movie involves Jumpers. And no, these guys aren’t the sort of Jumpers you would see at the Olympic Games jumping into a sandpit or over a high bar. These Jumpers have a genetic anomaly that enables them to teleport themselves instantaneously to anywhere on the globe. They are a people who have existed for centuries, but have been able to keep their abilities secret to the general public. That is, except for the Paladins, another group of people who are set on eliminating the Jumpers, for some currently unknown reason. Long JumpOne Jumper in particular has a bone to pick with these Paladins. Griffin, a battle-hardened Jumper wants to avenge the death of his parents at the hands of the Paladins... and this is where the gamer takes over in this Action Adventure style game. While the game is based on the movie, there will be parts of the game that will allow the gamer to learn more about the Paladin organization, their mission and their history with Griffin than what is revealed in the movie. Although the game is an Action Adventure, the focus is mostly on combat. The teleportation abilities of the Jumper along with the standard combat moves will be required to make the Jumper’s attacks more lethal. Gamers will be able to use the Jumper’s abilities to move around the environment to perform surprise attacks, or use chain attacks on multiple enemies by Jumping back and forth between them. Enemy strength will be varied, with Paladins having said to have a hierarchical system. No doubt this means that as you progress through the game the combatants get tougher. Unlockable skills and combo attacks will certainly help battle against these higher ranked Paladins later on in the game. Triple JumpA jumper must utilise all his available skills to combat the Paladin forces. There are three different types of jump that the Jumper will need to use in the course of the game. The first is the combat jump which the gamer will use during fight sequences to move around whilst attacking the enemy. The second is the traversal jump which enables the player to pick a point in the environment to traverse to, helping the player to evade or surprise enemies. The third is the finisher jump. The finisher jump enables the player to jump enemies to a different perilous locations to leave them to their demise, such as a drop from a high altitude or as a snack for a hungry animal. Look before you leapFrom what we’ve seen so far, the visuals in Jumper immediately reminded me of those used in Fury. It might have something to do with the colour schemes used, as both contain a number of locations with a brownish yellow hue. That said, the locations in Jumper should be numerous enough (known locations include the Colosseum, Tokyo and Nepal, whilst Sydney, London, Paris and Egypt could be some logical others) to keep most gamers entertained for awhile. The character animations are quite good and the characters largely resemble their movie counterparts, giving the gamer a better feel of being part of this interactive movie experience. High Jump?With so many movie-based games being terrible, I am left wondering if Jumper will be any different. Sure, the visuals look OK, the audio may be OK and the storyline might be OK, but will the team at Brash Entertainment be able to combine these elements along with some great gameplay? It remains to be seen whether they can. I really hope they do, just so that we can have another movie-based game that can sit proudly on the shelf rather than being hidden away in the cupboard in embarrassment. |
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| At a glance |
| Another game based on a movie. We’re hoping this one doesn’t become another movie-to-video-game flop like so many before it. |