Jaws (Nes) Playthrough / We're gonna need a better game.....
2Jaws (1987) by Atlus is an egranization of a film series focusing on people's struggles with an bloodthirsty shark disrupting their harmony of everyday life through fear and doubt. The game is loosely based on the fourth and final installment of the 1987 series “Jaws: The Revenge”, which, no kidding, is not a very good movie. Seriously, what can you expect from a shark movie ? After one that has four parts ? Well, not much, really. The first part is iconic and permanently inscribed in pop culture as a true classic, and all the rest are just weak productions made on the wave of popularity...... just like this game :P .
In general, the very idea to make an 8-bit game out of jaws was crazy at best and hard to implement. And you can see it here exactly...... game has no idea for itself and is so repetitive that prolonged gameplay causes yawning attacks.
Gameplay is spread over four different modes. The world map, on which we move the ship from port to port to improve our firepower and search for the shark. Static levels, in which we play the role of a brave diver fighting sea creatures. Bonus levels , in which we use a plane to bomb jellyfish XD yes you read that right...... we bomb jellyfish for points. And the last fight with the titular shark, where with the help of a boat we have to ram a shark emerging from the depths of the ocean to end its life.
All this, unfortunately, only looks good on paper, and in practice it's only a poverty and misery.
Every mode here is super boring and sucked out of any innovation. As the game progresses, unfortunately, everything here is static and merely enriched by dealing with the same thing faster over and over again. You can even say that in the first 3 minutes of the game you've already seen in truth 95% of the game. Yes because the last clash at best can be finished in 5 seconds ....... The entire gameplay focuses on collecting shells, which are the necessary currency to upgrade our attack power. The attack power is important here because without upgrading it we will never see the last confrontation with the voracious shark. From my observation, 5 levels is enough, although we'll have to work a bit harder, so it's better to get one extra level to speed up this tedious process. Shells are collected during diving levels, where we have to fend off waves of ocean creatures such as jellyfish, stingrays and smaller sharks. After them, we often go to bonus levels where we bomb jellyfish. The more we hit them, the more points and bonus shells we get. And that's it, until we're strong enough to destroy our main opponent's life bar with our improved attacks, after which we're taken to the last screen of the game, where we have to ram a shark with a boat.
And this too, of course, had to be fucked up..... why? Because it was not explained in any way how we are supposed to do it.
Therefore, we have to figure out how to do it ourselves (Well, unless there is some mention of it in the manual then I return the honor), and it is not easy. We have at our disposal 3 uses of sonar, which cause the shark to stick its head out of the water. Then we have a chance to ram it. But first we have to position our boat evenly in relation to the approaching shark.....but the biggest problem is when and where we can ram it. If it is too far away we will not succeed, if it is too close we will not succeed, if it is not perfectly aligned with our bow we will not succeed. Only that this is not signaled in any way and we have to do it on so-called feeling. And I must admit that I had several approaches before I was able to find the one true and proper point. And it was terribly monotonous..... because when we lose 3 uses of the sonar, we have to find our shark again and beat his whole life bar before we get a chance to deprive him of life again. And when we finally succeed, we get one of the dullest endings ever consisting of really one view and the words “the end”. What a piece of crap, I regret that I wasted my time on it...... the game may be special but rather in this negative than positive way.
Jaws are just boring, monotonous and lacking any innovation as the gameplay progresses. Poverty from start to finish, which is why I don't recommend it.
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"Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio"