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Released In: 1987 Jaws is it at again, what with the killing and all. Stop him. Loosely based on Jaws: The Revenge. Syd Lexia: By and large, LJN games tend to be terrible. Their otherwise mediocre games generally suffer from terrible controls and poor gameplay mechanics that turn them into frustratingly difficult tests of endurance. To this day, I have not met a single person who has successfully completed Back To The Future and I don't really know if I really want meet someone that masochistic. Jaws was LJN's first game for the NES, and it easily ranks as one of their best. The controls are simple, the gameplay is straightforward, and you get to see plenty of the big bad shark. I used to like this game because I could beat it. The only really hard part is the end sequence with the strobes. Rycona: I like this game, so sue me. greeneyedzeke: Who said movie tie-ins can’t be awesome? I guess this one serves as an adaptation of Jaws 4, but where are Michael Caine and Mario Van Peebles? Because of these omissions, I choose to believe that LJN was really trying to make a game based on the entire franchise, independent of any particular characters. Despite spending most of the game harpooning jellyfish, Jaws still deserves kudos for making you really anticipate the shark’s arrival. It kind of shows up, attacks you a bit, and takes off again, forcing you to kill him in slow bursts as you upgrade both your weaponry and boating equipment. 8-bit survival horror? Possibly. Dr. Jeebus: While I’m constantly told that this game was fun, I seem to remember it sucking. Big time. DarkMaze: LJN is usually cited as being nothing more than a dummy corporation, a secondary label that Acclaim used to circumvent Nintendo's controversial policy of only allowing third party publishers to release five NES games per year. This was certainly true in LJN's later years, but such was not always the case. LJN was founded in 1970 as a toy company, and most of their toylines were based on popular television shows and movies. They remained a toy company until they were purchased by Universal Pictures in 1986. Universal pushed for LJN to enter the thriving NES game market, so they did, again opting to use television and movie licenses as the primary basis for their work. Then, in final months of 1988, Universal sold LJN to Acclaim, thus allowing Acclaim to release more of its "great" games on the NES each year. But LJN did manage to produce a handful of games before becoming Acclaim's bitch, and Jaws was one of these games. It's a pretty fun little game, but I prefer The Karate Kid. |
