Bruce by name, killer by nature. JAWS Unleashed places players in control of the legendary hunter of the sea for the first time in the classic film's 30 years of release. This is not the first time the franchise has been immortalised in video games; that honour goes to JAWS on the NES in '87. But one must agree that taking control of a man-eating shark sure as hell beats diving for conch shells to save yourself from the beast.

...dun dun.... dun dun...

Coming from the same developers as the classic Ecco the Dolphin series of games, Appaloosa Software, JAWS Unleashed is quite a change from the humble puzzle solving origins of the courageous bottle-nosed dolphin. If you ever played Ecco's last adventure, Defender of the Future on Dreamcast, more than a few familiarities become instantly apparent in playing JAWS. Right from the get go, JAWS sports near identical save screens. Plunging into the tutorial, everything seems so familiar, from the presentation, to the control; it is obvious the build has more than a few similarities to Ecco. Whilst the engine has been retained, many distinct changes have been made to make it fit an entirely new perspective of gameplay, such as replacing the air meter from the Ecco games with a hunger meter. You might expect such an addition to plague the game, but any excuse to turn my enemies into mincemeat is all good in my books.

So I'm sure you're dying to know what the game is all about. You play as the infamous shark and live out his daily life stalking beaches for some unsuspecting teens, crushing boats with your mighty jaws and devouring everything in sight; basically roaming the seas parading your dominance how you see fit. The game utilises a sandbox approach to its gameplay, presenting you with a map of Amity Island providing access to story missions, secondary side quests or simply letting you just screw around and terrorise the island at random.

The story missions are a mixed bag, ranging from a very cool break out of an aquarium and battle against a colossal squid with eye consumption aplenty, to destroying research facilities with bombs and mazes that simply feel out of place. Outside of the tutorial, you are never told specifically how to accomplish the story missions. Suggestions are instead made with an area walkthrough at the start of the level and points of interest shown on your radar. The missions themselves largely have only one defined solution. Without direct instructions as to how to complete your objectives, this strict gameplay can at times leave you baffled and frustrated.

3000 razor sharp teeth vs a lone harpoon

On an earlier mission after being stuck for half an hour, I finally solved the mission by taking an explosive barrel in my mouth, rising from the water and having it explode by some tubing. Hang on a minute. Wasn't this was what killed JAWS in the first place? It turned out I was meant to throw the barrel at the plant, which I guess makes a little more sense. It was from this point in the story though that throwing explosive objects became a significant part of the story mode gameplay for numerous missions to follow. As the story mode progresses the game simply starts to lose the initial fun factor and quickly turns to frustration as level objectives become more complicated and feel less organic and believable, such as gaining access to secret underwater resource facilities by locating and destroying generators powering grinders that block the entrance. The game's mindless simplicity, which was one of the games most appealing aspects, seems removed in these instances, in what can be seen as an effort to introduce Ecco the Dolphin play mechanics on Appaloosa's behalf.

In stark contrast, I found the majority of the side quests far more enjoyable than the actual story mode. The objectives are more straightforward and much easier to solve. Personal favourites include: 'Reality TV', where you leap from the water to catch bungee jumpers as they bob above the ocean; 'Flip the Bird', where the aim is to destroy rescue helicopters attempting to save people stranded in the ocean; and especially 'Dog Gone', where it is time to put those stealth techniques to recreate some of the attacks from the movie without being seen. Now isn't this starting to sound a whole lot more like Jaws?

For the fans of the films, JAWS Unleased does an admirable job of preserving the movie experience and intertwining elements of the film into the game. Each load screen is accompanied by an interesting fact related to the production or impact of the film. From Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw's off-screen tension to changes in the script adaptation from the novel, this little touch actually makes load screens a joy to sit through. Well at least the first time. There are also six movie clips to unlock from the original film, delivering some of the most memorable moments in the film, including Quint's gory and satisfying death. Along with the infamous JAWS theme on the menus, everything stylistically feels right.

IT ATE EVERYBODY!

In many ways, Appaloosa Interactive have perfectly captured the essence of the JAWS films. Tearing bodies apart limb from limb, dragging flailing torsos across the top of the water and stalking your prey all just feel as sadistically satisfying as you'd expect. The right trigger is your bite button. If you see some prey you want to devour click the trigger and JAWS will take a good old meaty bite. Hold the trigger down though and JAWS will hold the prey in his jaw where you can use the left analogue stick to control his head to tear the prey apart. Did I mention the game features independent limb targeting? Tear that diver's leg off and he will rapidly start swimming away from you in panic, blood streaming from his stump.

The music is one of the game's more polished aspects. Sure, the JAWS theme is one of the most recognisable themes in movie history, but don't expect to hear the infamous "dun dun... dun dun..." theme on loop. JAWS Unleashed features a dramatic Hollywood style orchestra score, with a dynamic nature that alters relative to your actions, Grip your prey and it will peak, or escape the action and it will dwindle off. It adds a lot to the game in preserving the movie's atmosphere. The shrieks of terror heard from beneath the surface also contribute greatly to the atmosphere, and are delightfully sadistic.

Sadly the game is not without its flaws, detrimental to both the presentation and gameplay. Built upon the Defender of the Future build, the game sported some of the most realistic graphics on the Dreamcast console, but that was 6 years ago and now seems somewhat dated. Perhaps more disappointing, the same flaws in the graphical engine are present, most notably fog under water. Above the water you are provided with a glistening coastline as far as the eye can see, but beneath the water visibility is restricted to approximately 20m in front of you. Whilst in smaller areas this mightn't be such a problem, in the many wide open environments you can be completely lost, relying entirely on the radar. This lack of visibility works completely against finding the numerous hidden items littered around the environments.

Lunch!

One of the greatest flaws in the game's engine is slow-down. Slow-down is something no gamer wants to see, especially in a console game. The frame-rate on the whole is nice and fluid, but in moments of high intensity, the game chugs almost to a stand-still, disrupting the mood. With two years of development you would at least expect a problem this important to be rectified.

Another issue is created with camera. Whilst given 3 camera modes, neither is entirely perfect. In first-person mode, it may be clearer to see what's ahead of you, but then what's the point if you will always miss your target? The moving third-person camera makes everything look more exciting but is just downright annoying in important movements. The fixed third-person camera is your best option, but even then you will skip over items as you try to grab them. On one level in particular where you need to carefully make your way through a mine field, I found myself needing to switch between all three views just to obtain proper spatial orientation. Even then I blew up more often than not.

JAWS Unleashed is a fun and somewhat unique game, pleasing movie buffs and casual audiences alike, with gameplay that satisfies the deepest sadistic desires. It's a flawed game but achieves in perfectly capturing the experience of being Bruce the Shark; stalking and mauling your prey is distinctly satisfying and addictive. JAWS Unleashed is simply unlike anything that's come before it and what it does right makes for an enjoyable gaming experience. The biggest problem with JAWS Unleashed is that it tries to over-complicate itself, unnecessarily compensating for the mindless carnage on offer. Beyond this, fun can still be found in spades in the game's sandbox style gameplay. JAWS Unleashed is worth a look if you're a fan, a sadist or just looking to kill some time (and hapless swimmers) this summer.