Jumper: Griffin's Story

Jumper: Griffin's Story - (Xbox 360)
Developer: Brash
Format: Xbox 360
Genre: Arcade

We're jumping away from this mess in the blink of an eye

Eidos, veteran publisher of more triple A titles than we can care to mention - but let's include Hitman, Tomb Raider, Star Wars Lego, Kane and Lynch to name but a few. You stand accused of inflicting upon an unsuspecting public a game so dire that you really, really should have known better.

The game is Jumper: Griffin's Story - a videogame licence cash-in that is just as bad as the film starring Jamie Bell; he of ballet flick fame Billy Elliot. Jumper: Griffin's Story extends the film's storyline, following 'Griffin', a battle-hardened Jumper determined to avenge the death of his parents at the hands of the Paladins. As Griffin, player's will have the ability to experience the character first hand as he battles through exotic locales around the world, on a quest to find his parent's killer. The gimmick is all about teleportation and subsequently the game allows players to fight in four directions using the controller face buttons.

The game is heavily focused on combat, and being able to teleport and integrate this skill into combat is the key to what makes a jumper's attacks a bit different to the norm. The player can move around the environment and surprise attack, as well as use chain attacks "bouncing back and forth" between enemies. The player has the ability to strategically coordinate attacks on all sides of the opponent, using different attack buttons to perform specific combos. This is an important feature because the Paladin's heightened senses often allow them to anticipate moves milliseconds before the Jumper executes them making the gameplay sometimes overly difficult.

But the real crime here is in the presentation. Jumper looks about as attractive as a 10-year old woolly jumper your smelly distant auntie would have got you for Xmas. The presentation is nothing short of horrendous with blocky visuals, poor animation and frame rate camera issues that simply isn't acceptable on a PS2, never mind the Xbox 360.