Don’t take leap with ‘Jumper: Griffin’s Story’

At the recent D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) video game summit, director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, The Ring ) said in his keynote address that too many movie-based video games simply fall under the studios’ “merchandising” umbrella, perfectly timed with a motion picture’s release, instead of being created and respected as a separate art form.

At the recent D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) video game summit, director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, The Ring ) said in his keynote address that too many movie-based video games simply fall under the studios’ "merchandising" umbrella, perfectly timed with a motion picture’s release, instead of being created and respected as a separate art form.

Though he wasn’t likely referring to Brash Entertainment’s Jumper: Griffin’s Story, based on the Twentieth Century Fox sci-fi flick released the same week, he might as well have, as this weak fighting game feels like a shameless marketing ploy for the feature film.

The game stars Griffin, a secondary character in the film played by Jamie Bell (who also lends his voice to this game), rather than the lead protagonist, David, played by Hayden Christensen (Star Wars: Episode II and Star Wars: Episode III ). As told by a short animated sequence at the start of this single-player tale, Griffin is a Jumper — someone with a genetic anomaly that enables him to teleport anywhere on the planet — who vows revenge on the Paladins, a secret organization at war with Jumpers, and directly responsible for the murder of Griffin’s parents.

Griffin jumps to exotic locations around the world in search of the killer, and battles hundreds of Paladins along the way.

Played from a third-person perspective, this linear fighting game has you, as Griffin, exchange blows with Paladins, which unlocks the next part of the level to repeat the process. The game aims to be unique, however, by introducing Griffin’s jump ability while fighting, which means you can quickly teleport to different sides of the enemy by pressing one of the main A, B, X and Y buttons on the controller (for the Microsoft Xbox 360 version).

In order to maximize damage, you’re supposed to attack from the enemy’s most vulnerable side based on the color shown under them. Despite some tougher "boss" fighters, though, you can get by with simple "button mashing" by pressing random buttons quickly and executing combos. Holding down the left bumper while pressing one of the letter buttons causes a special power attack (if you’ve amassed enough power points to do so). You can also perform a Matrix -like finishing move.

As a reward for fighting well, you will be treated to 10 different "drop zone" cinematic sequences that quickly zap Griffin and the enemy to another spot on Earth — and Griffin leaves the baddie in a compromising situation before teleporting back to the previous location. For example, the short video clip may show the enemy left in the middle of tundra, falling from a cliff or about to be crushed in a garbage dump’s car compacter.

Even with this teleportation spin, the game is a derivative fighter that looks as bad as it plays. Not only are the graphics below par compared with today’s better video games but technical glitches mean half of Griffin’s body will get stuck in a wall or the camera will be temporarily positioned behind the wall Griffin is fighting near, so you can’t see who you’re brawling with.

Throughout the game, you can collect four comic books, better weapons than the two-by-four you start with and other goodies scattered around the levels. You can access them all in the Loot Room, accessible at the game’s main menu.

Because of its simplistic game play, unattractive graphics and technical glitches, Jumper: Griffin’s Story should be skipped at your local game store — even for fans of the film.