Jaws Unleashed

AceGamez

It's not one of those games you'll play forever, but I suspect that for many it will be one of those games that sits on the shelf so that any time you're feeling particularly evil or you've just had a bad day, you'll load it up and go eat some people.

Game Chronicles

And if you are going to release a game with glitches of this magnitude at least let me save anytime and anywhere I want. Replaying a game because I want to is fun – replaying because I have to is annoying.

Gaming Age

The game is fun whether you are playing in small doses or a long sit-down marathon as there is plenty to do, see, and kill along the way. The best part of it all is that it retails for under 30 bucks! That is like a dollar an hour considering that's about how long it will take to find and do everything.

IGN

Though it's correct that JAWS does suffer from a number of bothersome glitches, numerous camera issues, and sometimes-infuriating lock-ups, it also benefits from a number of gruesomely satisfying missions, a large environment to play around with, and unique combat maneuvers that you just can't do in any other game.

GameZone

Unfortunately, the camera and control issues may give players a headache and some annoyance, so it really comes down to whether or not you can overlook the problems and put up with some aggravation in order to see a fun game underneath.

Official Xbox Magazine

Now, the circle of Velveeta is complete: Jaws Unleashed is as gruesome as it is cheesy. [Aug 2006, p.81]

Gamers' Temple

I can’t recommend this game to anyone, unless someone out there actually enjoys fighting with the controller while blindly swimming the seas in a vain search for their next obscure objective. Best to string up this one by its tail.

TeamXbox

Fans of the movies will dig JAWS Unleashed for the most part I’m sure, but be ready to fight the controls as much as you fight the angry Amity Island residents.

Games Radar

The abstruse design and technical flaws leave us cold, but the sheer potential for savage bastardry makes it undeniably fun.

Cheat Code Central

Taking this game seriously is akin to committing intellectual suicide. I can’t even believe that this game is tied into the Jaws license. I won’t say that the game drags the license down into the depths, but it barely treads water with it.

GamePro

Putting the entire flawed premise of Jaws aside, Jaws: Unleashed would be a decent title to play if the camera system, collision detection, and graphics were up to par. But unfortunately, Jaws garners lackluster scores in every one of those categories.

Official Xbox Magazine UK

Jaws Unleashed isn't a terrible game, but it's riddled with control, camera, and difficulty issues that take the fun away. [Nov 2006, p.74]

PALGN

Not a disaster. Give it a rent to try out the shark-centric gameplay mechanics, but most Jaws fans will be put off by the mediocrity of the package and wasted opportunity for excellence.

Worth Playing

Instead of playing the role of Jaws, you're playing as Jaws in a generic action-RPG. Combine that with sub-standard gameplay and controls, and a lack of "terror-of-the-deep" moments, and you've got a game that you can freely pass over without any worries.

XboxAddict

Jaws Unleashed is on par with its classic and memorably terrible 1987 NES counterpart. The only thing going for Unleashed as opposed to the 8-bit rendition is that you finally control the shark.

Game Informer

After this miserable showing, the only waters that Jaws will be patrolling are those of the great video game toilet. [Aug 2006, p.84]

Edge Magazine

With the exceptions of deplorably bad cutscenes and haphazard signposting, there are few significant flaws here that a steadier gestation couldn’t have resolved. [Aug 2006, p.90]

G4 TV

Either way, Jaws Unleashed is best thrown to the sharks. Having your actual torso bitten off by an actual great white might actually be preferable to this.

Digital Entertainment News

One of those “maybe worth a rental” kind of things. But with the frustration this game gives you in pursuit of that simple guilty pleasure, it may not even be worth it for those just looking to wreak a little bloody carnage.

GameSpy

Spending 30 minutes aimlessly wondering around because you can't figure out what random part of the environment you're supposed to manipulate or sequence of moves to string together to topple a structure is unforgivable.

Deeko

If Jaws Unleashed was a mini game within the confines of an Ecco game, I would have said to myself, "hey this is pretty fun". But as a stand alone title driven by forgettable missions, slippery control and an overall willingness to be mediocre, it's nothing but a blueprint on what not to do when making a game.

Yahoo! Games

In the spirit of generosity, we'll offer that there's about 30 minutes of entertainment to be had.

GameSpot

Playing Appaloosa's ultraviolent and ultrastupid take on the titular killer shark is about as much fun as having your legs chewed off.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

The aforementioned camera and perspective problems are the worst, but the "hunger meter" seems to fill up and dissipate so arbitrarily that you never know what your stomach needs.

1UP

Just add impenetrably obtuse missions, ugly models, low visibility, a sluggish camera, and a fish that steers like a truck full of fat kids. Congratulations, Jaws Unleashed, you just killed our (sadistic) inner child.

NTSC-uk

Could’ve been fun, but ends up being more annoying than Mario Van Peebles. At least in the original version of that particularly sad little movie, he gave us the pleasure of having the good grace to die.

RewiredMind

What they’ve actually done is take that terrible idea, and throw it into a game engine that just isn’t capable of performing the task that they’ve asked it to. The result? Jaws Unleashed is – in a word - appalling.

Eurogamer

It's a mess of conflicting design elements, glitches and outdated film trivia, casually entertaining for about five minutes and tear-inducingly frustrating from there on out. It tries, clearly, but it fails on almost every count.

Game Revolution

It provides roughly fifteen minutes of absolutely gruesome, chaotic pleasure, then promptly nosedives into the Mariana Trench of bad design, bad graphics and bad control.