We were sent a download code to review the new Jumanji: The Video Game, which is a new action adventure game inspired by the characters and events in Jumani: Welcome to the Jungle. We then followed-up our game experience by going to see the newest movie edition, Jumanji: The Next Level at the theater!

JUMANJI: THE VIDEO GAME (PS4, XB1, PC, Switch)

Just like in the movie, you’ll be greeted by your trusty guide Nigel and head off on an adventure in a “game for those who seek to find a way to leave their world behind.”

The game starts with choosing your character from your favorite Jumani heroes: Dr. Smolder Bravestone, Ruby Roundhouse, Franklin “Mouse” Finbar and Professor Shelly Oberon. They did a good job making the characters look like they do in the movie! You can play alone or team up with friends in online or split-screen modes. Your mission is to seek out the Jewels of Jumanji, save the world and find your way home. Along the way you’ll fight bad guys with weapons and special skills, dodge deadly traps and navigate your way through the cities and jungles in the fantastical world of Jumanji.

There’s a tutorial that helps you learn the game play and it explains you need to collect four pieces of an artifact to open a door that leads to an obelisk, and that obelisk has to charge fully up by using the power of the artifacts to then open another door.  You can  choose between Easy, Medium and Hard modes. We had it set on the easiest level so the enemies were pretty easy to fight off, but overall my four-year-old son had a hard time figuring out how to hold off enemies while keeping the artifacts close enough to the obelisk for it to keep charging. The game is rated T, so I’m not surprised. It’s aimed at a slightly older kid audience.

I felt like it would be pretty easy for teens and adults to go through the levels and complete the game. And compared to the open-world games we’ve been playing lately, I found it to be on the repetitive side where you pretty much do the same thing, clear a level and then do it again. It wasn’t intriguing enough to draw me in and keep me playing, and a little too complicated to hold my preschooler’s attention.

I think the ages that are going to find this game the most fun are pre-teens and teens. There are lots of obstacles to work around, enemies to defeat and the occasional wild animal attack. And one neat thing is that just like in the movie, if a teammate runs out of lives, you can give them one of yours!

Jumanji: The Video Game is currently available on PS4, XB1, PC and Nintendo Switch and retails for $39.99.

Contest ended 1/19/20 Thanks to everyone who entered and congrats Samantha A.!

And also, go see the new movie! It’s really cute. It’s not as good as the one before it, but still worth watching. I was pretty surprised my son didn’t get up once. I asked him to go potty and he wouldn’t leave because he didn’t want to miss a thing! There’s a little bit of language and violence, but nothing too bad, and he really enjoyed it. Although he did keep asking where Dr. Bravestone’s gun was though! He gets to carry a gun in the video game.

Popcorn time!

Jumanji night at the movies