Jumanji: The Video Game

Jumanji: The Video Game is an action-adventure title based on the iconic movie franchise, where players enter the fantastical and perilous world of Jumanji, a mysterious board game that transports participants into a vibrant fantasy realm filled with exotic dangers, puzzles, and comedic mishaps. Supporting up to four players in co-op mode, both offline and online, the game emphasizes teamwork as characters must pass a central Jumanji jewel to avoid health loss while navigating third-person challenges, RPG elements, and puzzle-solving to survive and escape the game’s wild adventures.

Jumanji: The Video Game: Review

Introduction

Imagine tumbling into a chaotic jungle adventure where every roll of the dice unleashes rhinos, stampedes, and supernatural snares—welcome to Jumanji: The Video Game, the 2019 licensed tie-in that promised to bottle the wild, family-friendly frenzy of the rebooted Jumanji film franchise. As a game journalist with a penchant for dissecting pop culture crossovers, I’ve long been fascinated by how Hollywood blockbusters spawn digital descendants, often capturing the spirit while stumbling on execution. Released amid the hype of Jumanji: The Next Level, this title from developer Funsolve Ltd. and publisher Outright Games Ltd. aims to translate the movies’ blend of comedy, peril, and teamwork into interactive form. Yet, does it elevate the board game curse into gaming gold, or does it trap players in a repetitive loop of frustration? My thesis: While Jumanji: The Video Game faithfully nods to its cinematic roots with cooperative multiplayer and puzzle-solving antics, it ultimately falters under shallow mechanics and technical jank, marking it as a missed opportunity in the annals of movie merchandise games.

Development History & Context

The story of Jumanji: The Video Game is emblematic of the mid-2010s licensed game boom, where film studios and publishers chased the coattails of successful franchises to target young audiences. Developed by Funsolve Ltd., a boutique UK-based studio known for kid-friendly titles like UglyDolls: An Imperfect Adventure and Gigantosaurus: The Game, the project was helmed by a compact team under executive producer Richard Tawn and art director Peter Barnard. Funsolve’s vision, as inferred from their portfolio, centered on accessible, multiplayer-driven experiences that prioritize fun over depth—perfect for a property like Jumanji, which thrives on shared chaos.

Technological constraints played a pivotal role. Built on Unreal Engine 4, the game leveraged the engine’s robust tools for 3D environments and cross-platform support, allowing simultaneous launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows in November 2019, with a PS5 port in 2021. However, the era’s gaming landscape was dominated by high-fidelity blockbusters like The Last of Us Part II and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, making Jumanji‘s budget-conscious approach feel dated. Outright Games, a specialist in family-oriented licenses (think Peppa Pig and Hollyoaks), positioned this as a quick holiday cash-in tied to Jumanji: The Next Level‘s December release. The result? A game rushed to market, evident in its 166 credited personnel—including lead designer Omar Khalil and engineers like Philipp Geyer—but lacking polish, reflecting the cutthroat world of tie-in development where deadlines trump innovation.

In the broader context of 2019’s industry, licensed games were undergoing a renaissance post-LEGO series success, emphasizing humor and co-op. Yet, Jumanji arrived in a crowded field of movie adaptations (Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 that same year), struggling to stand out without the star power of its film counterparts. Funsolve’s inspirations from the Jumanji movies—evident in the credits’ nods to film-inspired groups—aimed for a “play like the movie” ethos, but the era’s shift toward live-service models left single-player/co-op hybrids like this feeling quaint and underserved.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

At its core, Jumanji: The Video Game weaves a narrative that mirrors the films’ premise: a mystical board game (or video game avatar) sucks players into a perilous jungle world, forcing them to survive trials to escape. Drawing from the rebooted trilogy’s tone—starring Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black—the story follows four customizable protagonists (echoing the teen characters from Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) who don avatars and navigate Jumanji’s dangers. The plot unfolds across episodic levels, each triggered by “rolling the dice” mechanics that randomize events, blending comedy with light peril as players dodge stampeding animals, solve riddles, and outwit villainous elements like Van Pelt’s hunters.

Plot Analysis

The linear campaign, playable solo or in co-op, spans about 5-7 hours, structured around hub worlds that transition into bite-sized adventures. Without an official blurb, we rely on genre tags and reviews: it’s a fantasy comedy where players collect game pieces, much like the film’s jewels. One key mechanic—the passing of the Jumanji jewel—ties directly to the narrative, as holding it too long drains health, symbolizing the game’s “curse.” Dialogue, voiced with generic quips (“Look out for the monkeys!”), apes the movies’ self-aware humor, with characters bantering about body swaps and absurd perils. However, the script lacks depth; themes of friendship and teamwork are hammered home through repetitive cutscenes, but without the films’ emotional beats—like overcoming personal insecurities—it feels superficial.

Character and Thematic Exploration

Characters are archetypal: the brawny hero, agile adventurer, quirky inventor, and stealthy scout, customizable in appearance but rigid in abilities. This RPG-lite progression nods to the movies’ avatar system, exploring themes of identity and adaptation. Underlying motifs include the dangers of escapism (the game as a metaphor for digital addiction) and colonial undertones of the original Jumanji tale, reimagined as empowering chaos. Yet, the comedy often lands flat—puns about “leveling up” in a jungle feel forced, and the narrative’s reliance on licensed IP limits originality. In extreme detail, one level might involve a monkey heist echoing Jumanji‘s infamous scene, with dialogue like “This is bananas!” underscoring slapstick over substance. Ultimately, the story serves as a vehicle for gameplay, prioritizing thematic fidelity to the films over innovative storytelling, resulting in a narrative that’s fun in bursts but forgettable overall.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

Jumanji: The Video Game bills itself as an action title with puzzle and RPG elements, but its core loop revolves around cooperative survival in a board-game-inspired structure. Players control third-person characters in behind-view perspective, traversing linear levels filled with platforming, combat, and environmental puzzles. The direct control interface supports gamepads, keyboard/mouse, and up to four players in split-screen or online co-op, emphasizing the franchise’s group dynamic.

Core Loops and Combat

The heartbeat is the dice-rolling system: players advance on a virtual board, triggering events like animal chases or item hunts. Combat is simplistic—melee combos against foes like smugglers or beasts—lacking depth, with no combos or dodging beyond basic jumps. Reviews highlight the jewel-passing rule as the “only fun” element, forcing teamwork to prevent health drain, but it devolves into frustration in solo play via AI companions. Progression involves RPG elements like skill trees for each character (e.g., unlocking faster climbs for the agile type), but upgrades are grindy and unbalanced, with the Switch version suffering input lag.

UI and Innovative/Flawed Systems

The UI is clean but cluttered, with a mini-map and health/jewel timers dominating the screen—functional for families but overwhelming in chaos. Innovative touches include randomized events for replayability, tying into Jumanji’s unpredictability, and puzzle elements like vine-swinging riddles or co-op switches. Flaws abound: clunky controls lead to unfair deaths, multiplayer desyncs plague online sessions, and the lack of difficulty options alienates casual players. In deconstruction, the loop—roll, survive event, pass jewel—mirrors the film’s tension but exposes repetition; after a few levels, it feels like a reskinned party game without the polish of contemporaries like Overcooked. For historians, it’s a relic of co-op design pre-pandemic, prioritizing accessibility over challenge.

World-Building, Art & Sound

The game’s setting is a vibrant, fantastical jungle realm straight from Jumanji lore—towering trees, hidden temples, and bizarre biomes like volcanic badlands or flooded ruins—crafted to evoke the movies’ practical effects magic. Art direction under Peter Barnard delivers colorful, cartoonish visuals via Unreal Engine 4, with detailed character models (e.g., furred monkeys with expressive animations by Shane Mitchell) and dynamic environments that react to player actions, like crumbling bridges during stampedes. Atmosphere builds immersion through escalating peril: serene exploration gives way to frantic escapes, contributing to a sense of unpredictable wonder that’s true to the IP.

Sound design, powered by Wwise, amplifies this with a comedic orchestral score blending tribal drums and whimsical flutes—think John Debney’s film themes reimagined digitally. Voice acting is serviceable but generic, with grunts and laughs filling the comedy void, while SFX like roaring rhinos provide punchy feedback. These elements enhance the family-friendly vibe: visuals pop on Switch’s portable screen, and audio cues guide co-op without overwhelming. However, pop-in textures and muted audio on older hardware detract, making the world feel alive yet unpolished—a solid tribute to the source, but not revolutionary in evoking dread or joy.

Reception & Legacy

Upon launch in November 2019, Jumanji: The Video Game received a tepid critical reception, averaging 38% on MobyGames from just two reviews: Gameplay (Benelux) scored it 45/100 for its avoidable frustrations akin to the film’s curse, while MKAU Gaming’s 30/100 (3/10) lambasted it as a parental trap unworthy of hard drive space. Player scores hovered at 3/5 from four ratings, with no written reviews, suggesting quiet indifference. Commercially, it sold modestly at $29.99 (now $8.99 on Steam), buoyed by movie hype but overshadowed by bigger holiday titles—eBay listings show used copies fetching $5-15, indicating low demand.

Over time, its reputation has stagnated as a footnote in licensed gaming. No patches addressed core issues, and the 2021 PS5 port was a simple upscale without enhancements. Influence-wise, it echoes the era’s family co-op trend, paving the way for similar Outright titles like DreamWorks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders (sharing 43 credits). In industry terms, it underscores the pitfalls of rushed tie-ins, contrasting successes like The Simpsons Game (2007) and highlighting how Jumanji’s chaos doesn’t always translate digitally. For historians, it’s a curiosity in video game preservation—collected by only 30 MobyGames users—reminding us of IP-driven ephemera that fade without innovation.

Conclusion

In synthesizing Jumanji: The Video Game‘s highs and lows—from its earnest multiplayer nods to the films, flavorful art, and thematic echoes of teamwork amid mayhem, to its repetitive mechanics, shallow narrative, and critical drubbing—it’s clear this 2019 release is a well-intentioned but flawed artifact. Funsolve Ltd. captured the franchise’s comedic spirit, but technical constraints and a rushed context doomed it to mediocrity. As a historian, I place it squarely in the B-tier of movie adaptations: not a landmark like Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009), but a cautionary tale for licensed gaming’s future. Verdict: Skip unless you’re a die-hard Jumanji fan seeking co-op nostalgia—3/10, a game best left unrolled.