JU-ON: The Grudge

by Xseed

Product Features

• First-person oriented action that always keeps you engaged and ready to be scared.
• A unique haunted house simulator unlike any other product on Wii, that foregoes deep story elements to offer immediate gratification with scare after scare.
• Easy controls based around the Wii Remote used as a flashlight move players forward with the press of a single button. It's fun to get scared, but even more fun passing the controller to someone else and watching them jump.
• While someone is playing the game, grab the second controller and push any button to instantly activate on-screen events to have that player hate you forever.
• Title is based on JU-ON, the Japanese inspiration for the hit horror film, The Grudge, with the original director, Takashi Shimizu, acting as a consultant on game development.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002DC8GVS
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches ; 3.5 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: October 13, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,038 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #15 in Video Games > Wii > Simulation
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The horror genre of movies, as well as video games is all about the fun of scaring yourself, and that's just what players get in Ju-On: The Grudge. Based on the Japanese film "Ju-On," which was turned into the popular "The Grudge" film series in the west, Ju-On: The Grudge brings this same type of fun to the Wii gaming platform like nothing before it. The first haunted house simulator for Wii, within this fright-fest individual players, and in some cases a second player, explore terrifying game environments with only the light shining off their Wii Remote to guide them as they are compelled to move forward or fall prey themselves to a curse that lingers in the dark. Story It is said that when a person dies with a deep and burning grudge, a curse is born. When an average housewife in Nerima, Japan, was murdered in a grisly fashion, it gave rise to a curse so powerful that it threatens to kill at a pace thought unimaginable before. The curse manifests on those who encounter the curse by any means, such as entering the house where the housewife met her violent end or being in contact with somebody who was already cursed. Once Erika Yamada is exposed to the curse while searching for her dog in an abandoned warehouse, the entire Yamada family is put in grave danger as soon as she reunites with them at home. They must now face their individual challenges alone, and only by overcoming the curse together will their family truly be free again. Gameplay Ju-On: The Grudge is the Wii’s first "Haunted House Simulator". Controls are intuitive and accessible, contributing to an immersive, intensely terrifying experience. Using the Wii Remote as a flashlight, players move forward with the touch of a button and explore haunted areas such as an abandoned warehouse, a dimly-lit hospital, and a fashion design studio littered with mannequins. Much like a haunted house, the player must continue forward, pressed on by fear and an overwhelming urge to explore and escape. The first haunted house simulator for Wii. View larger. Key Game Features Unique Haunted House Simulator – Unlike any other product on Wii, this game foregoes slow-paced story elements to offer immediate gratification with scare after scare. Easy to Use Controls Allow Anyone to Play – Use the Wii Remote as a flashlight, exploring dark corners and creepy environments. Move forward and take actions with the press of a single button. It’s fun to get scared, but even more fun passing the controller to someone else and watching them jump! Second-Player Functionality to Satisfy the Evil in All of Us – While a friend is playing the game, grab the second controller and push any button to instantly activate terrifying on-screen events to have that player hate you forever. Based on the Hit Horror Movie, The Grudge – This title is based on JU-ON, the Japanese inspiration for the hit horror film, The Grudge, with the original director, Takashi Shimizu, acting as a consultant on game development. Screenshots: 1st-person perspective. View larger. Problem solving action. View larger. Limited 2-player support. View larger. Haunted house fun. View larger.

Product Description

It is said that when a person dies with a deep and burning grudge, a curse is born. When an average housewife in Nerima, Japan, was murdered in a grisly fashion, it gave rise to a curse so powerful that it threatens to kill at a pace thought unimaginable before. The curse manifests on those who encounter the curse by any means, such as entering the house or being in contact with somebody who was already cursed. Once Erika Yamada is exposed to the curse while searching for her dog in an abandoned warehouse, the entire Yamada family is put in grave danger as soon as she reunites with them at home. They must now face their individual challenges alone, and only by overcoming the curse together will their family truly be free again. JU-ON: The Grudge is billed as the first “Haunted House Simulator” where accessibility and instant scares are given priority over story and game play depth. Using the Wii Remote as a flashlight, players move forward with the touch of a button and explore haunted areas such as an abandoned warehouse, a dimly-lit hospital, and a mannequin factory. Much like a haunted house, the player must proceed forward even after being frightened.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An authentic, and faithful JU-ON, Grudge experience., October 18, 2009

By 

evercreed - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: JU-ON: The Grudge (Video Game)

I am in love with the Ju-On and Grudge films, there is just something about them that draws me to them more than any other horror movie. I have watched both Ju-On films, The Grudge 1, and 2 films many times, and just watched the recently released Grudge 3 and was very impressed with that one too. Even though I have the films almost memorized, and I know when all the scares are going to happen, they still manage to creep me out. So, when I heard that a game based on the movies was coming out, I was both excited, and skeptical. How would they make a game out of movies that do not have a happy ending? Where the characters have no weapons to fight, and no matter what they do, will always get killed. Would you get some mystical weapon to fight the ghosts with, would there be other ghosts other than Kayoko, and Toshio? I mean, how much could you do in a game with just two ghosts? I knew if the game had weapons or other ghosts to fight, it just wouldn't be faithful to the films.

All of these questions ran through my head, and reading previews didn't help much because a lot of the previewers seemed confused about what kind of game this was. Some previews said the game was on rails, others say it controls like a first person shooter. Some claimed you couldn't die and therefore the game wasn't scary, and on, and on. I really didn't know what to expect until I popped the game in my Wii and had at it. Well, I just beat it and to be honest folks, coming from a die hard fan of the films, I couldn't be more pleased. Lets see why.

Story: There isn't really a story to the game, it's just about a tragedy that strikes a Japanese family, and you as the player live the tragedy through the eyes of each of the family's four members, the mom, dad, son, and daughter. That is pretty much it. You won't have any journals to read, or story cinematics to watch.

Controls: The controls couldn't be simpler. You only use the Wii remote. The entire game is played from the first person perspective. Each of the characters have a flashlight and you use the remote to control the flashlight and for looking up, down, right, and left. The B trigger is used to walk, so you just point to where you want to go, and press and hold the B trigger. You use the A button for interacting and picking up objects, and pushing down on the directional pad lets you walk backwards. You cannot strafe, and instead either have to stop, and turn when you want to change directions, or steer yourself left or right while walking. I guess you could say the characters control like a tank. The controls work well for the most part, though I'd like it if they felt a little smoother when you are looking around. Fortunately, during the games quick time events, more on those later, the controls are 100% spot on in my experience.

Graphics: The graphics are fantastic with great lighting and shadow effects. The ghosts, especially the woman, have a lot of detail on them, right down to their eyeballs. The environments, combined with the flashlight effects are creepy as hell. Whether you are walking through the rusty and dirty abandoned factory, exploring the halls of the abandoned hospital, or trying to shake off Kayoko as she gets right up in your face, with her eyeballs rolling up in her head, the graphics never failed to impress.

Sound: Wow, the sound is just as good as the graphics. There isn't much music in the game, used only during the menus, QTEs, and during scares, but what is there is good. It's the sound effects that truly shine. While you won't hear much music, you are always hearing something, whether it is the trademark Kayoko throat sounds, Toshio's feet slapping on the floor as he runs by, your own footsteps, which change depending on the surface, or just the strange noises you'll hear, the sound effects also never failed to impress.

Gameplay: Okay, first and foremost, this is not an on-rails game like House of the Dead, or even Killer 7. No, you walk around just like you would in any first person shooter. You can walk, look up and down, and examine every nook and cranny. NO RAILS. Now that thats out of the way, on to the gameplay proper. There are five episodes to play, with each one taking place in a different location, and with a different family member, except the fifth, which has you playing as an earlier family member. The locations are the Abandoned Factory, Abandoned Hospital, Derelict Apartement Building, Beauty School, and the house, which is replicated perfectly. Each family member plays the exact same, and the goal of each episode is to escape the area with your life. You explore each area with a flashlight that you have to find batteries for. The flashlight is like your health meter. The battery life slowly dwindles away, and when the flashlight is all out of juice, its game over. Fortunately, it is easy to find batteries, and I never had a problem with this. Still, it brings an urgency to the situation as you can explore, but you have to keep an eye on the battery life, and for extra batteries.

As you explore the levels, you'll find keys to open locked doors, no puzzle solving here, look for batteries, get scared silly, and survive quick time events. I've always like quick time events, and these are fun and I was surprised by how action packed some of them are. Usually what will happen is one of the ghosts will jump out and you'll have to shake them off, and evade them using on screen waggle prompts, like shaking your remote left and right, or up and down. As I said earlier, the controls are spot on when these events occur, and I never died from the game not recognizing my motions. Also, you'll have to be quick when the QTEs happen, because if you mess up, it's game over. So, contrary to what some previewers said, you can die, either from your battery running out in your flashlight, or losing a QTE. If you die, you have to play the level over again, no checkpoints, but the levels are short so if you do die, it won't take you long to get back to the spot you died in.

You unlock each level after beating the previous one, but the fifth and final level has to be unlocked by finding well hidden items in the first four levels. This would have been annoying if there wasn't some helpful people on the Gamefaqs message board, because the items are hidden a bit too well in my opinion. If you play through the four levels, but do not find all the items in each stage, you'll have to replay them. I didn't mind this simply because going back through a second time, I encountered scares that I missed the first time around. Also as I said, the levels are short and won't take you long to get through, especially when you know what you have to do. The whole game is short actually, you could, if you know where all the hidden items are, beat the game in one sitting, I would have if I didn't have to go back to find the hidden items. The shortness of the game could be a turn off for some people, but I think for the kind of game it is, the length is perfect. Of course an extra level or two wouldn't have hurt. Another thing some people have a problem with is the speed with which the characters walk. You cannot run, just walk slowly. I liked the slow walk because it added to the uneasy feeling I had while playing, but that is just me.

There is a two player mode using two remotes. One player plays the game like normal, while the other pushes buttons on the second remote to trigger scares. I didn't try out this mode so I'm not sure how well it works, or how much fun it is.

Closing: So the game is short, a bit on the easy side, and the characters can't run or strafe. No puzzles to solve, no weapons to use, and instant level restart if you fail a QTE. The game doesn't sound very good does it? Well think again, I had a blast with the game because it delivered exactly what I wanted: An authentic, scary, and atmospheric Grudge horror game experience, that plays a little differently than other games. The scares in the game are done well, and I jumped in my seat more than a few times. The scares are of the "Boo!" variety, but the game keeps you feeling uneasy while you are walking around thanks to the well designed,moody levels, and creepy sounds you hear. As soon as the game started I was sucked in and was literally on the edge of my seat the entire time I was playing it. For the price of the game, I was more than satisfied. If you are a fan of the films, or horror games in general, than give this a try. I'll probably bust this out every Halloween and play it. Thanks for reading my review, and I hope it was helpful.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun and scary, October 15, 2009

By 

M. Yoeun "soap" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: JU-ON: The Grudge (Video Game)

This game is a haunted house simulator so don't buy it thinking you're buying an epic game. I had fun with this one, it scares the poo out of you at the most unexpected times. You basically use the wiimote as a flashlight, look for batteries for your flashlight, and try to avoid that crazy ghost in the movies. Whats funny is when you finish a stage depending on how much you shook the remote at scary moments you get graded on your wussyness (if that makes sense). It kept saying I was a frightened kitten lol and doubted I was a Leo (astro sign). You can also hide and grab a second wiimote and trigger scares on first player without them knowing which is funny.

One thing that bothers me the most are the clunky controls. Depending on where you point the wiimote on screen, that is where they move. When your character moves they literally move slower than a snail. All in all I think this is a fun game to get into the spirit of Halloween and I enjoyed it very much being a fan of horror game genre.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ju-On: The Grudge For Wii - Acceptable as a Party Game For Teens Or Those Who Startle Easily, January 10, 2010

By 

Mark "Technology, Music and Movies" (East Coast) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: JU-ON: The Grudge (Video Game)

JU-ON: The Grudge for Wii is definitely not the "thrill-a-minute" scare-fest that some would have you think it is. But while this is not a very good game for serious gamers, it does fill a certain niche. If you are having a party, this can be a funny way to pass an hour or two. It's not going to scare everybody in the traditional sense, but it will startle you with the ghosts jumping out at you.

THE GOAL

This game has different levels, all based on the point of view of a different member of a family. However, the object of the game is to guide yourself through each stage and figure it out. The first level is simple: your dog runs into a factory so your object is to get him back. Other levels have different settings, such as a hospital, a spooky house, and so on.

As you guide yourself with your flashlight, you have to keep finding batteries to keep your light lit. If you run out of battery power without finishing the level, you're dead meat. You also have to find keys to access different rooms. There are also a bunch of smaller random objects that play into each level.

Sometimes you will find a flashlight, but the game sees those as batteries too. It's one of the things that was definitely not as thought out as it could have been.

THE GAME PLAY

First and foremost, this game is not an open world game in the sense that most FPS games are. It is true that you get to walk around the levels to find things. However, there are predefined limits that mature and experienced gamers will notice right away. There are also no realistic physics to govern how you interact with your envinment. You don't have to worry about falling over the edge of a railing when you're up on a metal cat-walk. And if you see something on top of a pile of crates there is no way to climb and see if there is something up there.

Perhaps most frustrating is the slow pace at which you walk. No matter how hard you press the button you can't move faster. When the specters pop out to grab you, you have to shake the controller in order to start an "escape" where you finally speed up a little. But you cannot consciously speed up how fast you walk, which is annoying.

Game play is a huge weakness here for single-player mode. It's also the reason this game is more suited for kids. The slow pace and idiot-proof physics of the game add to the eeriness and make it easier for younger kids to make it through. But sooner or later everybody will notice how annoying it is that there's no way to fast-forward through going up those long stairs or walking back through that hallway again.

THE GRAPHICS AND SOUND

The graphics are average when compared to most video games. They are not bad, but they are not mind-blowing. The sparse dark visuals do help make the game a little spookier. It needs any help it can get.

If you look closely, as you explore the various levels you will see spooky evidence of the supernatural even when you don't see the ghosts. Fingerprints show up on windows and images of the ghosts are imprinted on various surfaces. Those images will disappear so you will miss them if you don't pay attention.

None of that is ground-breaking but they clearly did invest some time in the visual details of the game. If you like picking those things out it will at least help you enjoy the slower moments.

The sound is somewhat repetitive: every time you turn a knob the same sound chimes in. The sound effects associated with scares are more intricate.

THE MULTI-PLAYER MODE

While silly at times, the multi-player mode is fun for a party. The second player basically gets the ability to launch *scare* events to startle player 1. You have to press the B button in combination with one of the *panic* buttons (1, 2, +, -, A, control pad) - basically any button other than 'home.' You have to wait 15 seconds before repeating the same event. While they can be repetitive, they are also funny when well timed. It doesn't take long to memorize the *scares* in one-player mode, so the second player adds a much needed element of surprise. It won't keep you entertained indefinitely, but for an hour or two it's worth a few laughs.

THE ESRB RATING

This game's rating, M for mature, meaning 17 or older, seems overly strict. There is nothing in this game that would make me think that teenagers can't play it. Trust me, they've seen worse than this on network television. At first I made a point of trying to limit this game to the older kids in my family. Once we played it, it became obvious that most teens have played games with worse content than this. Actually, this game isn't really designed to be appealing to most people older than 17, unless they are novice gamers.

THE PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

The product description claims that "unlike any other product on Wii, this game foregoes slow-paced story elements to offer immediate gratification with scare after scare." That's so untrue that it's laughable. There's nothing wrong with a slow pace in a role-playing game or mystery solving game, which is what this is. But they have over-sold this game, and that's why people will be disappointed.

CONCLUSION

Unless you are a die-hard fan of the original Ju-on movie or The Grudge remakes, you may want to rent this title before buying. I haven't played Silent Hill: Shattered Memories or Obscure: The Aftermath yet but I will be checking those out soon to see if they are a little scarier.

This game picks up a star because I think it's worth a few laughs for a teen's birthday party or a Halloween get-together. Just be sure to turn down the lights, and don't spoil the scares for those who haven't played it yet.

Enjoy.