Review: JU-ON: The Grudge

JU-ON: The Grudge, a Wii exclusive horror game haunted house simulator trudges out toward store shelves in time for All Hallows’ Eve. Hoping to catch the attention of fans of the movie version, JU-ON still thoroughly misses the bar at what was scary in the Japanese films. The more creepy, eccentric scare that the films present are different from the repetitive, and sometimes stale pop outs that the video game iteration offers up. Since I played the preview build over the summer, very little (if anything) has changed for the better, unfortunately.

Since the game is tagged with the self-proclaimed haunted house simulator genre, the begging question is clear: Is it scary? For that, I have a mixed bag. Some people are scared by more things than others, so what may be scary to some may not make a single hair stand up for others. Luckily, it’s easy to outline JU-ON‘s scare tactics pretty clearly. Cat boy runs past in the background; boy meows. You open a door slowly and expect to be grabbed; you are grabbed. You see a door wrapped in long, black Grudge hair; hair disappears behind the door. This is the major extent of the scares in the game, mostly expected scares with a shriek to make it come off as a weak pop out tactic.

JU-ON features little to no story, so that will be easy to deliver to you. There are five chapters, in each chapter you play as a different member of the family. Dogs chase cat…boys, so the first chapter sets you up with the family dog getting all in a huff over the iconic pale, meowing cat boy from The Grudge movies. The dog chases the hissing brat into an abandoned factory, and you warily “chase” after him. Yeah, “chase”. The word really earns those air quotes. If I scattered into an abandoned warehouse, a haunted hospital, or even a damned dark bathroom in my own house, I would be in and out like lightning. Although in cutscenes your character will appear to move around frightened or at a heightened pace, as soon as you resume control… Youuuuuuuu. Walllllllllk. Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike. ThiiiiiiIiiIiis. It’s excruciatingly painful, and probably the most hindering aspect of the game. It almost renders it unplayable. Your character moves at such a slow, slow pace that walking across the room will be a sigh of relief to have finally just gotten there.

There is almost no music present throughout the game, as it seems to rely heavily on silent tension. The slow opening of doorknobs queues a far too often heard tune that signifies you will probably be grabbed or that the woman with the long black hair with pop out and initiate a quick Wiimote event. Swing left, swing right, and you’ll be released from her clutches or avoid her grasp altogether. Be quick though! One false move and it’s Game Over. Which brings me to JU-ON‘s most painful fault, getting a Game Over. Your character does not have any type of health bar whatsoever. Aside from missing a quick-time event, your life or death scenario is measured by how well you can keep your flashlight lit. You will be able to find batteries scattered amongst each scenario, for the most part it should be enough to get you from the beginning to the end of any level, BUT, not necessarily. If you get lost or dawdle for too long, your batteries will run out and you, well, die. For whatever reason in this universe that humans clearly cannot survive without a flashlight in hand. The devil’s plaything.

The controls are what I’d like to call a hot mess. You only use the Wiimote, no nunchuk involved, which is fine, but the basics aren’t even done right. Navigating with the flashlight is a complete chore, moving your Wiimote around should simulate the flashlight’s movement. Unfortunately, it is very unpolished and 40% of the time you will get an average responsive reaction you’d like, and 60% will result in wild thrashing movement, even when being precise and moving slowly so as not to scare the motion sensor. The B button allows you to walk and you’ll use the A button to pick up items such as keys and flashlight batteries. It’s as “simple” as that. All I could help but wonder when distraught with the poorly put together motion sensing is if anyone beta tests this stuff before harming the public with this! It’s just cruel, oh so cruel. Oh, and dying. About that. There are no save points or check points once you enter a level. If you die, you start all the way at the start of the level. All. The Way. Back. The thought alone of having to repeat all the slow paced movements around the level again will be enough to put your Wii into remission for a good coma-length period of time.

As much as I wanted to enjoy this game, Halloween being one of the most vibrant and eccentric holidays of the year, I simply could not recommend JU-ON: The Grudge with a clear conscience to anyone I know, unless I wanted Satan himself to wreak havoc upon my soul this Halloween… Which I could actually go for right about now with the void of horror video games we have been left with this year. JU-ON is one worth passing on. A rental at most if you enjoy pain, and I know there are plenty of you masochists out there, but you’re all already playing Demons Souls anyway.

Title: JU-ON: The Grudge Publisher: XSEED Games Developer: Feel Plus Platform(s): Wii Release Date: October 13, 2025

Doin It RIGHT: - It’s about 5 levels long. Trust me, that’s plenty. - Something to rent if you don’t like going outside on Halloween. - That’s all I got.	Doin It RONG: - Controls are extremely unresponsive about 60% of the time. - Skimped out on eerie horror ambiance, only frequently reused meows and objects rattling. - Your character could stand to move at a big girl pace instead of at the speed of a dead turtle. Yes, dead.
FINAL SCORE: 4.5 / 10