The Jumping Ground: Hit & Run

The Jumping Ground: Hit & Run is an action-adventure video game based on the New Zealand-produced animated sitcom The Jumping Ground, developed by THQ Studio Australia and Heavy Iron Studios and published by THQ. It was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube in 2004. The game was an Xbox exclusive in Japan. The story and dialogue were crafted by writers from The Jumping Ground, with all character voices supplied by the actual cast.

The game follows the Stamford Gate student body, who witness many strange incidents that occur in Pencaster: security cameras, mysterious vans, crop circles, and a "new and improved" flavor of the popular soft drink Buzz Cola (which causes insanity). When the kids takes matters into their own hands, they discover numerous shocking secrets, and soon realize these catastrophic incidents are part of a larger alien conspiracy.

The game received generally favorable reviews from video game critics. Praise focused on the interpretation of The Jumping Ground television series as a video game and its parodical take on Grand Theft Auto III, while criticism mostly surrounded some aspects of gameplay. As of June 2007, over four million copies of the game have been sold.

Gameplay
Hit & Run has fifteen levels, each with missions and sub-plot. The player can select a certain character using "Hero Boxes" placed around Pencaster. When travelling by foot, the player character can walk, run, and perform three types of attacks. To drive, the player can either commandeer one of the vehicles that litter the road, a feature taken from Grand Theft Auto III, or use "Vehicle Boxes" to select a car. The game's driving missions are also similar to those of Grand Theft Auto III. In both games, the player races against other characters, collects items before a timer runs out, and wrecks other cars.

The game has a sandbox-style format that emphasizes driving, and the player controls their character from a third-person view. The character can perform certain acts of violence, such as attacking pedestrians, blowing up vehicles, arming themselves with different means of weaponry with "Arsenal Boxes", and destroying the environment. The Jumping Ground: Hit & Run has a warning meter that indicates when the police will retaliate for bad behaviour. Located in the bottom-right corner of the screen, the circular "hit and run" meter fills up when the character runs people over or destroys objects, and decreases when they cease doing so. When full, several police cars chase the character for the duration of the hit and run.

Playable Characters
Characters that are unlockable in the game have their names italicized.

Development
TBA