![]() When it comes to the fighting, I only really found any sort of pleasure in the game by fighting other people either online, which is pleasantly stable for the most part, or locally. Sometimes less is more, and Jump Force did not appear to get this memo because it engages in the same pointless convolution when it comes to upgrading your character. These mechanics are fine and each of them have counters if your opponent gets cheeky, but then Jump Force tries to be clever with different attack attributes such as slashing, striking or special attacks per character as well as elements to specials and the like, and I honestly don’t see the point to this addition. On the defensive side of the spectrum you can naturally block most attacks or avoid and sidestep them – you even have an escape move handy at the cost of your mobility meter if you get caught in a combo you want out of. You get your staple rush attacks which are light attacks, you get heavy attacks and you get your signature moves and ultimate moves, as well as dashes to close the distance between you and your opponent. When you’re getting your brawl on, you have access to a number of different attacks and defenses. Jump Force brings combat to the yard that is admittedly rather flashy, albeit somewhat shallow. The difference here is that the mechanics present in Jump Force appear to not understand what they want to be, as if the developers never took the time to decide just what kind of brawler they wanted to make. There’s nothing wrong with simple combat mechanics – when I reviewed My Hero One’s Justice, it proved to be a blast with some very simple, yet well thought out mechanics. Thankfully the combat does, to some degree, not share this dullness. The lack of a sprint button or anything like it makes traversing the base a bore and offers no motivation to go exploring after your first time getting stuck in a large, empty tunnel moving slower than I do going back to work after my lunch break. Your main hub of operations, the needlessly large Umbras base, also serves as your menu wherein you can play multiplayer games, shop, accept missions and upgrade your character – and this system doesn’t work as well as it has in other games. Now, the annoyance of not having a main menu aside, the start of the game had me pretty intrigued – unfortunately the rest of the story didn’t. There was so much that could have been done, but instead so little was achieved save a handful of interactions that evoked a grin or giggle from me (like Boruto calling Vegeta an old man). Part of the reason for this is that the story doesn’t have as much fun with itself as it could have, and it tries to be this serious narrative – and whilst I’m all for serious stories, when you have so many characters from so many different series and you fail to capitalize on that, I deduct points. It really isn’t anything to write home about and honestly proved to be a slog going through the whole thing. I wish there were some unique options for hair and the like not attributed to an already existing character, but this is not a deal-breaker by any means. You then get to create this new and improved you in a character customization system that, whilst essentially just mixes and matches hairstyles and features out of its character roster, proves to be enjoyable. Your character is then revived by Trunks through something called an Umbras cube, giving you anime-like powers in the process. You play as a random civilian that is unfortunate enough to be caught by a stray lazer beam, compliments of a fighting Goku and mind-controlled Frieza in New York. As you boot, you’re thrown straight into the action by immediately entering the story mode – and in all fairness the story does get off to an interesting start. So, this tale of woe begins with booting up the game for the first time. What I didn’t know, however, was that the ghost of J-stars past was waiting just around the corner with a folding metal chair, all too ready to crush our hopes and dreams. A Shounen Jump 50th anniversary brawler, developed by studio Spike Chunsoft, promising a wide variety of characters powered by the same engine from the Ninja Storm series? Yes, I’ll take two please. ![]() As a massive fan of anime brawlers, I was madly in love with (and rabidly excited for) Jump Force when I first saw the trailer for it last year.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |