Apr 14, 2014 02:38 AM
(This post was last modified: Apr 14, 2014 02:41 AM by Ice Queen.)
The Opening video of the game with it's theme song; Fighting Stars
Once more J-stars gather, bringing up a new cross-over game since Jump ultimate stars for DS a few years ago. With 52 characters from multiple manga Bandai Namco takes a shot at the current generation console to bring their stars into reality.
Story
The story centers around some sort of tournament of fighters being held every 45 years. You pick one of the 4 storylines (Toriko, Ichigo, Naruto or Luffy) and sail around some interdimensional sea in your flying boat together with additional jump characters you meet along the way. There is not that much story from what I've grasped.
The main reason this is interesting is because of the voiced character interaction between multiple manga from the shonen jack series. (Yes, Jack. Jump is western.) Although story mode does feature side-quests, these quests are the same for every storyline and completing all the quests 4 times? It does get tedious.
Gameplay
This is where this game, and any game, is supposed to shine. And it does. The gameplay features a 2v2 arena-fighting scenario, with both teams bringing along a support for the extra mayhem.
But for those of you who don't like playing together with an AI, playing 1v1 is also possible. (Or 1v2 if you want to be a badass.)
I have to say that the combat is suprisingly easy to get into. I guess this game could be best compared to a game like super smash. The goal is to beat your opponent 3 times total to win, no matter which of the two you hate most. The combat features can be best compared to games like Naruto Ultimate ninja storm and Dragonball budakai Tenkaichi. The game gives each character two basic attack buttons which are switchable for different combo's, 3 special attacks and 1 ultimate, available during victory burst. Gameplay is fast-paced albeit sometimes chaotic but I do however have one problem with it, which is the energy bar.
Each character has an energy bar which is used for guarding and special attacks and, in some cases, allows your character to transform by charging up. (Example: Ichigo puts on his hollow mask). This bar is chargable and possibly gives birth to something Namco has been struggling with before in the dragonball series.
Notably special skill spamming. Simply charge up and use special skills from afar and repeat. I sincerly hope this doesn't take into the online scene. Overall the combat is fine though and is amazing for playing with friends. Split-screen mode looks weird and is rather cramped though so beware.
Graphics
''What are these Play-station 1 graphics?!'' is what a friend of mine said when he first played the game. I have to somewhat agree that the graphics might seem a bit old. However, this is not so. Since the game features manga cross-over characters, they need one universal style to adjust all of the characters to. Overall the graphics look fine but it's nothing to get excited about.
Soundtrack
The game has some basic soundtracks from multiple shows, although I find that is has nothing really excessive except for the game's opening song; Fighting Stars. That song is just too cathy for me personally. The game does however have something for those who like me don't enjoy the in-game OST. By going into the options menu you can swap any of the current soundtrack songs with any music file on your Play-station 3 or PSVita memory, allowing you to put any anime opening songs or just about any song you like in the game to use for your enjoyment. This is something that I'm personally really glad about having.
Extra commentary;
Characters: 52 characters, of which 39 are playable. Although I do like that number I am not exactly happy with what they did with that number. Instead of searching for more characters to put into the game they filled up some spots with characters from the same franchise. (3 DBZ characters, 3 Naruto Characters, 4 One piece characters.) The character roster was selected by a voting system where fans could vote for their favorite characters. I would have liked more variety though.
Multi-play: I already said this in the gameplay section but let me put some extra attention to it. Split-screen is poorly done and rather cramped, not to mention the possible ability spamming that might ruin online play.
Verdict:
8.5/10
Although the game itself is nothing different than any other fighter, it IS focused at the Shonen fanbase, which is where it does it's name right. A wide variety of characters, fast-paced and easy game play, changeable OST and great multi-player value offline make this game a great one to play with friends or solo on a quiet night.
Consoles: PS3/PSVita
Where can you get it?
http://www.play-asia.com/
