High hopes were placed on the title from Bandai Namco, which, after its presentation at E3, had generated just as much enthusiasm as it did questions. We're talking about “Jump Force“A clash of the greatest anime heroes in epic battles. Now we're diving into the fray and asking ourselves what makes it different from other titles in the same genre.”
Worlds collide
As the roster suggests, "Jump Force" is a crossover fighting title where you play as a mute, custom-designed hero, fighting alongside the greatest heroes from various manga universes against enemies possessed by an evil force, the so-called "Venoms," to save the heroes' worlds as well as your own. You typically fight in teams of three against your enemies, which can be either simple, insignificant opponents or powerful, mindless heroes. The heroes themselves are divided into three teams – Alpha, Beta, and Gamma – led by characters like Goku, Luffy, or Naturo, respectively, and comprised of figures from their respective universes. In addition, there are numerous other characters, such as Yami Yugi from the trading card hit "Yu-Gi-Oh!", Dai from Dragon Quest, and many others from the "Shonen Jump" media empire, which includes virtually all major anime and manga series.
While the diverse characters offer a great premise for a spectacular adventure, the game unfortunately falls far short of this. You're thrown into the action without much background information, accompanying the other characters as a central fighter, freeing one after another. Absolutely no tension is built up to motivate you to continue the story. This is partly due to the fact that each small section of the story is a separate mission. As a result, progress is incredibly slow, because after each mission you choose the next one, assemble your team, watch one or two short cutscenes, fight for maybe two minutes, and then receive a grade for your performance—and this continues indefinitely. It would have been far more engaging to be presented with a cohesive story instead of this fragmented mess.
From mission to mission, don't I know that already?
We select missions in the hub, which, as seen in recent Dragon Ball games, is a small world with various shops that we can freely explore. Here, the three main anime worlds are connected, offering a bit of atmosphere. However, don't expect too much from this hub. Depending on whether you're playing online or offline, you'll encounter a few different characters, have access to a handful of mission stations, and small shops that all offer the same attacks and items. The last Naruto title already struggled with the problem of not fully utilizing the potential of this intermediate world, and unfortunately, "Jump Force" doesn't make any real difference in this regard. A real shame!
The game's focus isn't on atmosphere, but rather on the combat system. This system offers a mix of elements familiar from other titles in the genre. For example, there's a limited selection of combos, as attacks are assigned to one button for normal attacks, one for strong attacks, and one for grab attacks. This leaves little room for complex attacks. Furthermore, each character possesses four unique special attacks, all of which can also be learned by your own character. Drawbacks include the fact that characters who typically prefer aerial combat can no longer do so, and ranged attacks are only available as special moves. On the plus side, team members can attack the enemy together and swap attacks between them. However, the entire team shares a single health bar, which feels rather odd and doesn't seem particularly practical. Overall, though, the battles are manageable and offer a good challenge even on the easiest difficulty setting. Over time, the characters you use thankfully gain experience points and gradually level up, which should eventually make even the tougher enemies easier to defeat. Until then, however, the path remains quite challenging, and characters that are rarely or never used will unfortunately fall behind in the long run.
All in all, “Jump Force"In terms of story and gameplay, there's little new to see. Everything feels familiar, which does make it easy to get into the game quickly, but some improvements would have been welcome. Unfortunately, the story fails to engage in any way and is merely a nice way to level up. It doesn't unlock any items either, as all attacks can be purchased from the start. The entire game is a haphazard collection of individual missions that are supposed to build on each other, but this fragmented approach makes it rather unappealing."
Don't get me wrong: the combat and its mechanics are good, require a fair amount of skill, and are action-packed, never encouraging mindless button-mashing, but they simply lack that certain something to truly hold your interest for long. And unfortunately, this flaw permeates all aspects of the gameplay.
Graphically excellent, but lacking a clear design.
While the game falters in terms of gameplay, it more than makes up for it in terms of graphics. The individual stages are exceptionally well-crafted and offer a wealth of detail, creating a palpable sense of life. Add to that the fantastic animations, not only of the anime worlds but also of the real-world locations. For example, in New York, stunning effects await, such as the reflection of lights in the rain. The battles themselves look truly fantastic, whether it's the attacks or transformations. From Rasengan to Kamehameha, the explosions and small sequences that trigger the attacks are not only action-packed but also create a genuine spectacle on screen. Furthermore, the battles run absolutely smoothly and flawlessly, which is not the case for the hub area. Here, in addition to the sparse atmosphere, there are occasional glitches for no apparent reason. Many of the cutscenes also suffer from performance issues, largely due to a lack of consistent design. Sometimes the sequences are well-presented videos with nice textures, Asian voice acting, and appealing character models; other times, however, they are unattractive presentations with subtitles and comical character movements. A consistent approach would have been much more appealing.
Finally, the excessively long loading times between each mission or use of the shop are a noticeable issue. These are so annoying that Bandai has made this problem a top priority and is attempting to fix it in the next update. So, stay tuned.
Overall, the atmosphere of "Jump Force" is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there's the tedious story, which offers little in the way of highs or lows and is more of a slog than an enjoyable experience, especially since it's divided into countless individual missions. On the other hand, there's a classic Asian presentation with fitting voice acting and slightly exaggerated emotions, as well as fantastic animations for the stages and attacks, which feature over-the-top violence and powerful explosions. All things considered, however, despite its potential and numerous star-studded characters, the game ultimately fails to truly captivate and hold the player's attention for any length of time.
