Review for Jump Force. Game for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 15/02/2019 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 28/08/2020
Weekly Shōnen Jump is the most famous weekly manga magazine, as well as one of the longest-running: the first issue dates back to the summer of 1968. A few months after the magazine's fiftieth anniversary, it was announced at E3 2018 on the Microsoft stage (yes , unlike the predecessor J-Stars Victory VS, the game is not the prerogative of Sony users), Jump Force, crossover fighting game featuring 40 playable characters (plus nine more to come in DLC form) from 16 Shōnen Jump series.
This series mix is explained by a patchy storyline, as is customary in crossovers of this type. For unclear reasons (at least initially), the dimension in which we live merges with those of seventeen Shōnen Jump series. The player plays the role of an ordinary person (created with an editor), endowed with superhuman strength thanks to the help of the Umbras Cube used by Trunks to revitalize her. Our new hero joins the Jump Force, a team of superheroes - a bit like the X-Men, with their own headquarters and a "boss" - with the aim of averting the threat posed by Kane and Galena (antagonists unpublished pieces designed by Akira Toriyama), who are using the Umbras Cubes for evil purposes.
The Story mode - built on the model of the one contained in Dragon Ball Xenoverse - is in fact the only one of Jump Force, since even access to the versus (offline or online) takes place through the game's hub, consisting of , in fact, from the base of our team. Unfortunately, we cannot say that it was done properly. As we said above the plot is small but on the other hand a lot of time is devoted to it, with low quality cut scenes full of banal dialogue: at least the dubbing (in Japanese only), is overall of good quality.
"What's the problem?" you say: just skip the cutscenes and jump into the fray. But no, because inexplicably no skip function has been inserted and loading times (even with the game installed on the hard disk, as in the case of the writer) they are quite long. We therefore advise those interested in Jump Force to wait for the patch promised a few days ago by Bandai Namco Entertainment, which should solve these two main problems.
However, there are also "secondary" problems (so to speak), among which we must mention a bare and altogether useless hub, in which our hero moves with clumsy animations, as well as a "gritty" and unnecessarily confusing development system. Finally, a couple of words about the AI that animates computerized opponents: even at higher difficulty levels it proves to be disappointing, rewarding a very cautious and repetitive fighting style. Our advice therefore is to evaluate the purchase of the game almost exclusively from a perspective multiplayer, which works properly thanks to the good fluidity, even online, with a reliable netcode.
As anticipated at the beginning, Jump Force can count on a respectable roster, larger than those of its predecessors (except for the majestic Jump Ultimate Stars) if we count only the playable characters, which are 40. Compared to the past, however, a much more "pop" choice was made: the number of series represented in fact dropped to 16 (17, counting Death Note, but without playable characters), just half of those hosted by J-Stars Victory VS. Clearly the most famous - even in the West - are all there, from Hunter x Hunter to City Hunter (yeah !, Ed), from Bleach to Yu Yu Hakusho, passing through the very discounted Dragon Ball, One Piece and Naruto sagas, without forgetting Saint Seiya and Ken the Warrior. It is true that in previous games not all series had playable characters, but it is clear that in a celebratory title like Jump Force it would have been appropriate to include a much greater number of series. Apparently, Kane and Galena (the two unreleased villains) are not playable, or, at least, not yet: are they included among the nine characters that will be made available via DLC starting in May?
Another critical aspect lies in the artistic direction. Bandai Namco has opted for a realistic style, which is not only reflected on the wrestlers and, above all, on their clothes, but also on the arenas, which alternate scenarios of Naruto, Dragon Ball and One Piece with real places, such as Times Square, Paris and Hong Kong. Many have found this choice not very appropriate, complaining about the rendering of some characters and proportions, actually problematic if we think of the heterogeneity of character design that necessarily characterizes a crossover. Difficult to be objective on this aspect, so we get out of the way by letting readers form their own judgment based on the trailer and screenshots that populate this review; for what it's worth, the writer was not bothered by this stylistic choice, which makes the characters look like digitized action figures. Overall, the graphic impact is good, thanks to the speed and special effects that make the clashes pyrotechnic.
In terms of gameplay, Jump Force is an arena fighting game, or free-roaming if you prefer, modeled on the archetype provided by the Dragon Ball Z series: Budokai Tenkaichi, not surprisingly developed by Spike (from 2012 Spike Chunsoft) between 2005 and 2012. Overall, therefore, it resembles a good part of the Dragon Ball fighting games released in the last fifteen years (without the possibility of flying) and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm, which can be more complex than Jump Force.
The fights take place one on one in a tag team of three fighters (interchangeable by pressing the L2 button), which also share the health and energy bars and the Awakening indicator. Each fighter has a combo of light attacks (activated with Square), one of heavy attacks (Triangle), the jump (almost useless), the grab, the parry, the evasive maneuver - with L1, which, depending on the case it also serves to chase the opponent - and four techniques, which consume energy bars to charge with R2; one of these, the most powerful, is achievable only when the character has activated the Awakening mode, which in some cases involves not only stat boost, but also significant aesthetic changes (for example, Yusuke Urameshi switches to his demonic version). Very little technique, a lot of pyrotechnics, if you allow the pun: Jump Force is all about frenzy and spectacle, without worrying too much about issues such as the balance of the fighters or the accuracy in collision detection. And, all in all, that's okay: it is certainly not the combat system that lowers the evaluation of the game, but the problems enumerated in the previous paragraphs.
Jump Force could have been a much better game, considering that it relies on gameplay that has been proven for years. Unfortunately, some questionable choices have ended up disappointing several fans and long uploads are nerve-wracking in a fighting game, characterized by rather quick fights. The promised patch should significantly improve the fluidity of the product, and the nine unannounced wrestlers could make the roster even more interesting. We'll see.
► Jump Force is a fighting game developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by Bandai Namco for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 15/02/2019 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 28/08/2020
