With such a reputation as great as that of Shonen Jump magazine with classic characters like Luffy and Naruto, it is easy to see why Jump Force was so hot a title ever since its first information came to the public’s attention.
And who could not be excited when the game would feature 40 characters from Shonen Jump with their full abilities and power.
However, the more fans fantasized about Jump Force the more disappointed they are when the game is out. The developers had failed to create the same degree of grandeur in the game despite the fact that they have had so much to start with.
What players have to do is to pick a team led by one of the three characters Naruto, Luffy, and Goku. You are allowed to pile your own list of attacks picked up from several characters. The team will in battles with the Venom, mainly human changed by the umbras core. The main antagonists of the manga such as Blackbeard, Toguro, and Frieza are also in the game. They manage the Venom and form a kind of an army.
When an enemy shows up, you will have to engage. The next thing you need to do is to choose an attack. Your enemy can duck the blast by stepping to a side. This should not be a new thing for those who have played games inspired by anime before. However, the effect has nothing interesting if not awkward.
The particle effects are exploited too much, making it hard for players to make sense of the battles they are in. The moves look old-fashioned and if there were combos, it might feel a bit better. Once you are engaged in a fight, there is no way you can stop attacking. All of these features make Jump Force easy to wrap your head around but at the same time, strip away the challenge that would otherwise make players engage more in the game.
The rush attacks are similar to what you can find in other games in this same genre. Even though there is no such thing as combos in Jump Force, players who wish to make something similar can press the rush attack button to do the moves simultaneously.
There are variations of the rush attacks but they are not up to par. What you can do is just choosing between two ways to finish the opponent. At this respect, there are several other games that can do a better job with various combos and new moves.
One of the rare perks is the special attacks of the characters, such as the Kamehameha and the Rasengan, which usually do more severe harm. While the idea of famous manga protagonists and antagonists in battles can stir up the excitement of fans but it does not hold for long. After the novelty is gone, players will realize that Jump Force has made use of just the most basic and simple elements of a fighting game, hence the boredom that players experience.
Players are in a team of three but the whole squad’s health is combined into a single bar and even if you change your partners, the strategy still feels somewhat the same. Choosing your own teammates might be excited before the actual fighting starts but that feeling soon wears off when the three of you engage in a battle. So the whole swapping characters thing is more like a cosmetics feature than something players can adjust to increase the fun. Once you have come up with an effective strategy, you can use it over and over again. The game lacks a little pressure to force players to find out new approaches.
Other aspects of the game include the gold and experience players pick up during the course of playing. They are for new attacks and looks, which can give players an edge in battles, but this might not too obvious.
The only thing players notice when they have an upgrade is the rating changes. However, the actual effect everyone is so keen to see is battles is non-existent. The attacks do not gain any strength and players do not have any more durability against enemies either.
Jump Force’s simple mechanism means that different levels do not come with increased hardship or anything. It is just the number indicating the level changes, which might bore players after a handful of battles.
However, despite the disappointment in the main content of the game, its design is a big plus. The backgrounds look as realistic as it can be and when players cross to different world, there is something new to admire. You can hardly find a flaw in the structure and the landscape because it is just too good.
The perfection even goes down to small details like the grass, which is lush and life-like. The Jump force dlc characters look like they are carefully carved out in details. But the design is not without flaws. The style of graphics make the whole thing look plastic and so the effects look somewhat fake.
The story that is supposed to connect the whole game is so simple that any player can guess exactly what comes next. The only highlight here is the core value of the original manga is delivered intact, which is a nice reminiscence of our childhood.
The game’s mechanics is as predictable as the story line itself, making it hard for Jump Force to retain players’ attention for long. The levels look like they are poorly-executed and the enemy is just too easy to defeat. On the bright side, anyone can comprehend and excel in Jump Force, but on the other hand, there is nothing new or exciting whatsoever. The game does have the feature that allows you to connect with other players but it does not seem to work too well.
Bottom line, Shonen Jump’s world is vibrant, meaningful, exciting, and engaging, but Jump Force seems to have brought everything but these features to its own world.
Comments