Review cover Jump Force (Computer)
Official GBAtemp Review

Product Information:

  • Release Date (NA): February 15, 2019
  • Release Date (EU): February 15, 2019
  • Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
  • Developer: Spike Chunsoft
  • Genres: Fighting
  • Also For: PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Game Features:

Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine, characters from renowned mangas join forces to help the actual world against a greater evil in a brand-new adventure. In Jump Force, some of your favorite manga characters will even seek your help to bring peace back on Earth. Does this seemingly bigger than life concept actually deliver?

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In typical manga fashion, Jump Force features baddies who, surprise surprise, want to dominate the world and then there are good guys who need to save the day. Yes, the writing feels too shallow, and I was expecting more from it since animes/mangas are known to do much better.

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The bad guys here are known as Venoms, characters controlled by cube-like objects called umbras, which have a malicious aura that infect people and control them against their will. Orchestrating this are the game’s antagonists; Galena and Kane, those two characters are unique to the game and don’t come from any existing manga. Pairing up with various characters like Vegeta and Boruto of the Jump Force team, you, once a civilian now revived as a hero, will have to travel across the globe and deliver other famous characters from the grasp of the evil umbras and have them join your team. Afterwards you'll have several missions, which are basically random bland battles against Venoms and antagonists from other mangas, while the story progresses. At the end of each battle, your team will gain valuable experience points, level up, and unlock new moves and equipment.

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During combat, you form teams of 3, which you can choose from a roster of 42 playable characters, who all share the same life counter and vary in their range of attacks and combos. Battles are a visual treat, especially the special moves where your custom character can effectuate famous moves from mangas, or even have actual characters perform their signature moves. However, the controls might need some getting used to, in order to handle regular moves, special moves, swapping with your battle buddy, conjuring different special attacks on top of having your battle buddy lend you a helping hand in some moves. But the battles do feel satisfying once you get the hang of the controls, allowing you to perform some cool finishes. You can also partake in online battles and events to hone your skills against other players, but there's not much to say about them.

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While a large part of the issues is due to the bland plot and shallow writing, the artstyle is also to be blamed. Given the whole collision of universe thing, Spike Chunsoft opted for a more “realistic” art direction with Jump Force to, and I quote, “bring Manga characters to life like never before". While this can work with other games, for manga characters and their setting it just feels odd, especially given the cel-shaded style we have seen in similar games and which worked so well. The graphics are divisive at best, with even the new Berserk’s CGI looking better (sometimes). The characters feel lifeless, plastic-y and way too shiny, sort of a rip-off action figure, in particular during the cutscenes or conversations where their weirdly animated mouths don’t quite sync with the voice and it all just feels even more uncanny.

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The issue does not only lie with the character’s renders. Battle grounds are varied but mostly empty with no interactive elements save for your foes. Wandering through the Jump Force HQ replicates the feeling of visiting a mall on a Sunday night at 10pm; empty, uninteresting and eerily quiet. Playing online will allow you to see the avatars other online players and somewhat populate the HQ but it mostly means seeing them amassed around the Mission Counter trying to complete missions. While the environments look visually nicer than the plastic characters, they aren’t without issues.

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Playing side by side with some of the most famous anime characters should feel like a blast, but it never really delivered. Despite its impressive roster of characters and interesting premise, Jump Force somehow still managed to miss a great opportunity with a shallow plot and a questionable artstyle. However, the core of it, the battles, are quite redeeming but cannot mask the other glaring issues.

Jump Force Launch Trailer

Verdict

What We Liked ...
  • Large roster of famous manga characters
  • Satisfying combat and finishers
What We Didn't Like ...
  • Artstyle
  • Bland writing and plot
  • Empty environments
  • Weird animations
7
Gameplay
Combat is the most redeeming feature of the game, but getting used to the system can take some practicing.
5
Presentation
The “realistic” graphics don’t quite feel at home here and the uninspired plot and poor writing don’t do the game as a manga tribute justice.
5
Lasting Appeal
With its bland plot, poor writing and questionable artstyle, Jump Force has little to keep players coming back to it.
5.8
out of 10

Overall

Jump Force is a game that promised so much but delivered so little. It’s surprising that it achieved this despite recent anime/manga games faring so well and with such promising content.
They should've made something a little more interesting than another fighter, there was never any chance of this stacking up to other recent releases in that genre.

From those pictures this game looks weeird.
What happened with those shaders?
Looks like you are fighting using clay dolls.
Yeah definitely agree. It's very ugly.
 
Let's not talk about the tons and tons of crashing that occurs. Seriously, how do you screw up an Unreal Engine game up so much. It's an accomplishment for Namco. Since they've been doing so badly lately.
 
I heard this game sucks....
And on Steam page, this game is literally buried by negative reviews...
 
Let's be honest: Jump is more fun than MvC:I

I was just glad they brought it over. The overworld hub-thing was a little disappointing, but other than that, I feel like if they tried again, they'd have gold.

BTW, Demon Zoro 4TW.
 
Bamco should let Ganbarion make another JUS kind of game. Those were awesome.

Or let Arc System Works make a fully 3D fighter that plays kind of like the Power Stone games, ensuring that the game will have an anime look (if they could pull off a fully 3D action game like this with their anime artstyle in real time, just imagine the work that'd be lining up for them...still wouldn't want them to sacrifice Guilty Gear for it, though (in all seriousness, where's Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 3, Daisuke-sama!?)), lots of interactables in the environment from item pickups not unlike Smash Bros. and flipping around on light poles or blowing up entire environments that changes what's interactable due to certain characters and their attacks *looks at any DBZ character*.

Jump on that heavy metal, Arcsys!
 
C
Just as expected. The game is a pile of shit that got anime fans hyped for and they all ate it up like it was birthday cake
 
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They need to get away from "trying hard to involve the player into the plot".
Just create a fighting game and full stop.
 
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They should've made something a little more interesting than another fighter, there was never any chance of this stacking up to other recent releases in that genre.


Yeah definitely agree. It's very ugly.

Yeah, every time they announce some shonen anime game I get excited but then I see it is another fighting game and get disinterested.
 
This game is really strange to me...
I heard virtually zero news or talk surrounding it before production. Which is strange for a game that pans to the masses of Shonen fans. I didn’t even hear of it’s existence until I saw it on being sold steam.
Also why does everything look off? All of their colors and texture make them look like they are made of some sort of doughy.
I wonder if anybody’s going to remember this game in a couple years from now.
 
They should've made something a little more interesting than another fighter, there was never any chance of this stacking up to other recent releases in that genre.


Yeah definitely agree. It's very ugly.
they shoulda left it as is, a wonderful 2D smash clone that had tons of manga characters :(
 
Review cover
Product Information:
  • Release Date (NA): February 15, 2019
  • Release Date (EU): February 15, 2019
  • Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
  • Developer: Spike Chunsoft
  • Genres: Fighting
  • Also For: PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Game Features:
Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative

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