Jump Force Review – May the Force

All of the greatest anime characters have returned under one game, possibly delivering one of the biggest fighting games of 2019. At least that’s the thought on paper. Bandai Namco has ran with this before with J-Stars Victory VS back in 2014 receiving average reviews. Can this be the comeback and fighting game for all Anime lovers and fighting game enthusiast?

Like J-Stars, Jump Force includes the biggest name from the biggest shows to date: Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, My Hero Academia and more. Equally, the game’s launch couldn’t have been at a better time as Shonen Jump celebrates 50 years of Anime. And with the success that most of the video games have had over the years, a clash of the titans makes since. Unfortunately there’s too many flaws to appreciate what should’ve been a phenomenal experience.

Where Do We Jump First

Jump Force immediately starts off in New York City as Villains have managed to teleport (Jump) from their known residence to the human world, creating foot soldiers called Vemons. Venoms are normal civilians that’s been fully taken under control by an Umbras Cube.  Luckily for your character a quarantined umbras cube, collected by Trunks and companion Navigator, manages to reconstruct you and bring you back to life on your new path for Justice. At the same time, Goku and Frieza are commenced In battle, long enough for you to come to and fight your first Venom.

As you’re brought to Jump Base you meet Glover, Director of the camp, learning of the operation at hand and how your services are needed to help fight venom, recover intel or reclaim territory. Each operation is led by individual captains: Goku, Lupe and Naruto. Joining them however is decided based on your “Rebirth” training. Ultimately all boils down to if our heroes can recruit enough soldiers to stop Galena, Kane and the rest of the evil that looks to decimate New York and the J-Force.

Fight Like A Boss

After Trunks and Navigator resurrects you, you are taken to a customization screen to construct your own fighter. I never expected as many option as given to create the perfect player in the likeness of your choosing. With so many details involved (hair, body, mouth, jaw, etc, you can literally bring almost anyone you could imagine into the world of jump force, including characters that didn’t make the cut.

The fighting animation and transitions are seamless and simply astonishing. Attacking is simplistic, utilizing a strike, slash and special Rush Attacks. Strike and slash moves can string combos together, while holding them down will perform a heavier strike, causing even more damage.

But as in all fighting games, it’s about timing and countering attacks. Blocking at the right time can allow you to perform a special dodge and get the upper hand on your opponents. It also allows the ability to perform a special rush attack. However, most preferred will likely be dodging (side-stepping) to stay clear of an attack, opening a temporary and vulnerable area for a quick combo.

Your character is upgradable through J-Skills and Ability Skills (attacks and counters) are found in various upgrade shops inside the Jump Base and are purchased with gold coins earned through each victory.

Stalemate

Now as much of the review sounds great, there’s too many unfortunate mishaps that makes Jump Force nearly enjoyable. To start, the loading screens are atrocious. In the story the game loads almost every few minutes, sometimes just to enter a room or after a one to two sentence dialogue. Imagine playing any game where after you defeat an enemy the game needs to load a new wave. Before that happens though, it needs to load a cutscene. Even worse when loading an online/offline session, it’s nearly a minute of wait time. With that being said, Jump Force feels almost broken. There isn’t a game today created without seamless transitions and minimal load times, well expect Jump Force.

Voice overs is another huge problem. It more so begins after creating your character and being prompted to choose a voice style for them. Problem is, they never talk. Throughout the story, when the J-Force converse with your player, they simply nod or make awkward gestures. Not entirely sure what the motive was here, or the lack thereof. Making matters worse, after grinding a bit through the story, you’ll notice little to no more voice overs. Instead there’s only scripts.

The soundtrack is also underwhelming. I was confused playing the story and reading dialogues that rendered bad news with an upbeat theme playing in the background. Between the poor soundtrack and lack of language packs, muting the gameplay all together was the best decision to enhance and salvage the overall experience.

Scarred, Yet Beautiful

Every character in Jump Force is exceptional as Bandai Namco truly delivers stunning visuals. I enjoyed the realism as each player came to life in the heat of the battle, thanks to the rush attacks and special moves. Even more aesthetically pleasing, Deku’s (Midoriya) character came to life in Jump Force, something that was a huge let down in the My Hero Academia: No Hero’s Justice game in 2018.

With as good as gameplay is, it’s disappointing that the overall experience is tainted due to poor cutscenes, transitions and a lackluster story mode. The action is an extremely fun, adrenaline rush from beginning to end. It’s just takes too long to get to the beginning. And with that, even as entertaining that Jump Force is, it’s not worth the initial price of admission.