Do you remember that episode of Dragon Ball Z where Goku teamed up with Monkey D. Luffy to defeat the evil Naruto Uzumaki and his counterpart Ichigo Kurosaki? No? What do you mean it never happened? Then it’s time to make it happen!
Chock to the brim full of Shonen Jump’s history, J-Stars Victory VS+ brings together some of the biggest names you know, and mixes them with a heap more you’ve probably never heard of! With a decent roster and some impressive graphics, this all-out battle is sure to keep even the simplest Jump fan entertained.
During battles, the imagery tends to move extremely fast, and this is in no way a negative; the game manages to really feel like a three-dimensional anime fight rather than a simple chaotic brawler, with flashing lights and bursts of energy and fire flying left right and centre in the midst of a flurry of punches and kicks. Unlike other releases such as Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z, everything is fast-paced yet still easy to follow, and will not leave players confused.
Character voices sound authentic, too; but this could purely be from a Westerner’s perspective, as the whole game is dubbed in Japanese. Repetition of moves begins to get annoying from certain characters, but usually the gameplay is too fast and involved to draw your attention to such things. The soundtrack is half-decent at times, a mixture of J-Rock and orchestral music scoring the game and making it really feel like one big adventure. At times the music begins to get repetitive and annoying, but the pace of the game makes up for it and ensures that the player does not linger on the same track for too long.
At its base, J-Stars’ combat is relatively simple; buttons are allocated for light and heavy attacks, as well as special attacks and blocking. With 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 modes, the goal is basically to take the opponent down either a certain number of times or before the time runs out. Heavy attacks can break blocks, as can special moves, and attacks can be chained together to keep the enemy subdued and knock them away. Some attacks have knockdown ability, meaning opponents don’t have a chance to counter, however these basic attacks can be dodged with proper timing. Using attacks drains a rechargeable stamina bar which, when depleted, prevents the player from making more attacks until it recharges. Players also have the ability to recharge this, however it makes them vulnerable for the time that they are recharging, leading to the player having to employ tactics to defend.
Players have the ability to choose which enemy they wish to target and attack through the fight, and can switch at any time. This is done with the lock-on system, and ensures that you can follow the opponent no matter where they go. This however does not stop other enemies on the opposing team from attacking you, or your allies from attacking your target, leading to the ability to gang-up on single targets and take them down faster. The gameplay becomes unpredictable chaos, as there is a constant struggle between fighting and getting the upper hand to having every attack thwarted by the enemy team.
The combat is relatively easy to get a hold of after a few matches, and becomes extremely fun once the initial stage is past. It is here however that things begin to seem unbalanced; some characters have easier knockdown abilities or faster recharges, or are a lot quicker at attacking than others. The gameplay also does not vary much from battle to battle, so aside from trying out new characters and different attacks, the fighting begins to get stale and repetitive. Different character combinations can make for more fun gameplay but even this grows boring after a while, and especially in modes such as ‘J-Adventure, which focuses on travel and then fighting, it can get tedious.