Special moves, including Sasuke’s Amaterasu (executed by holding the right shoulder button and Square/X, Triangle/Y, or Circle/B), and ultimate attacks like Goku’s Super Spirit Bomb (performed by holding the right shoulder button and X/A) almost never connect at the end of rush attacks, which can make it futile to chain combos together. I can’t consistently connect with grabs, but the AI isn’t smart enough to capitalize on my mistakes when I miss. Rush attacks operate kind of like the combos I’m used to from other fighting games, but I only need to tap the rush attack button to string my moves together.Īnd even these basic ideas and systems fail to work as they should. I mashed a lot of buttons when playing Jump Force, and I was rarely punished by doing so. I don’t have any way to cancel attacks against opponents, and all these issues contributed to a game that was easy to pick up and play without ever becoming actually enjoyable or feeling strategic. The fighting can also be clunky due to the lack of dedicated combos, and the heavy use of particle effects can make the battles themselves hard to follow. This will make sense for fans who have played other anime-inspired fighting games, even if the execution feels simple and often clumsy. Any energy blast will similarly fire in the direction of the enemy, who can sidestep to avoid the attack.
I’m auto-locked onto the enemy in front of me, and I can choose a light or heavy rush attack that will usually snap to the enemy, although these attacks would often cause me to swing wildly at the air. The Venoms fight alongside well-known villains, like Frieza, Blackbeard, and Toguro, and act as minions to the more powerful evil characters. I then use this team to fight “Venoms,” revived humans corrupted by an essence called the umbras core. My own custom character is a silent protagonist, and I’m able to create my own list of attacks from the different characters and worlds to match my fighting style. The game’s story is a transparent excuse for its setup: Some megalomaniac wants to merge our world with the alternate realities of the Shonen Jump characters and rule as the “One True King.” I’m instructed to select one of three teams, led by Goku, Luffy, and Naruto, respectively, and head into battle. Regrettably, for all the grandeur that comes with the fantastical seeping into the realistic, Jump Force is as thin as the pages the magazine is printed on, and as artificial as a pre-order collectible statue. Bandai Namco Entertainment partnered with Japanese developer Spike Chunsoft to release Jump Force, a 3D fighting game featuring 40 characters from across the Shonen Jump universe who are fighting across our own reality. Now, it’s Shonen Jump’s chance to hop into our universe.
I needed to visit the Shonen Jump universe, where I could gorge on the adventures of characters like Luffy and Naruto. It didn’t matter whether I’d already read the issue or not. I used to rush to the library to read Shonen Jump magazine.