When you look back at the weekly manga Weekly Shōnen Jump, it is amazing how many characters have their home within it’s pages. Everyone from Dragon Ball to Yu-Gi-Oh have called the magazine home. It took awhile to reach the North American shores, but we finally have a game where almost all of these characters come together. Spike Chunsoft presents Jump Force, a fighting game where the battle comes to our world.
Freza attacks New York, and one of his beams injures a civilian (you). With a little help from Trunks, you are healed as well as gain the abilities to be a hero. You are then recruited into Jump Force, a team of anime characters trying to fight the creatures called Venoms from overtaking your world. You have three different teams to join as you try to figure out who has done this and how can you stop them.
This game had me grinning from the second you meet Jump Force. The big hitters are here, Goku, Naurto and One Piece, but the game brings back some less popular favorites. The biggest surprise was the Spirit Detective himself, Yusuke Urameshi. Just looking at the character selection screen will make you feel like a kid again. This can solve all those debates about who could win in a fight.
The fighting system is basic. I don’t say that as a bad thing. These games allows new players to get into the action as well as save something for the true experts. The fighting is 3 on 3, and you can switch out whenever you like. You only have one health bar, so make your decisions carefully. The create a player has a lot of options, but it does not look the same next to our anime heroes. It’s a little disappointing, but the choices you have can make your character unique or create someone who is missing.
Jump Force is not a perfect game, but it is not trying to be. This is a celebration of the first %0 years and as fan service, it nails it’s mandate. Some new fighters are coming in May, and one hopes that it will add some more female fighters to the roster. For now, I will just be amazed how many characters this one little magazine has brought together.
7/10
Available on PS4, Xbox and PC.