So like, J-Stars has obvious problems, but goddamn is it fun as fuck.
Managed to get probably a good 20 or 30 fights in with @“Phantom Angel” the other day, and I still wanna get home and play some more. I’m not really seeing the balance issues everyone was talking about but I also heard that this version received changes to the characters so that probably has something to do with it. But I digress.
Huge maps to fight on, fully destructible environments, a huge diversity of characters and satisfying fast paced combat keeps the experience addictive. I do wish each character had a bit bigger of a moveset but considering the size of the cast I guess that’s to be expected. The netcode seems fine and the mechanics themselves seem well-enough designed…my biggest problem is with the ridiculous invincibility frames. You see, after getting hit with a hard knockdown, you have a good 3 or 4 seconds of invincibility while getting up and then some time after that. Letting you freely attack the living shit out of a careless opponent regardless of how many punches or kicks they’re throwing at you. It’s kind of an annoying concept to wrap your head around, but honestly if that mechanic wasn’t there every character could combo you to death once you got that knockdown. I guess they could solve this issue with wakeup attacks but…it would still need the invincibility one way or another. It’s just kind of jarring to see all this insane shit happening around a character as they calmly take their time standing back up, ignoring all the chaos and destruction around them due to invincibility frames. It should be a lot quicker of an animation at the very least.
Graphics aren’t bad by any means, but some may feel they leave a lot to be desired…especially when compared to games that do such an incredible job with the cel-shaded style like the Ultimate Ninja Storm games or even an older title like Budokai 3. It just doesn’t seem to be as inspired and detailed as it could be. But again, even so, it’s still a great looking game given all the shit that’s going on on screen.
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/040/c/f/j_stars_victory_vs_by_endless_1-d75u55m.gif
The animations themselves are actually pretty fucking dope, as you can see.
Game is ridiculous non stop action and the invincibility frame thing is one of the few complaints I have. Luffy is just silly fun; dude just annihilates the stage around him with almost every attack he makes. I love seeing all the crazy destruction as one dude flies through the sky from another attacker while another player is charging up a fucking SPIRIT BOMB from across the map destroying buildings and shit in the process. Pure and total insanity when you have 4 different players going at it at once. I’d really like to see this game at a higher level of play, I bet it’s crazy. There can be a pretty huge skill gap I’ve noticed as well. Yesterday I had one dude playing as some guy from HunterxHunter beat me AND my teammate by himself without even losing a life.
Which kind of brings me to my second gripe…the teamplay in this game is mandatory. It makes the game fun and chaotic, but at the same time it’s also kind of annoying not being able to just do a traditional 1v1 type match where each player has their one assist. The game always wants it to be a 3v3, with two human players and one CPU assist character. If you don’t have a second human player, it fills it in with the CPU. Kind of destroys a lot of the fun that comes with fighting another human player because there will pretty much always be at least once NPC you have to fight or fight with.
All in all though, personally I think the game is a blast. However I realize it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. It has a few fundamental flaws that bring the experience down a few notches, but if you like fast paced, unique anime fighters (not in the air dasher sense) then you’ll like this game. The fan service is off the charts, and the diversity is so large there’s no way you can’t find a character you’ll enjoy. Battles are large scale, fast paced, silly and chaotic. I’d say I got my money’s worth, but if you’re not really sure on the game even after watching gameplay videos and such I’d probably wait until it’s on sale for $40 or less.