Sometimes experimentation can be fun and can lead to interesting things. A great example of this is the Dreamcast version of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, a fighting game based off a popular Japanese manga that was popular or at least notable in the West, even if the source material was lost on the community. In recent years we’ve seen JoJo come back, with a new anime and PlayStation 3 fighting game, with another new fighting game on the PlayStation 4. With a wide array of interesting characters, exciting stories and more, is JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven a must buy or is it an underwhelming anime game?
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven follows in the footsteps of the previous game and begins at the end of the third story arc. This means you’ll not see the rise of Dio, the Aztec gods or most notable third arc, making the story a little hard to follow. To make up for this there are a lot of implied visuals and quickly stated facts, but once it gets rolling it gets rolling.
The story itself is a combination of the fourth arc in broad strokes with key points being prominently featured. This makes it good for a fan, but extremely difficult for a newcomer to pick it up and really enjoy the story. The story is also broken up into notable battles and exploration segments that try to immerse you in the experience.
However, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven’ biggest stumbling block is that it falls for the most common problem associated with anime games. When push comes to shove, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven is more concerned with the number of characters included, which means almost every noteworthy character, even Dio from three different dimensions and two time periods, are included, but the combat itself is pretty shallow.
Characters generally have a couple of combos you can use, which are performed by pushing a series of light or strong attacks. In addition to those, every character has a number of special attacks, typically mechanics or moves associated with the character. Some examples include Steel Ball Run Dio riding a horse and having dinosaur based attacks, Jotaru using his stand and so forth.
From there the combat boils down to a series of attacks, only broken up by a combo attack or rush move. These offer flashier ways to defeat your opponents, although this is still mostly a masher in terms of controls.
To further the excitement, there are a handful of stages based off of notable locations throughout the series where you can fight. Not only are the levels notable locales from the series, they also have unique mechanics and elements you need to pay attention to. The prison place has a crocodile that attacks, the burning mansion can burn your characters, with zombies occasionally attacking and much more. These elements, along with the ability to interact with your surroundings, makes for an interesting experience, but doesn’t do much to make JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven more than a shallow fighting game.
Thankfully, there is more for fans than just having a long list of notable characters. To go along with that, there are a wide variety of unlockable costumes, win quotes and so forth. These elements help bring the concept alive, especially for those willing to try their luck online. Instead of just having a single statement or look, you can pick and choose to add a more personal touch.
Verdict
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven is little more than an anime fighting game. This isn’t like the Dreamcast version that was deep, silly and something fighting game fans, along with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fans could enjoy. It is a simple and sweet game that tries to give JoJo fans something to enjoy. While this is the main person who’ll enjoy the game, if you want to get into the series or just play a flashier fighting game with simple controls, it’s not the worst choice out there.
