I am a big anime fan and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is one of my favorite animes to watch. I’m in a few online groups that get together and talk about the newest episodes. I know a few of them have got figures of their favorite characters from Solaris Japan and I’m interested in getting some too. So, when the latest game was announced, you can imagine how excited we were! Well, it came out recently and I got my hands on it straight away.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven for Playstation 4 is an arena-based, 3D tag-team fighter that continues the outlandish hijinks of Jotaro Kujo, Old Joseph Joestar and Jean Pierre. The game takes place shortly after the events of Stardust Crusaders, where Jotaro and his allies — after defeating the evil vampire DIO — are suddenly attacked by friends and enemies that had previously died. A young Robert E.O. Speedwagon appears to assist the Joestars, while possessing a piece of the missing Saint’s Corpse. With Speedwagon’s assistance, Jotaro and his allies must travel through time to find the remaining corpse pieces before an alternate DIO from another universe finds them first.
Unlike its Playstation 3 predecessor (i.e. All-Star Battle), Eyes of Heaven strays from its fighting game roots to adopt a tag-team battle system that closely resembles the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm series. The complex combos and special moves of the previous game are now reduced to single button presses, and signature moves can now be executed by holding L1 and pressing the corresponding button shown on-screen. The player is accompanied by a CPU-controlled partner that can be selected before battle.
The game’s story mode benefits from having 12 chapters. The first chapter starts with the final battle between Jotaro and Dio in Egypt (crica 1988), and then segues into a new story arch (mentioned earlier) about the dead — both friend and foe — reappearing as enemies. The game also introduces the ‘Noble One’, a new protagonist that is shrouded in mystery. Story Mode also separates the game into two segments: exploration and combat. The exploration portion of the game is used to speak to NPCs (to further the story), initiate random battles or story-based confrontations via portals, and finding pieces of the Saint’s Corpse (which appear on the mini map as flashing icons). The only issue with this portion of the game is the size of these ‘areas’; they feel claustrophobic and lacking in content.
Combat is a different case entirely, as the player and their CPU tag-team partner battle a variety of characters inside colorful, but large 3D arenas. While the environments themselves cannot be destroyed, crates and other objects can be either thrown as projectiles or destroyed to reveal defense/melee-based power ups. As mentioned earlier, the complex combos from All-Star Battle have been reduced to a single attack button. While fighting an enemy, the player must rapidly tap Square button to attack multiple times. Pressing and holding the L1 button will reveal a list of special moves native to the character being played, and pressing the corresponding button(s) shown inside the menu will activate them.
Additionally, the player can perform devastating combo attacks via the Dual Heat Attack System. This system — which allows the player to perform a cinematic move reminiscent of a GHA or HHA from All-Star Battle — is probably the best feature in the game. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about EOH’s multiplayer feature, which includes 1-on-1 and 2-on-2 battles via Ranked and Player Matches. If the game cannot find enough players, it will substitute characters with CPU-controlled opponents, but that is only if you can find at least one player willing to join the match. So far, as of this review — not a single gamer could be found online playing JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven. In fact, the online community for this game is non-existent; it’s very disappointing.
Despite some of the issues mentioned, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven is a fun 3D brawler when enjoyed for its single-player content. Fans of the Manga will appreciate the fan service Bandai-Namco sprinkled throughout, and newcomers will enjoy the 3D arenas, easy-to-understand combo system, and beefy selection of fighters (there are 53 in total). Just don’t expect this release to be anything like All-Star Battle.
Mike Pittaro
Platform: Playstation 4
Developer: CyberConnect2
Publisher: Bandai-Namco
ESRB: T (Teen)
Price: $59.99
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven Website:
https://www.bandainamcoent.com/games/jojos-eyes-of-heaven
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |   |
| The 3D graphics are bright and colorful. | |
| Sound | |
| Great sound effects and voice acting. | |
| Gameplay | |
| Fans of the manga will appreciate the fan service Bandai-Namco sprinkled throughout. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| While not perfect, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven is a fun brawler when enjoyed for its single-player content. | |
