A videogame review

   ジョジョの奇妙な冒険:ASBR

JOJO's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R (2022)

Hi guys! Today I am reviewing a fighting game I used to play a lot a few years ago, but now has gone a little bit unnoticed, it's part of the famous Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Universe.

This game has been released on September 1ˢᵗ, 2022 and it was quite a hit because it has been released alongside the last season of the anime's 6ᵀᴴ part, "Stone Ocean", on Netflix, and the game followed the general hype. If you're playing from PC, you can buy it either on Steam or Microsoft Store.

That "R" stands for Remastered, since the original game has been released in 2013 for PS3 exclusively, but it wasn't welcomed highly, scoring 71% on Metacritic.

This remastered fixed some problems and upgraded the graphic compartment, introducing even new characters!

So, whether you're a JoJo fan or not, let's deep dive in this gameplay!

GOAL OF THE GAME

Since it is a fighting game, the goal is defeating an opponent (either CPU or real players, even in split screen) in 1v1 matches by winning two rounds out of three. Each round can be won by lowering the opponent's health to 0 in the most easy way: by punching him as hard as you can. 

There are many game modes you can play:

1)ALL STAR BATTLE MODE: here you can revive the anime's fights and do them for yourself, fighting against CPU. There's also plenty of original "What if..." fights, Extra Battles, facing characters that never met, and the dialogue strings change depending on who wins the game. Winning games gives you exclusive cosmetics and many fancy stuff that long-lasting fans will joy for. 

2)ARCADE MODE: basically an infinite mode, you keep fighting in consequent games until you lose, perfect for grinding money to spend in the cosmetics shop.

3)VERSUS MODE: here you can fight freely against CPU or local players, or watch 2 CPU fighting. Perfect for training your combos and it has customizable rules for maximizing the fun on 1v1s with friends.

4)ONLINE MODE: this mode allows you to play with players all around the world, but sadly queues are pretty long due to the lack of players worldwide.

5)PRACTICE MODE: take your time and prepare your best combos to use online in this arena especially though for mastering the game's mechanics.

6) CUSTOMIZE MODE: here you can customize your characters with collectibles you either earn from events or buy at the shop. There's plenty of quotes from the anime and manga so be sure not to miss any!

7)SHOP AND GALLERY MODE: here you have the game mode for widening your closet and collectibles with the coins you earn in the game. 

PROS (+) AND CONS (-)

(+) The game has a spectacular graphic that allows players to fully enjoy the art of the characters at a highly detailed level.

(+)There are many characters and playstyles to choose between so that the fights are never repetitive.

(+)The single player mode is challenging and allows the fans to revive the manga's history in an active way, where you take up the reins. Furthermore, the personalizations are very accurate and report even the slightest reference from the original work, so long-fans will be satisfied.

(-) If you are not a fan of JoJo, you probably wouldn't play this game just because it's a fighter game, there are many that are far more famous.

(-)As a fighter game, the gameplay might get repetitive and even frustrating sometimes.

(-)The online mode is a great mode, but there's few player queueing and If you don't have a friend to play with it might take you ages to find a game online. Plus, the distance between servers often makes the matchups laggy and difficult to combat properly.

(-) There are several paying DLCs that grant access to many characters in the game, in total 40 euros (roughly 6800円) for just 8 characters is quite disappointing.

OVERALL SCORE

Though I am a big fan of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, the game deserves no more than 7/10 due to the many problems and the relatively narrow publics it faces to.                                                                   I'd recommend it to any fan of JOJO and, why not, a fighting games lover might have a good time playing it.