With the announcement and reveal trailer for Jump Force, recently at E3, we started thinking about what it would take for this game to reach mainstream success within the fighting game community. No doubt, this game is already looking like it'll be a really fun game that will be embraced by anime and manga fans. You could argue that this game isn't meant to cater to fans of traditional fighting games. But, the possibility if Jump Force having dedicated events and tournaments is something we'd love to see realized and so we're sharing our thoughts on how that comes to fruition.
A Serious Fighter?
There will be some universal mechanics and attacks shared by all playable characters while giving individuals their own special attacks and power-ups. This means that if you learn the game's engine and mechanics, you'll have a foundation for what characters are capable of and feel a sense of consistency within the game. Learning a character doesn't necessarily mean you'll have to learn entirely new mechanics and button-strings. You may just have to learn their particular moveset and properties.
We'll list some the universal moves so that you get an idea of what you can do in the game.
- Rush is a repeatable attack that chains together. Heavy is similar to Rush and can be chained together with it, but the attacks are slower.
- Throw is an unblockable attack that can be used directly after a Rush or Heavy attack.
- Guard protects your character from attacks. However, a Smash Attack will break through that defensive measure and cause a Guard Break.
- Energy Charge is pretty self-explanatory.
- Dash uses your Mobility Gauge so that you dash toward your opponent. You can Dash mid-jump and also attack while dashing.
- Escape allows you to create some distance between you and your opponent at the cost of some of your Mobility Gauge (it can be performed by Guarding or when knocked down).
- Switch allows you to swap to the next available character on your team.
- Awakening uses up your Awakening Gauge to power up your character. Some characters will transform once they are "awoken".Awakening Technique performs a powerful ability that consumes half of your Awakening Gauge.
- Sidestep allows you to evade homing attacks.
- High Speed Dodge allows you to evade an attack and counter with your own if the opponent is using a Smash attack.
So far we can ascertain that there are basic attacks, powered up abilities, and dodging abilities. Meter management will be important since it dictates your offensive damage as well as defensive abilities. Also, it looks like mind-games can be built upon attacking vs guarding vs throwing vs smashing vs high-speed dodge. FG fans always love when you can out-think your opponent through layers of mind-games.
From some footage, we can see that the majority of the match will take place on the ground. This is great because fans of traditional 2D and 3D fighters are accustomed to approaching opponents on the ground. We can also see that movement is very fluid and fast. You can easily get to the other side of the screen with several dashes, so opponents can't play keep away forever. Your teammates can be called in to perform an "assist" attack, similar to Marvel vs Capcom games. Lastly, teammates can be tagged in mid-combo as an extension for more damage and aggressive positioning.
Out-of-combat Experience
That characters that are confirmed so far are Naruto, Sasuke, Luffy, Zoro, Goku, and Frieza. It will be a 3v3 battle where characters can be easily tagged in during a fight. Various characters from the Shounen Jump's 50 years of publications could appear in this game. The more characters the better. If the game has a simple engine (which is what the producer and fans have been saying), the variety will keep the game interesting and entertaining to watch. Jump Force can avoid the pitfall Marvel vs Capcom Infinite fell into by not releasing a wide variety of characters from their licensed property.
The producer of the game stated that Jump Force would have a comprehensive story as well. He remarked that Light and Ryuk, characters from Death Note, would play a role in the narrative. So, even though the main focus of the game is fast-paced, over-the-top brawls with our favorite anime/manga characters, there is a lot of thought and planning going into the story as well. This is something that fans have been craving more of from fighting games. Injustice has proved that games can have a fantastic plot and cinematics as well as an engaging fighting experience.
Final Thoughts
It's still very early to decide whether or not the combat in Jump Force will be well received by hardcore fighting game fans. However, easy to pick up mechanics, ground-level fighting, layers of mind-games, tight-controls and movement, character assists and swapping, and elements outside of just fight are all looking hopeful. We can't wait to hear more details about this upcoming game from Bandai Namco. We hope you're excited too!
If you'd like to hear more of our thoughts on Jump Force, you can read our hands-on impression here: https://honeysanime.com/jump-force-e3-2018-demo-impressions/#more-226126
Author: Javier Garcia
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