Jump Force

It’s got a large roster of fighters, plenty of content, and looks great in action. Those are the things to focus on. Could it have been a hell of a lot better? Of course. But that doesn’t mean you should write off Jump Force. Neither should you write it off for its unusual art style. Just engage in its unique brand of fighting, block out the rest, and enjoy.

For all the harm the middling presentation does to Jump Force, the fighting does have satisfying explosive moments and the online versus mode does work well. There is depth to uncover in the combat, but it never truly sang to me or made me excited to tackle the next fight. Mostly I was just happy to not have to repeat a fight when I won, even if I was performing iconic attacks from some of my favorite anime.

With such a vast amount of iconic material on show here, it’s disappointing to see the sheer lack of effort put forward in regards to its overall execution. The game’s combat is indeed reliably fun, but this means very little in the face of its several shoddy design choices, its horrendously lengthy loading times, and its cast of characters that are painfully devoid of characterization. Fans of the IPs would do well to temper their expectations.