Ever since this game was announced, it's been in the back of my mind. It got a lot of attention at release, with a lot of people review bombing it because of its Switch exclusivity... for some reason. It's even weirder because no one talks about this game nowadays. Ironically, I think it being an exclusive kind of brought more people to it. It certainly stands out when next to Mario and Zelda and most other switch exclusives. Regardless, is the game good?
Yes, but I'd probably be way less forgiving of its shortcomings if it wasn't for the ingenuity on display. Platinum was definitely creative with the Chain mechanic here. You can have your Jojo Stand pull you over to a platform from afar. You can wrap an enemy in the chain to trap them. You can send a charging enemy flying by pulling against them. It's all unique and fun, and the chain aspect was far more intuitive than I expected, although the game was far too willing to frontload a lot of tutorials. The game strikes a good balance between making the player use a lot of abilities and also allowing the player to express themselves. Overall, the combat is pretty good.
The game definitely has a little too much going on though. I think the arm and axe stand could've been combined into one. Not only could this let the d-pad control stand switching, but it would've tightened up some of the combat. I also think either the skill tree or ability distribution had to go. I think having some RPG mechanics was a good idea, as it allows the player to be eased in before things get truly insane, but they went a little too far here.
I also think this game was too easy. The ridiculous difficulty spike at the end aside, between the healing items, free revives, and full healing with glory kills, this game rarely challenged me. And I played on the hard difficulty. I'm sure the harder difficulty actually has some teeth, but I expected a bit more difficulty wise.
My last gameplay comment will be on the pacing. Now, I think the game is a fine length, and a few files go on too long but they're not too bad. I rather liked the investigation sequences at the beginning of levels, although I'm not sure how they'd hold up on a replay. My main issue with the pacing is a clear lack of urgency. Even right before the final battle, one of the side missions is just helping some guy impress a girl. There's no rising of stakes here. On could say this is more of a story issue than a gameplay issue, and... uh...................................
The story sucks. I know I made an allusion to Stands from the hit manga My Hero Academia earlier, but this game actually takes more from Neon Genesis Evangelion, with one of the alternate skins for the stands being an overt reference to EVA Unit 01. The rest of the inspiration from Eva is about as surface level as that example. Most of the characters are extremely underdeveloped, and the ones that aren't have no presence near the end. Even among spectacle action games like Devil May Cry 3 and God of War, this is extremely weak. I really don't get why Platinum thought putting in a Fire Emblem-esque casual mode for people who only care about the story was a good idea. The best thing I can say about the story is that it's pretty easy to ignore.
Now... I know I spent a lot of time talking about why this game is pretty garbage, but... eh, it was fun. I think a sequel could improve on this concept a lot, and it's not out of the realm of possibility. For now, I'm giving this a 7/10, but I could certainly lower it to a 6.
Yes, but I'd probably be way less forgiving of its shortcomings if it wasn't for the ingenuity on display. Platinum was definitely creative with the Chain mechanic here. You can have your Jojo Stand pull you over to a platform from afar. You can wrap an enemy in the chain to trap them. You can send a charging enemy flying by pulling against them. It's all unique and fun, and the chain aspect was far more intuitive than I expected, although the game was far too willing to frontload a lot of tutorials. The game strikes a good balance between making the player use a lot of abilities and also allowing the player to express themselves. Overall, the combat is pretty good.
The game definitely has a little too much going on though. I think the arm and axe stand could've been combined into one. Not only could this let the d-pad control stand switching, but it would've tightened up some of the combat. I also think either the skill tree or ability distribution had to go. I think having some RPG mechanics was a good idea, as it allows the player to be eased in before things get truly insane, but they went a little too far here.
I also think this game was too easy. The ridiculous difficulty spike at the end aside, between the healing items, free revives, and full healing with glory kills, this game rarely challenged me. And I played on the hard difficulty. I'm sure the harder difficulty actually has some teeth, but I expected a bit more difficulty wise.
My last gameplay comment will be on the pacing. Now, I think the game is a fine length, and a few files go on too long but they're not too bad. I rather liked the investigation sequences at the beginning of levels, although I'm not sure how they'd hold up on a replay. My main issue with the pacing is a clear lack of urgency. Even right before the final battle, one of the side missions is just helping some guy impress a girl. There's no rising of stakes here. On could say this is more of a story issue than a gameplay issue, and... uh...................................
The story sucks. I know I made an allusion to Stands from the hit manga My Hero Academia earlier, but this game actually takes more from Neon Genesis Evangelion, with one of the alternate skins for the stands being an overt reference to EVA Unit 01. The rest of the inspiration from Eva is about as surface level as that example. Most of the characters are extremely underdeveloped, and the ones that aren't have no presence near the end. Even among spectacle action games like Devil May Cry 3 and God of War, this is extremely weak. I really don't get why Platinum thought putting in a Fire Emblem-esque casual mode for people who only care about the story was a good idea. The best thing I can say about the story is that it's pretty easy to ignore.
Now... I know I spent a lot of time talking about why this game is pretty garbage, but... eh, it was fun. I think a sequel could improve on this concept a lot, and it's not out of the realm of possibility. For now, I'm giving this a 7/10, but I could certainly lower it to a 6.