Project Justice

"Quite possibly the best 3D fighter since Soul Calibur"

Rival School's is one of those games where you either love it, or hate it. I personally really enjoyed this, the 3rd instalment of the series. It has everything that the first two had, and then some. Capcom has out done themselves with this one, and I thank them greatly for that. Now that the butt-kissing is out of they way ^_^
It's time to let you know what I thought of Project Justice
(heh, that's why you're reading this review, right? ...right? ^_^

Visuals 9/10

''But, the game looks incredible, perhaps the best looking 3D fighter I've seen on the DC since 'Soul Calibur', Why the stink did you only give it a 9?'' ...Well, I'll tell you why. I gave the graphics a 9 because even though the game is almost as pretty as say, Jessica Alba (that one's for you Skinny Puppy ^_^) BUT, and this but is bigger than J-Lo's, there are a few times where the polygons don't 'stay together' very well. For instance, In the end credits sequence, we get to see Incho (chair person) do a little 'martial-arts exhibition'. I thought, ''Wow, this is really cool looking'' ...then the camera rotated around her and that's where it got kinda rough. Her elbow's went ''through'' her jacket and her jacket went ''through'' her hair more times than I care to think about. But, once you've beaten the game once or twice, you'll just end up pressing 'start' to skip the credits (how many of you still sit through the credits of MVC2? ..I thought so ^_^) The only other instance where the polygons had a little trouble was when certain characters did their 'intros'. Hyo for example, in his intro where he just walks forward towards his opponent, the hilt of his sword goes through his arm. It's not too noticeable, but it is there. Don't let these minor 'hiccups' in the graphics discourage you from buying this game, graphics are NOT everything and like I said before, the Incho 'exhibition' during the credits can be skipped.

Now on to the backgrounds. These are very well done. From fighting on the Taiyo High School rooftop, to a riverbank, to the streets, to inside a classroom where you can juggle your opponent off the ceiling, you can tell Capcom has definitely come a long way since the simplistic backdrops of games like Street Fighter. Some of my personal faves are the classroom (juggling off the ceiling, need I say more?), the riverbank (very good detail) the streets (excellent detail, all the buildings in the background look real, plus it's at night and there's a full moon) There's also a stage where it's raining and you can see the lightening striking off in the distance. Kudos to Capcom for making really cool background that aren't distracting ^_^

Music 9/10
Sound 10/10

Ok, first, the music. While the music is very well done (that classic 80's Japanese rock with cool guitar solo's that Capcom is famous for) there are a few times where the music doesn't seem to fit the battle. This is only the case in a few of the 'Story' mode battles. The most noticeable case was when I was fighting some pretty mean and evil looking guys (I'm not saying who, it'll ruin it for people who haven't played it yet) and we were on the Taiyo H.S. rooftop, which has a kind of happy j-pop-ish tune playing with it. It kind of killed the 'mood' you know?
If Capcom had used more dramatic music for the story mode, instead of whatever music was used on that particular stage you were in, It would've been perfect. In either case, the music is still very good.

Now on to the sound. I thought this was done perfectly. From the opening sequence (in Japanese with English subtitles) to each and every character's line of dialog.
All of the voice acting was done very well, which is to be expected since it's all in Japanese (even in the US ver)
There's not a single character's voice that doesn't fit them perfectly. From Hinata's cute 'school girl' voice to the psychotic sounding voice of the boss, everybody's voice 'fit' that character. While some people might not take too well to the fact that you can't change the voice's to English, I didn't take off any point's for this simply because I personally think English voice ''acting'' (term used lightly) in video games is horrible. But again, that's just me ^_^

Game Play 9.5/10

Being that I've been playing MVC2 a LOT, I thought it would take me a while to get used to the controls of a 3D game again. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the combo system was. Project Justice uses the 4-button layout that was first featured in MVC2 and continued on into Capcom vs. SNK. The setup of PJ is like this, two punches (quick & fierce) two kicks (quick & fierce) assigned to the X, Y, A, B buttons respectively. The L & R (Z & C) buttons are set as 'throw' and 'side step' but can be changed to anything you want, including the sometimes tricky 'quarter-circle forward/backward' motion, giving novice players a chance to really enjoy the game instead of getting frustrated. Along with the standard options such as difficulty, time limit, and damage, there's the addition of some new and different options you normally don't see in fighters. These include an option to disable jumping backwards and getting dizzy.
There is also a 'tag' option', but before you get too excited and wet yourself (like I did) It's not what you think. I was kind of hoping for a 'Street Fighter EX 3' type of tag. Instead, the 'tag' option allows you to decide when and who can change their characters (winner after a round, loser after a round, both after a round, or no 'tagging) Just so you're not confused, that means that after each round you can choose who (of your 3 characters) will fight in the next round. Now, you just read ''3 characters'' and are probably going nuts (like I did)
Yes, unlike previous RS games, you can choose three characters, your main (who you will start each round with unless you switch) and your two partners (A & B) Like the past RS games, the team up attack is back. Although now that you have two extra characters, you can do two different team up attacks. You can also now perform a triple team attack, in which all three of your characters jump out and do an attack of some sort. Very cool ^_^

Play Control 9/10

Like I said above, the combo system really doesn't take long to get used to. And once you get the hang of it, you'll start realizing the possibilities. The basic 'textbook' combo doesn't take long to learn, but the air combos are a little more tricky, mostly in the timing of attacks. Overall the characters are fast, and the super and special moves aren't hard to do (your standard 'Street Fighter' type motions) and with the ability to change any of the buttons to do the 'double fire-ball' motion of a super, you shouldn't have too much trouble pulling off some decent combos.

Story 9/10

While the story of Project Justice isn't the most original (evil guy want's to take over Japan by controlling someone with evil powers hidden inside) It actually is pretty well done. The basic idea (without giving too much away) is that someone named Kurow wants to follow in the footsteps of Hyo and try to take over Japan. However, the way he's going about it is what makes it interesting (I can't really go into any more detail without giving away a lot of the story, sorry)

Replay Value 9.5/10

While most fighting games loose their 'appeal' after a few weeks, Project Justice has enough to keep you playing for quite a while. First, there's the 'Story' mode, in which you choose one of the schools (ie: Taiyo High School, or Gedo High School) and go through a series of six 'episodes' following the strange events that have been taking place. Each school follows a different path, and gives the player their perspective on what's been happening. There's also more than one ending for each of the schools, as well as a hidden school that must be unlocked. And as an added feature, two types of tournament's: League and Tournament.
In the League mode, 2-6 teams can compete in a ''round-robin'' style tournament in which the team with the most wins in the end, is the winner. The Tournament mode is where up to 8 teams compete in a ''bracket'' style tournament until only one team is left. In addition to the 20 already playable character's, which include all of your old faves such as, Hinata, Batsu, Kyosuke, Hideo, Akira, and Daigo, as well as some new faces such as Ran, the Taiyo School photographer, and Momo, a tennis racket wielding
10-year-old with an attitude (and a soft spot for Shoma)
There's also a total of 10 hidden characters to unlock as well. Some of which include Roy and Tiffany, as well as alternate versions of Akira, Daigo, and Batsu. So let's see, 30 playable character's (20 regular + 10 hidden) 8 different schools in 'Story' mode (7 regular + 1 hidden) and more than one ending for all the schools in 'Story' mode. I think I'll be playing this one for QUITE a while, don't you?

Overall 9/10

In my opinion, aside from the one or two previously mentioned occasion's where the polygon's went through each other, and the lack of an actual 'tag' (I still like the way it was done though) Project Justice is pretty much perfect. Long time fans of the Rival Schools series will not be disappointed. And for $19.99 msrp, you absolutely cannot go wrong. ^_^

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/22/01, Updated 05/22/01