Project Justice

"My review for Project Justice. There the most boring synopis in the world."

Reviewer's note:My review for this game is on the American version and not the Japanese one like everyone else did okay. Well who here doesn't like the game Rival Schools and if you don't then you either have played it enough or you just don't like fighting games. The sequel is now upon on us and it first thing that has to said is that it is now one disc instead of two(YES! No more switching discs around anymore for me). Before we begin let us see who got the boot and it looks like Raizo and Sakura are out of here(I can understand Sakura leaving because she was only in the original just so it could get more of a liking since it had a SF character in it),so has all the edit characters(American version only),and a couple of the alternate versions of regular characters like gym uniform Hinata. There are now two new schools present and they are Seinjin High an all girls school,and the Darkside Student Council but it is not much of a new school since it is just a council in Justice High School. Story Mode and Free Mode are now separate entries when you play the arcade mode and the story mode now has alternate paths and sometimes alternate endings. Some of the new characters are very nice additions like the violin player Yurika(My favorite of the new people),the ninja Zaki who looks like a cross between Ibuki and D.Dark(Hmmm now that ain't bad ^_^),Momo a very cute immature girl who is actually a member of the Darkside Student Council,Ran and Nagare who actually appeared in the upgrade to Rival Schools which was only available in Japan,and there is the new baddie Kurrow who has some of Razio's moves like the Devil Roll. But the most important feature here is that there are now three man teams like in Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Because of this there are now triple team supers which looked very keen. There is also Tournament and a switcharoo type mode here but that is pretty much it for extra modes and they took out the Board Game feature in the U.S translation(Ahhh not again)but this game is already great to begin with so I guess it is only a minor loss. Moving on now.

Graphics
Great!! The characters don't have that blocky feel they had in the first game and they look more smooth and show more facial expressions(This is one time I wish Raizo was back since it would have been cool to see how he would look with a Project Justice makeover since he was probably the most blocky looking in the first game)like Momo has two x's over her eyes whenever she loses(Now ain't that cute?). The backgrounds look better too since they are now full 3D(They don't have walls still)and three favorites from the last game including the stadium,classroom,and rooftop are back and look even better too along some of the new stages like the amusement park level. Some stages now actually effect a battle like in the classroom stage you can not call out your teammates and it is possible for your opponent to hit the ceiling for added damage and that gave it a better feel as opposed to the infinitive scrolling ceiling from the last game. There is even a mode where you can just look at the stages and take a time to notice them(I wish some fighting games could do that *sigh*). Also is it just me but the one edit character Peter sure looks like Street Fighter one's Retsu.

Gameplay
Now that there are three man teams things are even better then before. The story mode now has alternate paths that could effect the outcome(They were there in the first game but there are a lot more outcomes here)and you have all the people from that school with you instead of only two but sometimes a teammate would leave you for a short time but in instances more people would join in the fight. You can still get the edit characters(They now have regular boring like John or Tony)but some of them were better then the ones from the first game like John's normal move's are high damaging supers and some of the edit character's have moves borrowed from non returning RS character's like Claudia has Alternate Tiffany's team up attack from the first game(Too bad you can't use the edit characters in arcade mode anymore). The game is more fun then the original even though some of the extra features like the mini games are gone but come on nothing could replace good old fashioned fighting. Let us not forget about all the secret characters that can be unlocked like Akira with biker helmet and the last boss Demon Hyo. The only thing that bites is that in tournament mode and during the switcharoo mode(As I like to call it)you can't skip CPU battles and it feels like you are watching one of the demo fights in the intro but other then that everything hits mark in gameplay.

Control
Still 4 buttons but other then that some changes have occurred. The Burning Vigor meter is now five levels instead of 9 so things won't get as crazy. Some character's have gone through move changes like Hideo can only throw two air fireballs instead of three,Shoba's flying kick is now a stomp like move,and Hayato's sword swipes end differently and there is some more but things changed for the better(No one was changed to a charge character thankfully unlike say Robert in KOF'99). Some of the new team up attacks now look a little silly I mean just wait till you see Nagare's,Ran's,and Chairperson's team ups and you will just laugh out loud at them. There are now team counters too and they can be performed when someone does a team up on and when that happens you press either both punch and kick buttons and both team's third characters come out and if you hit your opponent in the short time the opponent's team up is interrupted(Nice idea and it prevents characters from healing). Well control is great I will say that.

Sound
The music is mostly standard rock & roll and it all sounded great like the stadium's BGM and the amusement park had a nice theme that sounded carnival like(As in a carnival not carnival as in Kathie Lee). The voices are still done alright yet Boman's still does not him but at least Roy's is a little better then it was before even he still spouts out some Japanese but overall he sounds more American then Japanese. The voices in between scenes and endings has been taken out for some reason and it gave the story more life then just text but I heard it was still in the original Japanese version(Hmmm sometimes we people in the U.S get the short end of the stick don't we?).

Replay
Of course there is I mean there is a lot of characters to unlock and you will have more fun now that there are three person teams. What would have been better is if they kept the create a student mode and the board game that way we Americans would finally get a chance to create our own character in RS but once again that will never substitute good old fashioned fighting so not a big problem right? Replay value is very high(The good kind).

Final Word
Its another great DC fighting game and it is a must fan for fans of the genre or at least you should try it sometime because Project Justice is that good. So what if it does not have some of things the Japanese version has you should still give it a go I mean its not like the board game was that big of deal right folks? Fans of the first will instantly fall in love with the sequel and that's a given fact. Don't miss out on the action so find it a try it for something worthwhile and also worth your time.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/15/01, Updated 06/15/01