Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

"Too much Alpha3-ish and Darkstalkers3-ish but fun."

Well I had a lot of thoughts about this game, it sounded fun and it looked to be a blast from all the reviews I've read. But this game isn't exactly original in terms of new features besides the mini-games. Oh well, enough talk and onto the review!

Graphics: 10/10
Woh! The graphics kick serious butt, but I wish the backgrounds wouldn't be so dead at times. But the graphical effects for this game are awesome, especially when you finish off your opponent with a super, the background explodes with a massive image of the beaten character in comicbook style. The nice thing about this game is that it shows no slow down at all, and its safe to assume that you will never find any slowdown in this game, well except for the mini games of course. The game moves very fluidly and the characters are detailed down to every spec, just like they were in Street Fighter Alpha 3. There was a good use of color in this game, but still the graphics felt Anime-ish rather than comicbook-ish, which was suppose to be the persona of the game. But hey, with the PSX handling a game people thought the PSX couldn't handle, why bother?

Sound and Music: 7/10
This game has some pretty good tunes, but none that would stick to your head. The audio features that really stand out of the crowd in this game are the voice effects for the moves your character does. It really adds to the ''coolness'' factor of the game as the game literally has ''tite'' sound effects with the realistic gun shots to the beatings you put on your opponent. The music department is a bit edgy at times, its like the music doesn't even fit with the game your playing at times, but then again at least its not nearly as bad as some other games(ala MK series).

Replay Value: 8/10
This game had very good replay value, there was a lot of modes for you to play and a mode to unlock other modes as well. But its really hard to explain the replay value without going into the gameplay, but there are 22 characters in the game and lots of mini games through the Super Story Mode, which is much like Street Fighter Alpha 3's World Tour Mode. There is also a gallery to unlock and a really neat mode where you can play the mini games within the game without having to go through the nonsense of Super Story mode.

Gameplay: 9/10
The gameplay in this game was not what I had thought of at first. I thought the game would be much like Alpha 3 or Darkstalkers 3, but its more like a combination of both. The screen set up and character select are pretty much the same basis as Alpha 3, in fact you'll think you were playing a Darkstalkers 3 version of Alpha 3 when you first see the menu screen. Between load times are pictures and portraits of the various characters in the game, which is good since it takes your mind off the loading times and its quite apparent that a lot of companies are using this routine(hack, cough Need for Speed 5). The gameplay itself is wierd, you only have three attack buttons with a stand, and those without a stand(Jojo have 4 attack buttons. See you have a weak, medium, and strong attack, and the stand button is basically a transformation of your character either into a creature or to have an ''ally'' fight at your side simultaneously. There is a bar under your life guage, that's your stand bar and it basically tells you how much damage your Stand has taken, and once your bar goes down you will have to wait a few seconds for it to recharge so you can use your Stand again. There is also unlimted amounts of juggle comboes in this game, you can juggle your opponent for 99 hits, assuming they don't tap out of it, which is pretty easy to do. One mode that is unique within its own in this game is the Super Story Mode where its pretty much a ''World tour Mode'' in the game. You use this mode to gain levels and hidden characters in the game, but what's different about the game is that you get this nice R-Type shooting game and a Final Fight type of mini game as well, which is pretty cool since you don't have to fight your opponents all the way through. There is nothing complex about the game's engine at all though, you have 3 attack buttons and a stand. Its easy to adapt to, even if you are a beginner, and its quite fun once you get right down to the bone of it. Sadly only 3 attack buttons lead to a limited amount of comboes and while you can dish out a lot of different variations of combos, this game's engine is just fool's play compared to the other Capcom 2-D games that utilizes the full 6 attack button array. Also, aside from this game feeling Alpha 3-ish, it also feels Darkstalkers 3-ish as well. While the characters aren't as large, the game feels like a combination of the 3's series, it's hard to explain but if your a veteran of both Alpha 3 and Darkstalkers 3, you'll see what I mean. In terms of story, the game is pretty good for a fighting game. Between matches and games in Super Story mode you see your character's outcome after defeating a certain character, but sadly the game doesn't even fit the comicbook persona more like a manga persona. The combo system is basically a Stronger series, weak to medium to stronger, but you can only perform this series while your stand mode is on. The problem with the Stand is that when its turned on, you can easily turn it off and on with such ease that it really messes up your game plan. This is because beginners(like me) have a tendency to think that the Stand button is actually an attack button, which is not(unless your Jojo). The game feels pretty good with a Dual Shock controller, but its best if you want the most out of gameplay that you ditch that thick piece of controller crap because some of the motions in the game can't be done with the Dual Shock controller. Did I even mention the recovery time of the supers in this game? Sometimes you have the opprtunity to attack your opponent while your in the middle of your super to add more hits and more damage(usually when your Stand performs the super) to really make yourself look like an expert in the game, which is cool since I tend to show off like I am a pro. Another down note is that I only played the game for like a week, and I played against my friend who's a veteran at the game and we ended up splitting matches, which can basically say a lot about the game: It has little depth.

Overall: 8/10
Overall this game is fun, but not near the caliber Darkstalkers 3 and Street Fighter Alpha 3 has set. The game has about 5 modes of play in this game(excluding the Gallery and Options) and while not as close to the 9 modes(excluding the 10+ modes inside Survival and Dramatic battle) in Alpha 3, this game still caries a lot of replay value.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/16/00, Updated 05/16/00