Game #890: J-Stars Victory Vs+(Playstation 4)

 Some things get better with age. Others age like milk. 

 I wasn't the biggest fan of J-Stars Victory VS+ back when I played it on PS3, but for whatever reason I was mostly satisfied with the time I spent on the game. Years later, here I found myself playing the oh so slightly better version, and yet, the only thing I found was a subpar arena fighter.

 Well, on to the things that are better... a steady 30 FPS. It's not 60, but at least it's super smooth, if it drops, it must only drop by 1 or 2 frames, because it felt silky smooth. Y'know how the American release of the PS3 version had this mini microsecond freezes? They aren't present here. Loading times were super brief, and considering how the game looks pretty nice, I'm willing to bet load times were improved from the PS3 version.

 The opening is really good, and it made me wish the game actually looked like that. It made me wish the sequel looked like that and not the uncanny valley monster we actually got. While it's got a smaller roster than the sequel, I'd say it's much more varied and interesting, it covers more series, although, as a consequence of that, this game's roster is mostly made up of main characters. So make of that what you will. Less supporting characters, but more series? This is your game. More secondary characters, but less series? Jump Force. Plus, as I stated before, there's more variety here. Super Lucky Man, D.Gray-Man(Although only as support characters), as well as a few other weirdos I never even heard about but add to the 'Shonen Jump celebration' theme of the game. What can I say? I think this is a better roster.

 But here's the problem with the game... it just isn't much fun. Things like combatants getting mercy invincibility after getting up just doesn't sit right with me. It forces a pause in the action, in which if you are the offensive party you need to take a step back, and that's just boring. How much fun you'll have with the game will also depend on who you pick to play as. For starters, movesets are super limited. But even then, some characters are more fun to play as than others. Pick Goku and you'll be able to chase opponents into the sky, he really gets a lot of fun stuff you can do. Pick someone like Sasuke, and you'll get a fair amount of things you can do. Pick Toriko or Zeta and just mash Square because their options are fairly limited. The fact that the game can go from utter dullness to complete averageness depending on who you play as really hurts the game

 What can I say, J-Stars Victory isn't very good. There's a certain appeal to watching you favorite shonen heroes duking it out, but the mechanics aren't very fun, and in turn, the action you see on-screen isn't very exciting either. Is there value to the game if you're a fan? Maybe. But I think going for any other anime battler would be a better choice.

 3.5