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JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven
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Graphics & Sound:
Are you ready to get weird and freaky? That’s what JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven is all about! Get in touch with your wild side, learn some crazy dance moves, and grab some new fashion! You can do all this and more on this crazy rollercoaster of doing something strange for some change?
Ahem, excuse me. I must’ve been affected by something. Anyway, as you’ve seen from that nutty intro, today we’re going to delve into JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven, a new fighting game set in the marvelously wacky world of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. If you’ve ever played any other anime fighting games, then you’ll have a good idea of what to expect going into the game. The graphic style matches the cartoony cel-shaded style that we’ve seen from other anime fighters. With this graphic style, playing the game almost feels like you’re watching the anime and I think that’s a nice touch. Many events in the Story Mode will be animated so you can see the characters interacting, but some plot progression is told through the use of comic slides. The comic slide style isn’t used often, so you’ll still have plenty of action animated scenes to view.
The sounds and music featured in Eyes of Heaven serve a very distinct purpose: making the game even sillier than it is, as if it needed help. Much of the music has a very jazzy style to it, which is a nice change from the pop or rock-oriented music we normally get from these types of fighting games. We also get the treat of Japanese voice acting, but that’s nothing new. You’ll have subtitles to tell you what’s being said, so it isn’t a big deal. |
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Gameplay:
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven is an anime fighting game based on the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure universe. Players pick their favorite characters and duke it out, using whatever means necessary to "retire" their opponent. Gameplay isn’t super complex to understand. The Left Control Stick moves your character while the Right Control Stick allows camera control. The primary attack buttons are the (Square) and (Triangle) buttons, which allow you to perform combos with your character. You can check the combo list by opening the Pause Menu with the (Options) button. In game, your character’s health bar is displayed to the bottom left, while your opponent’s bar is displayed over their head. Whether it’s yours or the enemies, a depleted health bar equals retirement. Don’t let it hit zero.
Eyes of Heaven has no shortage of modes for players to entertain themselves with. Of course, you’ve got the Story Mode, which allows you to play through the story of the game. Battle fans have the Free Battle Mode so they can battle against computer controlled opponents. Network Mode allows players to connect to the PlayStation Network and battle against other players online. Customize Mode lets the creative among us run free with character and player card customization. The Gallery allows you to view the items you’ve unlocked in the game, while the Shop lets you purchase a variety of different things in the game. Options, as we all know, lets us change and tweak various game settings. Finally, the JoJo Glossary lets the less-informed of us learn about different terms in JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure. Take your pick and enjoy all the game has to offer.
Fighting isn't all you do in Eyes of Heaven. Exploration stages will pop up here and there to give you a little break from the fighting, so you can go check out the marvelous world you’re in. These stages have a unique control scheme, but it isn’t anything too out of the ordinary. The (O) button allows you to inspect a location or talk to a character. (Triangle) allows you to change which character you’re currently controlling on the stage. The (R1) button allows you to use your character’s special action and these are unique to the exploration stages. Players can find a mini-map to the top right of the screen showing where to go to progress, where to change stages, and also other characters in the stage. Take your time exploring and see what you can find!
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Difficulty:
Difficulty isn’t a major part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven. You can’t really change it anywhere, so you’re usually stuck with an invisible difficulty meter. The game isn’t the easiest to play though, so it kind of balances out. Even with the Free Battle Mode, the only thing you can really change is the timer for matches. Story Mode has more difficult battle encounters during certain exploration stages, but once you get better at the game, you’ll probably find these more fun than difficult. Overall, I wouldn’t say the difficulty is too much of an issue though. As you progress through the game and hone your skills, you’ll find previously hard encounters relatively easy. Some fights have special conditions incorporated which serve to make certain battles more difficult and I think it’s handled nicely. Either way, you’ll have an enjoyable time.
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Game Mechanics:
Like any good tag team, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven lets players perform combination attacks with their partner. Partners are able to perform either a Dual Combo or a Dual Heat Attack, but you must first fill up your Dual Heat gauge. This gauge is filled as you or your partner land attacks on the opponent or get hit by attacks from the opponent. Once the gauge is full, you’ll earn a charge that allows you to perform whichever combination attack you’d like. The Dual Combo is activated by simply clicking the touch pad button. Once your partner responds, you’ll both activate a Dual Combo. The more Dual Combos you connect with, the more your Dual Combo gauge will fill. Once full, you can activate a Dual Combo Finish. The Dual Heat Attack is activated by pressing the (L1) and (R1) buttons. Your character will charge into an enemy and, if you connect, you and your partner will unleash your wrath on the enemy, dealing some serious damage. You know what they say: Teamwork makes the dream work.
When dealing with wacky characters and insane shenanigans, of course you’ve got to be able to customize. Eyes of Heaven offers several types of customization to some of your favorite characters, both in Story Mode and the Customization Mode. In the Customization Mode, you’re able to edit a character’s poses, quotes, and even their SFX for any of their Dual Combo or victory animations. In addition, you’re able to customize character costumes and colors. You can save your edits as presets for quick selection at any time. In the Story Mode, you can power up your characters through the use of the Ability Tree. This allows you to unlock new perks and abilities for use in Story Mode, but you must obtain enough Ability Points to unlock them. Each character has their own Ability Tree and you can unlock things from them as you see fit. You can manually unlock or allow the game to unlock for you based on what it thinks you need the most. It’s up to you to decide, really.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven may not be the most bizarre game, but it is pretty fun. If you’ve played any other popular anime fighters or even just enjoy the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series, you’ll probably enjoy Eyes of Heaven. There’s a good amount to do to keep you enjoying the game, so go ahead and give it a try. Remember to practice your craziest poses! |
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-SS-54, GameVortex Communications AKA Ren Plummer |
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