The most immediate release of any big name at gamescom this year, Capcom’s Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure HD Ver. launches less than a week after its hands-on outing behind closed doors. Needless to say, the build experienced by Electronic Theatre was pretty close to final, and so drawing the conclusion that Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure HD Ver. is a beat-‘em-up title that aficionados will want to invest in may not be premature in this instance.
Undeniably striking a balance between heritage and the advantages of renewed consumer faith in the one-on-one beat-‘em-up genre, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure HD Ver. is a videogame which will appeal to a very specific audience and alienate all others. ‘Bizarre’ is the most appropriate part of the title, as while Tekken strived for oddity with it’s bear and dinosaur combo and Blazblue opts for some eccentric personalities, there has never been an
oddball cat of characters quite like those of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure HD Ver.. From foot-high dogs capable of summoning screen-filling shadowy beasts to belly dancers that summon Mayan warriors, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure HD Ver. takes its peculiarity very seriously in the design of its sixteen playable characters.
However, while the design of the characters is pretty far out, the gameplay itself is perhaps more tailored to a western audience than any of Capcom’s other one-on-one beat-‘em-ups of the 1990’s. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure HD Ver. feel like a videogame designed for the early 90’s arcade scene despite arriving in the late ‘90s as a by-product of development works on Street Fighter III in the same vein as Darkstalkers. The difference being that the vampires and Frankenstein fantasy was merely a step away from fireballs and ninjas, while Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure HD Ver. is one giant leap for consumers. That Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure never
saw a sequel (besides the traditional Capcom optimised re-release, of course) was more a product of its visual design than its gameplay mechanics.
A case of punch first and ask questions later, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure HD Ver. is all about clever strikes. Single blows can deal significant damage, but more advantageous are those which set your opponent up for successive attacks. While in Street Fighter a single punch is as damaging on it’s own as it is as the first of three blows, here in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure HD Ver. each attack build in power with subsequent connections; making a three hit combo before calling in your support character is far more damaging than four or even five one-off attacks.
Every character in the videogame has a support character, but this mechanic works more like Bloody Roar than a traditional tag match. Called upon at any point, the support character is a larger target but also has longer reach and heavier sequences of attacks. Being able to switch your support character on-and-off mid-combo opens up some interesting possibilities, and it’s surely here that most players will relish the opportunity to experiment anew come launch day.
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Is this out today? Sounds pretty sweet.