JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven Review

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For those who read manga, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure should need no introduction. The stylishly bizarre series has been around for ages, it started in 1986, and is still being published to this day (and it’s really quite a fun read). It’s also had a number of video game spinoffs that performed to varying degrees of success. It’s an idea that is just so ridiculously unique, and it feels like a great fit for a fighting game. Each arc has the various characters squaring off against one another, making use of what are known as Stands. These Stands have all sorts of bizarre abilities and are also named after various popular artists and songs. The distinct nature of each character and the overall premise makes it seem like a great fit for a fighting game, but the latest title, Eyes of Heaven, stumbles a fair bit in its execution. There’s a lot to like about this game if you’re a fan of the series, but for those looking to kick the crap out of their friends, you may want to look elsewhere.

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Coming hot off the heels of the well-received All Star Battle, Eyes of Heaven aims to shake up the formula. Adopting a 3D arena perspective, players can battle across various rooftops and open streets, helping keep the combat varied. It doesn’t work quite well in this case though, as it is awkward to control, and the camera does it no favours as well. At times, I found it was really hard to keep shifting focus and maneuver at the same time, especially when the game threw double battles my way. The combat works well enough to help offset this, to a point. Various mechanics such as unique dual attacks help keep the combat exciting, but it suffers from very, very poor hit detection.

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“The multiplayer modes feel basic, the story is underwhelming, and there isn’t much reason to play through it, aside from seeing the tale to its conclusion.”

At more than one point, I found that I was whiffing attacks completely, and I know it wasn’t the work of an enemy stand. I’d be standing naught but inches from my foe, and miss completely. This only got worse as I found the CPU had no issues landing similar attacks at the same range. When the combat works, it comes ridiculously close to surpassing All Star Battle at capturing that unique atmosphere about JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure that people love. Yet when it falters, it’s glaringly apparent that this game could have used a bit more time in the oven. For a series so focused on its fighting, you’d think the main aspect of a fighting game centered on it would make sure this part works the best, would you not?

The story is entertaining, to a point. It focuses heavily on Jotaro, the protagonist from Part 3, but the overall story boils down to a time-travel focused “what if” scenario that has the game drawing from all 8 parts to help set the story in motion. It’s definitely meant for dedicated fans of the series, as the story features an entirely original story supervised by Hirohiko Araki, the creator of the series. The story is massive in scope, but it feels ultimately unrewarding to play through, especially for a series with such well-crafted stories that stand on their own. Each part/series of JoJo stands out for its own reason, but Eyes Over Heaven feels incredibly underwhelming in this regard. It focuses heavily on the primary protagonists from Part 3, which is recognized as one of the more popular arcs. My major problem with this is that the other parts feature characters that are even better than those in this third part, and it just feels like lost potential.

Eyes Of Heaven Mista

Between the fighting that isn’t quite realized and the story that feels like something that could have been found on DeviantArt, I have a hard time recommending JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven. It’s from a series that I enjoy immensely, it’s a concept that should work well, but it just falters in the actual execution. For fans of the manga and anime, they would likely enjoy Eyes of Heaven much, much more, but even as a fan myself, I can’t help but feel annoyed by how close this game comes to being a legitimate treat. The multiplayer modes feel basic, the story is underwhelming, and there isn’t much reason to play through it, aside from seeing the tale to its conclusion. The problem is, will you want to go that far?

***A PS4 review code was provided by the publisher***

The Good

Faithful to source material
Large Roster
Imbalanced Combat

The Bad

Story is a bit underwhelming
Combat can be unresponsive
Lost potential
Camera can be nauseating

While not as well known as series like Naruto and One Piece, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure actually predates both by over a decade in manga form. With over 116 volumes released to date, the recent anime adaptation has brought more attention to the beloved series, which is represented very well in the series spanning JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a rather unique manga series, as it is split into a number of different “parts” that take place in different time periods. The first starts off following the young Jonathan Joestar, with his descendants taking on the lead role in subsequent parts. The previous and most recent parts are even part of an alternate timeline, which really makes the “bizarre” title all the more fitting. Having a kind of odd story like this that takes place over different generations and timelines would seemingly be hard to turn into one single game, but somehow developer CyberConnect2 has done it.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven takes a note from Dragon Ball Xenoverse by adding in time traveling mechanics that kick off at the tail end of part 3, known as Stardust Crusaders, with you getting control of Jotaro as he finishes off Dio at the conclusion of that arc. At this point, the storyline branches off into a completely original story by the series’ author Hirohiko Araki, which makes it legitimately feel like a continuation of the series, rather than cheap fan fiction that some games suffer from when trying to expand on an existing series’ continuity.

The time travel story is based around an unknown phenomenon that is causing a disruption in the space-time continuum, such as bringing characters back from the dead, which is where the story starts off. Rather than jumping back to part 1 and going chronologically through the rest of them, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven takes an out of order route, including a cast of characters that come from each part, but the strong writing and likeable characters make it work.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is known for its very outlandish character designs and overall art design, which goes perfectly with the game’s cel-shaded art style and often over the top voice acting. Between the impressive number of actual cutscenes, versus the occasional short text over still images sections, and the actual in-game segments, Eyes of Heaven really does the series justice with its anime like visuals.

As an action-oriented series, players would expect a fluid and fast-moving fighter, which is exactly what CyberConnect2 has created in this game. Building on their first outing with the series in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle, the actual style of gameplay should feel very familiar, especially if you played the developer’s other release this year, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, or really most manga or anime turned fighters over the last year.

The fighting itself is pretty fun, albeit a little uninspired, as each character utilizes the exact same controls, with you executing attack moves and combos,

Eyes Of Heaven Mac