If, like me, you're not the most well-versed anime fan (I know my Dragon Ball, but if you ask me to name characters I'll tell you about the Butch Android, Time Travel Boy and That One Who Looks Like Patrick from Spongebob) then a game like Jump Force, tailor-made for a rabid audience that already loves it wholeheartedly, can seem super intimidating.
Let me tell you a secret, though. The joys of anime are really simple. There is a man who can dunk balls of energy the sizes of moons on people, another who shoots explosives out the air after rolling out his Mini, and even a boy who buries his foes in a pyramid made of sand that he controls with his mind. Put away the names and labels and those things are what they are: fantastical, wonderful nonsense.
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Jump Force is an arena brawler - that means two teams of three duking it out around a map, though only one party member fights at a time. Allies can be called on for support attacks however, and you'll have to switch between your line-up to match your opponents' choices. But you all share health, so strategy is king here. No just sticking to your favourite.
Jump Force taps into the sheer spectacle offered by anime, and while the controls aren't immediately familiar, they're not exactly hard to grasp either. The game keeps things simple enough, so there's little barrier between you and running a sword made of lightning through a man who looks like America's next top model took tips from the Joker.
How much depth is there to the brawling? I can't possibly say, as everything happens so quickly and combos seem to be down more to timing than remembering long strings of inputs. There are counters, too, which are fiendishly tricky to pull off but oh-so satisfying when you do.
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Dodges are more what you'll be relying on - but avoid damage altogether and you'll miss out on the special attacks, only triggered once you've taken a bit of a beating. Not that most will manage to stay spotless, as trading blows is part of the fun here, throwing each other across the arena before dashing forward to deliver a follow-up blow.
It's repetitive to a degree, but Jump Force is a perfectly silly experience. I laughed at the constant stream of high-pitched screams and battle cries, spiky haired boys throwing each other into space and absurd 160-hit combos. Devoid of the narrative framing of their source material, the absurdity takes centre stage and it is so absurd. Which is great! It definitely leans more into accessible and spectacle than depth or complexity, on a first encounter.
That said, there is definitely more here than a cursory play session can dig into. There's an RPG progression system (it can be turned off for those who prefer an even fight), and there are elemental qualities to attacks, so you'll have to match your team of fighters accordingly. It might not test the mettle of professionals in the fighting game scene - I suppose that remains to be seen - but for those who want to play a fighter on a stupendous scale with some mates, laughing all the while, this will fit the bill handsomely.
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The visuals will be perhaps the biggest obstacle for anime fans, favouring an approach that's somewhere between photo-realism and stylised animation. It works well enough to make all these diverse anime brands slot together in the same world without breaking your brain, but definitely loses some of the charms of their various source materials. I can't help but think of the recent Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and its wondrous clashing and blending of styles. It might be a tall order to expect the same here, but something that managed to blend a number of aesthetics into a single, striking whole would have heightened the spectacle considerably.
All of this is to say that Jump Force isn't just for hardcore fans. If anything, a lack of knowledge will make this all the more surprising and silly, perfect for some couch competition with your pals. After all, sometimes you just wanna dual-wield bazookas at a space karate man - and that you can, when Jump Force releases for PS4 (tested), Xbox One and PC on 15 February.
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Featured Image Credit: Bandai Namco