JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure HD Version Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

A Game Without Extras

Fighting games are experiencing a kind of second renaissance these days. Long lost IPs are being resurrected, the lost art of the 2D fighter has been revived, and the tournament scene is now bigger than ever. With the recent announcement of a brand new JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure game by NAMCO Bandai, it’s only natural that Capcom would resurrect their classic JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure 2D fighter for the HD generation. That’s exactly what JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure HD is, a faithful port of the old classic. Now, HD remakes generally come with lots of bells, whistles, and extra content, but JoJo HD unfortunately falls a little short in this area. The game is as fun as it ever was, but you aren’t getting much more than the exact game you played over a decade ago.

For those of you who don’t know, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a popular manga series that’s spawned several anime and game adaptations. The third story arc, Stardust Crusaders, is the focus of JoJo HD. In the JoJo’s universe, characters are able to manifest ghostly versions of their inner power called “Stands.” Stands can take any form, from a weapon to a replication of a powerful ancestor.

This is what makes JoJo’s bizarre adventure so much fun. The game uses a four-button system that incorporates Stands into basic combat. The buttons are Light, Medium, Heavy, and Stand. Light, Medium, and Heavy throw out attacks of the respective strengths, while Stand does several different things depending on the character you are playing.

This is what makes JoJo’s bizarre adventure so much fun. The game uses a four-button system that incorporates Stands into basic combat. The buttons are Light, Medium, Heavy, and Stand. Light, Medium, and Heavy throw out attacks of the respective strengths, while Stand does several different things depending on the character you are playing.

Characters with active Stands summon their Stands to fight alongside them when you press the S button. Normally, attacks don’t chain into each other in JoJo’s, much like Street Fighter. However, when your stand is activated, you can chain light into medium into heavy, Marvel vs. Capcom style. Your character can fight totally independent of their active Stand, similar to how characters can fight alongside their Personas in the new Persona 4 Arena. Characters with weapon Stands also get similar benefits, but their Stands instead activate a weapon, which changes the character’s move-set around. Characters with passive Stands can’t activate a Stand at all. Instead, their stand button activates a fourth, even more powerful attack.

Unfortunately, you wouldn’t learn any of this just by playing JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure HD. While the game comes with a How to Play section, it barely goes into the games deeper mechanics. Not only that, but the entire How to Play section doesn’t include any interactive tutorials. The whole thing is done through splash screens that don’t even go into as much depth as the original JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manual did.

This is unacceptable when you consider the steps other HD remakes have taken to introduce new players to the game. Third Strike Online came with a full tutorial and challenge mode that delved fairly deeply into the game’s systems. Other downloadable games have taken huge leaps forward in terms of tutorials. Skullgirls has one of the best tutorial modes to have ever graced a fighting game, period. Retail releases are also stepping up their game, with Persona 4 Arena sporting one of the most in-depth tutorial and challenge modes we have seen in a fighter to date. Frankly, JoJo HD is more than a few steps behind when it comes down to getting new players integrated. It’s unlikely that you will be able to get into high-level play if you weren’t a Jojo’s fan back in the days of the Dreamcast.

Of course, the biggest addition to JoJo’s HD is netplay, which is a staple for all modern-day video games. Unfortunately, the netplay in Jojo HD isn’t really pulling its weight. Even local connections seem to introduce impressive button delay into the mix, and this is a game with some pretty strict combo timing. Not only that, but the servers are actually rather barren, even shortly after its launch. With so many other fighting games out there, it just doesn’t seem like JoJo HD has enough support to really build a community. Scheduling matches with your friends works fine, but getting into random matches is a pain. This also makes it hard to climb the leaderboards, which is one of the most attractive features for fighting game players who are yearning to prove that they are better than everyone else.

Also to the game’s detriment is the fact that there is no way to ban blatantly overpowered characters. Pet Shop is well-known as one of the most broken fighting game characters in existence, and he is selectable like any other. There aren’t any balance changes or patches that have been applied to the underlying gameplay system, so you’ll find lots of people abusing the heck out of Pet Shop online. Heck, even Third Strike Online let you ban Gill from matches, which makes the lack of a ban function seem like a total oversight.

Graphically, on the other hand, JoJo HD does hold up. Jojo’s was one of the prettiest fighting games of its generation, combining manga style drawing with over-the-top animations and effects. Even today, landing Za Warudo into the steamroller crush is enjoyable to look at. You can tweak the options in order to make the game look exactly how you like, and the filters do a good job of smoothing the sprites on HD sets. The added borders that show off character art from the game are also a nice touch. In fact, the only things that aren’t nice to look at are the menus. They are spartan, little more than white text on a background. Surely, these could have been jazzed up somehow.

Now, all of this would probably be a value for ten or so dollars. JoJo’s was a phenomenal fighting game, and simply getting a chance to play it again is more than worth that money. However, the game is priced at $20, which is about as much as you can expect to pay for a fully stocked HD remake. Is JoJo’s worth the money? Honestly, I’d have to say no. It’s really not giving you a lot that the originally version didn’t already give you. Longtime Jojo’s fans will still have their original copy lying around, while newcomers will be unable to get into the game due to the complete lack of tutorials. Not to mention, there’s the elephant in the room of online GGPO, which allows any JoJo fan to play the original over the next with better netcode on their computer. For free.

In the end, there’s not much that makes JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure HD worth the money other than the core gameplay. If getting a chance to play JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure again is worth $20 for you, then go for it. Otherwise, this isn’t the game for you.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.0 Graphics
For a game that is now several years old, it still runs incredibly smooth. 4.7 Control
The core gameplay of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is still extremely fun and technical. 2.1 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The sound effects really don’t hold up to current day standards. 2.0 Play Value
You aren’t getting much extra with this package. 3.0 Overall Rating – Fair
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.