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Jump Ultimate Stars: Reviews

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Game Score: 10/10

For those of you who don't know of this game, let me give a small introduction. In Japan, serialized comics are very popular. From several decades ago, series have been produced of many kinds. Some of you may have heard of JUMP, which is the company that produces these mangas (as they are referred to). Now some examples of these mangas will include Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Bleach and many more. Now take all these characters and throw them into a Smash Brothers style game and you get Jump Ultimate Stars.

The basic format of the game is that you employ the use of the touch screen to make a deck. Your deck will consist of panels known as komas. You can choose and customize decks to your tastes to include characters from over forty different manga series. Now the simple break down is that 1 koma are help and can provide status boosts such as increased HP or higher jumping capabilities. 2 to 3 koma are known as support. These panels when pressed on the touch screen cause the character to briefly appear on screen and perform an attack, or help power up your own player. Finally 4 to 8 koma are your battle characters. Basically these are the ones you control to fight against other decks. Each has it's own battle type (power, knowledge or laughter) along with their unique moves taken straight from the mangas themselves as well as special moves. The bigger the koma, the stronger the character. Now this is where things get interesting. Different shaped panels can fit differently on a four by five grid. How you arrange them makes a world of difference. They may be stronger, but may take up too much space, but if you place them next to other characters from the own or other series they may gain support bonuses indicated by a sparkling panel.

Now that you know the basics, we'll move onto the actual game play. Unlocking panels as you progress through story mode fulfilling different objectives, makes the story very interesting. Conditions may include, collecting more copies of JUMP than your opponent for example. Then you take these koma and evolve them to form stronger and more varied koma. Earning various gems allows evolution meaning you must make decisions carefully!

Now fighting isn't simply fighting in this game. You can get frozen, burned, poisoned confused or stunned to name a few, while in combat. Also cleverly designed stages puts the most skilled players in tough situations too with cannon balls falling left and fight in the One Piece Stage. Now theres the type triangle where power beats knowledge which beats laughter which in turn beats power. You will needed a balanced deck to achieve success. Creating decks is immensely fun especially if you are familiar with the mangas there. Dome further examples in the game are Rurouni Kenshin, Black Cat, One piece, Slam Dunk and Prince of Tennis.

Graphically the sprites are well suited to the games style. While they aren't breathtaking they suit the style of manga very well. Characters are easily recognizable and will not give anyone reason to complain. For example those who follow the naruto manga will be pleased to hear that the characters are in the post-time skip form, with a nice surprise in store for those fans of Sasuke and Naruto especially. The koma panels themselves incorporate actual images from the mangas, with a nice addition of coloring making viewing your completed deck a treat for the eyes. On a side note, you can make many decks to suit whatever your needs are so put your thinking caps on as you'll have more slots than you can throw a stick at.

Onto music. Tracks are not spectacular but suit the stages well. They may suit some but not others, but thats why there's a volume control right?

Now this game has wifi. I think that says enough. Being able to challenge people from all across the world greatly prolongs the fun of the game. In addition challenging friends who also have copies of the game is great multi player fun. This is a great plus point for the game and a great addition from its sequel Jump Super Stars.

For those who can't read Japanese like myself, don't fret. The storyline is unimportant and its very easy to trial and error your way through features. In the worst case scenario, just head onto gamefaqs.com and check out the FAQ there. Now I'm sure I've gone on long enough about the game now so I'll move onto my final paragraph.

So what can I say. Get this game if you love multi player mayhem or if you love smash brothers, or even if you love mangas as much as I do. Heck get the game regardless of what you are like with games. I guarantee satisfaction with this purchase. Knowing the mangas just makes all the more sweeter. This game will let you customize, beat up your friends with your superior decks and just giving you a great gaming experience so i recommend this with two thumbs up. By the way did I mention that you can create dream combos? Where you can make a chain combo special between your favorite battle komas! Now is that great or is that great?