Despite its additions to features, characters, and combat adjustments, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R remains an excellent adaptation of the popular anime and manga. It’s a cliche to talk about anime-based games, but I really love everything JoJo about this game. It references Hirohiko Araki’s original work in all kinds of interactions and events.
The playable roster consists of 51 characters, each with their own unique abilities. For JoJo fans, exploring every character’s options is a delight.
The technical aspects of All Star Battle R make it one of the most technically advanced anime-based fighting games today. It has combos, cancels, assists, sidesteps, specials, supers — everything you’d expect from a fighter that’s teetering on the edge of appeasing the competitive scene. The system is richer than most anime adaptations, and learning its ins and outs is very satisfying.
You can ease yourself into All Star Battle R’s online offering with a decent amount of single-player content, but the online offering is where it falls short. Various network errors are far too common, the delay-based netcode is incredibly inconsistent, and — perhaps most unforgivable — there are no rematch options once a fight has ended.
The game’s online suite is so behind the times, which is a shame because All Star Battle R is an otherwise brilliant ode to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.
Pros:
- Excellent JoJo adaptation
- A rewarding combat system
- A fantastic cast of characters
- Modes that are enjoyable
- Outstanding attention to detail
Cons:
- Modem outdated
- Unreliable network code
- Errors on the network
I give this game 7 over 10.
