Look around and you realise that computer games are very much like jokes. There appears to be only so many of them and all the others are iterations on a theme. So, FPS and platformers are still with us as is the one-on-one fight game.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle, for the PS3, from Bandai Namco Games, developed by CyberConnect2 takes its inspiration from an original manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki, which itself was turned into an anime, before making its inevitable journey to a console game.

This is not the first game based on the series, the first appeared in nineteen ninety-three. This latest version was released in Japan last year and has now made it to our shore.

Fans of the story will be pleased to discover that you can play as one of forty characters from eight of the stories arcs.

The game is presented in 3D, which allows both opponents to moves around as they attempt to land blows. This can feel a little odd as it’s harder to just rush your opponent and kick them in the head. Controls are pretty traditional with the usual high and low kicks, punches and each character has their own special moves, which can be used once the bar is full. The object remains the same, beat on the other person until either they fall down or you do. If neither gets an outright victory then the person with the largest health bar wins, once time for the round has run out.

Attention to detail will delight fans of the manga and anime as effort has been made to include a great deal of detail in both the locations and characters to match that found in the original. There is an increasing move to allow the fight characters to interact with the backgrounds and here these are triggered when you or your opponent are knocked into particular areas of the screen.

The gaming modes have been given a great deal of depth. In ‘Story Mode’ the single player gets to work their way through a narrative, opening various options up along the way. More options are available in the campaign mode, where you get to fight other players and occasionally a Boss, which offer greater rewards. The last mode is ’Verses’ which can be played both on and off line.

There are plans to bring more content to the game and the first additional campaign is already up and free to download. There are also more characters and costumes planned, although I’m guessing that you’ll have to pay for those.

Completely over the top and visually flamboyant, the game has a fairly steep learning curve. The game is traditional in its surface presentation, but makes up for this with the depth of game play and attention to detail.

7

Charles Packer