KaeBlade

JUMP FORCE IS A CASH GRAB! Jump Force is Bandai Namco's most recent example of exploiting Shonen Jump fans. The game just screams cash grab! Rant aside... I'll try to break down below why I think you shouldn't even pick this game up. GAMEPLAY - The fighting mechanics are shallow af. I acknowledge that Bandai Namco likely made it shallow so that more people can just pick up a controller and start throwing out Final Flashes and Getsuga Tenshous. Due to this likelihood, I think Jump Force really isn't much of a fighting game as it is a party game. It's fun for a couple of hours then it gets old. It's not going to get any attention from recognized fighting game tournaments. I don't see this game having any legs at all. It'll likely end up like My Hero One's Justice whose support ended in less time than you can say PLUS ULTRA! ART STYLE - Likely due to the decision to adopt shiny 3D models to somehow marry all the different art styles of the Shonen characters into an acceptable middle ground, the art style thus looks awesome for some characters but totally weird for others. ANIMATION - Slightly related to art style... since they opted for 3D models for the characters, you'd think the animation would look great. Unfortunately, it only looks passable during fights. Throwing out rush attacks and moving around did not feel smooth and was really janky, like you're playing a stop motion video. A lot of the animation is covered up by the explosions, particle effects, and bright lighting. Facial animation is nonexistent outside of static facial expressions. CONTENT - What content? Jump Force has a Story Mode (I'll get to this one in a bit...), online versus, player vs ai, practice mode while waiting for matchmaking, a shallow Create-a-Character system... what else? That's Jump Force already. STORY MODE - This is just effin' sad. You've got a roster of the most recognizable and beloved anime characters ever, and they get a throwaway **** Story mode with stiff animations, a cringey script, and forgettable plot. I'm not sure if which modern fighting game's story mode is worse now... SFV, MvCi, or Jump Force. Some people would say... "it's a fighting game. No one plays fighting games for the story. etc etc." Sure ok, a bunch of people just want to watch an action movie with their favorite action heroes for the explosions. There are also fans of those action heroes who want to see those characters develop. But fine, Jump Force obviously wasn't made with those fans in mind. What an incredible waste of an opportunity to make an awesome story involving so many awesome characters. The beloved Shonen characters do not deserve to be in something as poorly executed and half assed as Jump Force.

I've got 53 hours put into the game and am currently at level 91. In a nutshell, Shinobi Striker is an incredibly fun game that unfortunately, in it's current state, has a lot of "buts" in the way of that fun. What keeps me coming back to it? 1) The intense rock-paper-scissors fight mechanics. From macro decisions such as which ninja type to use to help the team, or deciding whether to defend a node in Base Battle or to push to another, to micro decisions such as when to block, dodge, deflect, or use jutsus, it gives you a sense of strategy. It's not complicated but it's deeper than it seems. 2) So much unlockable content. The locked jutsus from the VR masters double as another progression system on top of the leveling up (I'm actually really not sure what the level up is even for). The jutsus are class specific but working towards unlocking them all requires a not so trivial amount of time. At the moment, I've completed all the Attack type jutsus and am working on the Heal type now. People are complaining so much that there's no Story mode in Shinobi Striker but I understand why. There isn't enough story content from the Boruto story to build on yet and Naruto's story has been done in Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 already. Shinobi Striker is about your own character's story anyway. The critical people aren't seeing the role playing aspect. 3) Creating your own Naruto character. I dunno... I think it's the rpg nerd within me but I'm still waiting for some cosmetic items to drop for me so that I can complete the look of my reformed Otsutsuki villain. Now for the rage-inducing aspects of the game... 1) Matchmaking time. It takes forever to find enough players for a Ninja World League match. 2) Matchmaking skill selection. I was getting matched up with B class players while I was still in D class. 3) Latency. It feels incredibly **** when I'm simply trying to cross the map and I get hit by nasty rubber banding. Or when I use a tracking attack jutsu like the Lightning Blade or Lightning Lariat then suddenly find myself dead. I would rubber band so hard that it would make me fall off the map. Whenever this happens, I just want to throw my controller at the TV... 4) Loading times. I can go make myself a sandwich with how long it takes for a match to load... I'm on an Xbox One X already and it still takes so much time to load a match. 5) Getting disconnected from the matchmaking queue. Or worse, getting disconnected during a match. I end up back in front of Shikamaru and have to queue again. 6) Game crashes. I don't know why or what triggers it. One moment, I'm queuing for a match, the next, I'm back on the Xbox Dashboard. Seems to happen most often during match loading. 7) This one isn't really the devs fault but... **** teammates who don't know when to just defend. Just to segue, pm me on Xbox Live if you want to set up a premade group for the Ninja World League. Despite all these frustrating issues... I still find myself coming back to Shinobi Striker for the sweet KOs and clutch moments. I hope Bandai Namco fixes the issues asap.

I'll address the Negatives pointed out in the other user reviews here: 1. Graphics Graphics preference is super subjective. Some people might think Super Smash Bros' graphics are better than Tekken and no one would be able to convince them otherwise. Injustice 2 looks gorgeous compared to any other fighting game. To say that Injustice 2's graphics aren't impressive, or just "ok", would really be a dishonest opinion. Lighting, textures, shaders, character models, facial animations, particle and smoke effects, shadows... Netherrealms has really done a great job in the graphics department. Graphically, Injustice 2 has the BEST rendering of DC characters in a video game that you can find available today. 2. Story Opinions can vary greatly on this topic. The story doesn't hold a candle to other games known for their storytelling. Games like "The Last of Us", any of the Telltale games, "Red Dead Redemption", the Witcher series, the Mafia series, and many more... all these other games definitely have better stories. If Injustice 2 were to be compared to these titles, then yes, Injustice 2 would just be "ok". I would even say the story would be too simplistic. If Injustice 2's story and it's in-game implementation were compared to other fighting games though, then this is a standard that Netherrealms has now totally set an incredibly high bar on. They have improved on the style they pioneered with 2011's Mortal Kombat. Netherrealms figured out how to tell an actual story in a fighting game and Injustice 2 is their most polished attempt at it. Playing through it feels like an interactive Hollywood DC movie and I mean this in the most positive way. So... if Injustice 2's story and storytelling style is set against non-fighting games, it's just "ok". If set against other fighting games, it's fantastic! 3. Music and Sound Audio is, again, very subjective. I disagree with the negative opinion above. Injustice 2 is also awesome in the sound department. Injustice 2 is incredible when enjoyed with a really good set of headphones, or a really good home theatre system. The game has some hits and misses when it comes to the stage sound themes but there are a lot more hits than misses. Joker's amusement park theme could be straight from the upcoming "IT" movie in terms of creepy playfulness. Overall, the background music does it's job. It creates atmosphere and tension that isn't noticeable unless you stop and notice it. The sound of character effects... The sound of Darkseid's Omega beams, the bubbling of Swamp Thing's entrance, the ringing noise after getting hit with Black Canary's sonic cry, the impact of a Clash, the clang of Wonder Woman's shield throw, and many more... they are all really really satisfying! 4. Netcode Online play quality is affected by a lot of factors. What internet service you're on, your region, your, home network, your opponent's net service, his location, his home network set up... In my experience, out of a sample of 20+ online matches, I had three matches where my opponent and I experienced animation stuttering that was bad enough for us to stop attacking each other until the stuttering would smoothen out. The lag always smoothened out for me. I'm on a 1GB fibre connection based out of Singapore. The game's matchmaking is smart enough to not match me with people with really bad connections. You are also always given a choice whether or not you want to accept an online match. The other player's ping information is shown when you are asked if you want to accept the match. If you only accept matches with players with good connections (yellow or green), you likely won't have any issues. I have not gotten any disconnections at all. In this age where AAA games still launch with poor online stability, the stability of the network itself during launch week is something Netherrealms should be commended for. 5. Equipment/gear system The overall gear system seemed a lot more game-altering on paper than it actually is in practice. Netherrealms wasn't kidding about the volume of gear available. There is a TON of gear in the game and unfortunately, it's management isn't as intuitive as one would hope. The categorization of the gear is broken down by: - Rarity (common, rare, and epic) - Prefix/suffix naming convention similar to Diablo (Durable ___ High Tech Armor) (Solid ___ Armor) It's a bit confusing to know what each prefix/suffix does but familiarity will come when you are focused on gearing up a specific character. The aesthetic choice that the variety of gear gives you is very addictive. Netherrealms also added set items that give added set bonuses like Diablo 3. This makes the gear chase even more addictive. The gear system has it's pros and cons. It gives me more reason to play but can still be polished more in Injustice 3.

Download version currently playable offline only for the profile that purchased it. When online, it crashes at the game's main menu, or after a couple of challenges. The ingame link to the Shape Up Coach website service is broken. It just leads me to the XBox Store. I made the mistake of buying the 3 month sub for the service when the website won't even let me log in or sync with my game. For the game crashing issue, check out the troubleshooting I've already done for this game. ****/1t0OT4P Been working with Xbox Support and Shape Up Support for the past several days and Xbox has given up and pointed me to Shape Up Support, while Shape Up Support keeps on telling me that they've fixed the issue already. The game is still crashing, and I still can't log in or sync with their $30 Coach addon. Only way I can play this is with my profile offline. I've already tried deleting my save data to start fresh, still crashes when online. I'll update this review if they fix these issues. >.

Definitely a must-buy if you liked Dance Central 1 and 2. Improved menus, more voice commands and better voice recognition, terrific track list covering songs from the 70s through present day hits. Story mode is a welcome addition as it improves on Dance Central 2's Crew Challenge mode. Alternative outfit unlocks, secret characters, hidden modes. Lots of replay value. Dance Challenges from Dance Central's Facebook app has been added ingame as well and is another mode that will help the online social aspect further. Party Mode and 8 player Crew Throwdowns is for local multiplayer and is definitely an improvement over Dance Central 2's Dance Battles. Minigames like Strike-a-Pose and Make-a-Move are also nice additions to add to the variety in how one wants to play. If you are one of the few who have held out on buying an Xbox with Kinect, Dance Central 3 is one of the reasons you should pick one up now. Dance Central 3 showcases Kinect's capabilities in a fun and addictive way and sure to be a staple of the Kinect stable for a long time to come.

I was looking forward to MW3 bringing something new to the table to match BF3. It actually just feels like a big DLC update for me. :( I'm not sure what the developers could have done differently with the same tech they've been using for their past several games but I think they should've tried something different.

Batman: Arkham City is, without a doubt, the best Batman game produced so far. I'm a bit undecided on the combat gameplay as I found it a bit too simple. I can't think of a better system that would incorporate Batman's gadgets as well as the current system did though. The combat can get a little repetitive 3/4ths through the game but there are a ton of other elements in the game that make up for it. If you don't feel like following the storyline, there are a lot of side missions to cover. Discovering and solving all the Riddler challenges alone will take quite a bit of time. If you're a Batman fan, you will drown in all the details developer Rocksteady has crammed into Arkham City. This is a must-buy for 2011.