REVIEW: ‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R’ is an Epic Remaster with Stark Issues (PS4)

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R is the latest CyberConnect2-developed fighting game adapting Hirohiko Araki’s titular JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime and manga series and a remaster of the original 2013 PlayStation 3 game, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle. As an adaptation published by Bandai Namco, the game does well in covering all eight series in the franchise and includes a roster of 51 characters originating from each title.

Right off the bat, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R shows off its many excellent features, first of which is its crisp visuals and character designs, and boasts an intense comic book aesthetic that is all incredibly faithful to the series save for the fact that they are all rendered in 3D. The next best element is the characters themselves. Despite being so many, every character feels entirely different and plays differently from one another, with varying difficulty levels of mastery for each character with several combat types.

We have zoners like Yukako, powerhouses like Jotaro, and all-rounders like Joleyne while also having characters from the first two series that exclusively use Hamon and other types of attacks (precisely the villains) as opposed to the Stand powers most characters in the roster use. Unfortunately, as a result, the Hamon users are noticeably lacking in variety and are significantly more challenging to use compared to Stand users.

Each character category is essentially played almost entirely differently, with the former focusing more on defense than offense and charging up Hamon powers. At the same time, the latter can freely switch their focus between offense and defense on the fly, depending on what character and Stand they’re playing with. 

As for the core gameplay, I was surprised to find how in-depth the gameplay elements can be in All-Star Battle R. Players will find many gameplay features consistent with most fighting games, such as combos, grabs, cancels, special attacks, as well as two types of ultimate attacks that are dependent on your meter level. However, some features are noticeably constant and unique to the series, such as attack reversals, executed by standing still when an opponent is about to attack and using their attack against them.

There’s also the dedicated side step button which can either be used to avoid combos or create an opening for one. There’s also a button that can bring out your Stand, which depending on said Stand, can widen your range for attacks and allow for easier combos. Then there’s a taunt button which, in theme with the series, is always outrageous and is also used to greatly reduce an opponent’s meter. 

The game also sports a significant amount of single-player content, such as the All-Star Battle Mode, which is less of a story mode and more of a best-of featuring fights reminiscent of cool scenes from the franchise and randomly selected fights that feel significantly less epic. However, while there’s a lack of narrative, the mode is still enjoyable, especially for Jojo fans, as it features several characters, scenes, and locations across all eight titles, and it’s incredibly entertaining watching certain characters meet each other and their confusing reactions between each fight. 

Outside this All-Star Battle Mode, the game also sports a highly in-depth training mode with several player features and CPU features and a Versus and Arcade Mode that are pretty standard but can be enhanced by including the game’s wacky arena gimmicks. Finally, there’s the Online mode which was frankly disappointing. Despite being a modern remaster, the game still fails to incorporate a rollback netcode forcing its online play experience to be mainly inconsistent and choppy. It’s also worth mentioning that the mode lacks a rematch option, significantly reducing engagement and making the game feel incomplete. 

Negatives aside, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R is a wonderful remaster with great visuals and aesthetics, smooth gameplay, and tons of content that JoJo fans will appreciate. And while the game is mainly tailored toward series fans, I believe it still offers an experience most fighting game fans will enjoy as long as they don’t play online or expect any cohesive narrative or story mode based on the franchise.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R is out now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.