J-Stars Victory VS.+

Even while going into the Bandai Namco event, I was still in a state of disbelief that this game is actually being released in the States. But once I played the demo, it was clear—this is really happening. Like, for realz, realz. As a longtime Weekly Shonen Jump fan, just seeing all the different characters from so many series on the screen at once sent my inner-fanboy into mild convulsions. Especially once the combat starts and the different attacks start flying. Goku’s Kamahama-ha versus Naruto’s Rasengan, Yusuke’s Rei Gun blast versus Luffy’s Gum Gum Gatling—it’s all there and more! This is fan service on an unprecedented level!

The game comes with a ton of modes, and some can be played with up to four players at once. Being the weird and anti-social gamer I am, I spent most of my time in the “story mode.” You basically get in a boat and go from island to island taking on quests (fighting different people) to upgrade your ship and gain access to different areas. The banter between all the characters is hilarious, and the famous locales, like Penguin Island, were really fun to look at. Apparently, this mode can’t be played with every character, which is understandable because that would make the game ridiculously huge. But you can play it with some of the more popular SJ heroes like: Luffy, Naruto, Toriko and Ichigo. Aside from that, there were several more traditional fighting-game modes like free-battle mode, versus, tournament and arcade.

Of course, the meat of the game is the combat, and it’s just as wild and chaotic as you’d expect from Weekly Shonen Jump characters. To help with the chaos, fighters can lock onto each other. They can also dash (or ride a scooter in Gintoki’s case), which helps close gaps in some of the bigger arenas. And some of the fighting arenas I played in were quite large! And full of things to destroy! I smashed quite a few buildings in the Village Hidden in the Leaves level from Naruto and sliced up a lot of giant potatoes in the Vegetable Sky level from Toriko. All the usual fighting-game moves are here—attacking, blocking, dodging, super moves, team super moves and more.

I only spent about an hour with the game total, but had a blast. I would say this is the most obvious “MUST BUY” for Weekly Shonen Jump fans in all of video game history.

This game will be available on the PS4, PS3 and PS Vita and is scheduled for a Summer 2015 release.

by Urian Brown

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 4

I had the chance to play the latest entry in this popular series and saying I was impressed would be an understatement. Maybe it's because I'm a huge Naruto fan, but the fan service had me drooling. I got to take control of Hashirama as he battles it out against Madara. The scene was straight out of the epic flashback from volume 65. If one chapter of this fight wasn't enough for you, this game will be a treat. New techniques, new dialogue and new transformations, all in beautiful PS4 graphics. One of my favorite features was that you can see Nine-Tails in the background being subdued by Hashirama's wood dragon jutsu. The attention to detail is superb. Hashirama is also able to use what I would describe as two large chakra swords. They look really cool with all the particle effects, and after hitting Madara a bunch of times, I was able to slice off his armor. I started getting cocky at this point until Madara pulled out his Susano'o and fused it with Nine-Tails. Hashirama then uses his wood jutsu to create a giant golem and thus begins a kaiju-type battle! The scale suddenly became massive. Things got so intense that my fingers were dying towards the end. I think I'll need to do some ninja training in real life if ever I hope to defeat Madara!

This game will be available on the PS4, Xbox One and Steam and is scheduled for a 2015 release. 

by Alexis Kirsch

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3

This is the first One Piece: Pirate Warriors game for the next-gen! And I must say, it did look a little prettier. Not only that, with the extra added power of the PS4, they put even more people on the screen. Because taking out 3,000 people in a single level wasn’t enough! The demo was from an early build of the game and only Fujitora was playable, but, wow, he was impressive! That’s one thing I’ve always liked about this series, the guys who are supposed to be super badass, usually are. Fujitora has a cool ability to use gravity to gather a bunch of bad guys together, and then follow it up by making a giant hole that kills them all. It’s one of the most visually impressive super moves I’ve seen in the series so far! This game looks to continue the crazy in this hilarious and over-the-top series.

The game will be available on the PS4, PS3 and PS Vita and is scheduled for a Summer 2015 release.

by Urian Brown

Dragon Ball Xenoverse

Unfortunately, I got the least amount of time with this one, but I mainly wanted to check out the character creation system. The best news is—you can make a female Majin Buu!!! Sorry for the triple exclamation-point action on that last sentence, but I am very excited by this. You can pick from several races including: Earthling, Saiyan, Namekian, Majin and Frieza. From there, you can change just about everything. Body type, face, facial features, hair...even ears. You can pick from several different voices as well. You can also change the color of your clothes and skin. I made a female Majin Buu, but changed her features and ended up with something that looked like “Mrs. Popo.” After making my character, I ran around a very cool-looking Toki-Toki City, which is the game’s main hub. The game has a brand new story, 3-vs-3 battles, and the ability to have your customizable character “mentored” by the characters from the Dragon Ball series to gain their special moves. I’ve played my share of Dragon Ball games, and it seems like they’ve put a lot more into this one than the usual releases.

This game will be available on the PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Steam and is scheduled for February 24, 2015 release.

by Urian Brown

Looks like 2015 is going to be a major year for Weekly Shonen Jump video games! Have fun!