Jujutsu Kaisen, the work of Gege Akutami, has become a staple of the latest generation of manga, particularly through its anime adaptation by the talented studio MAPPA. Today, the manga is entering its last phase since it has started its last chapters, and currently, we are waiting in our regions for the publication of the 23rd volume next April.
As for the video game, it's a little poorer because only a gacha-style mobile experience is available in Japan. Cursed Clash naturally becomes the first video game on consoles in the franchise. The weight is heavy to carry for this adaptation, because it must satisfy the fans by offering them a arena fighter careful, which pays homage to the original work. Unfortunately, like too many anime adaptations, the title only does the bare minimum in order to ride the hype around the manga.
Advertisement
Test conditions: We played the game for around fifteen hours in order to complete the story and play the few game modes offered, all from a PlayStation 5 version sent by the publisher.
Engulf the darkness to better fight it
Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash simply retraces the first season of the anime, as well as the events of the film Jujutsu Kaisen 0. All spread over six chapters of eighty-seven episodes in total, then a bonus chapter made up of two episodes, which only offer one fight on the side of the exorcists and another in the camp of the scourges.
Advertisement
Even though the first season of Jujutsu Kaisen made an impression in the world of Japanese animation, it was the Shibuya arc of the second season, which ended recently, which raised the hype and interest among anime fans several levels. However, choosing to adapt only the first part of the work is certainly coherent, but the software poorly executes the transcription of the scenario.
First of all, cutscenes are just static images coming directly from the series, but with cheap quality which is simply incomprehensible. We only have the right to two/three real cutscenes animated with the game engine, and it's not clear why the whole story isn't told the same way, because they work pretty well.
The story itself advances from episode to episode via a timeline, most of which involves a fight. However, some are just short cutscenes, if we can call them that, lasting a few seconds and one wonders their usefulness. To get to the end of it, and see the end credits, it takes between five and six hours.
Laziness at its peak
As for the soundtrack, Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash has a OST different from that of the anime, and it is clearly forgettable in addition to repeating itself over and over. Fortunately, we still find the official dubbingseven if we would have liked to have a few additional lines of dialogue instead of simply repeating the tirades already known.
To stay in the story mode, we have “short stories” which act as fixed cutscenes optional to the scenario of the work, which are unlocked as we progress in the adventure, but these are clearly forgettable and without much interest, apart from collecting the few trophies for platinum. In addition, these are the only cutscenes that are not dubbed, which reinforces our conviction that the seiyus did not come to duplicate their character in the game.
To argue on the subject, the main menu is just a slideshow of the different passages of the openings and endings from the first season, in addition to looking like a blu-ray movie menu. In addition, the customization cards are just random images, taken from the anime once again… which concludes our theory that the software lacks an artistic soul and is content to recycle elements from the series.
The exorcists' draft notebook
In the story mode of Jujutsu Kaisen, we have the right to seesaw battles. Indeed, we vary between one-on-one battles which end in a handful of seconds, and others which are interminable because the screen displays such a mess. In fact, when the game is 1vs1, we end up with gameplay ofarena fighter classic but functional, but as soon as you add a third, then a fourth fighter, the battlefield becomes completely messy and illegible. We add to this, an information-laden HUD and which very quickly becomes illegible as soon as a character starts speaking because their dialogue bubble takes up a large part of the screen. It’s already complicated to follow the action…
On the visual side, we are not in the presence of a necessarily ugly or beautiful game, but somewhere in between, with both successful combat animations and special attacks, and scenery as well as a level of detail and finishing close to the games My Hero One Justice (therefore less successful), particularly with regard to the very minimal destruction of the arenas.
What is balancing?
The biggest flaw of Jujutsu Kaisen, it's its gameplay and the way you inflict damage. In Cursed Clash, it is not enough just to throw a punch to harm the opponent, but you must perform a complete combo by spamming the same key. You can also launch special attacks charged with occult energy, which vary depending on the chosen character, and which certainly inflict damage if they are not blocked.
In fact, this poses a real problem when, in certain missions, we find ourselves in 1vs2 or even 1vs3, because we do not have time to finish our combo before the second opponent starts to attack us from behind. In the end, the enemy's life bar didn't move an inch. In this sense, we feel that the game is not made for anything other than 1vs1 or 2vs2, but then why did we leave these sequences?
When the game offers 2vs2, we can have access to combined attacks which can be triggered if we attack the same enemy with our companion, but do not expect to necessarily see an animation of the two characters in action, because most of the time , only the one who strikes the triggering blow will have the right to do so.
That said, the title roster is rather rich in fighters, even if some characters from the Kyoto school are absent from the list, which is a shame. Indeed, we would have liked to see a Mechamaru or a Mai in action. Fortunately, Aoi Todo is there to tip the scales. On the other hand, don't count on balancing because it is completely non-existent.
Indeed, we have characters who will be completely lost and who will have difficulty reducing the life of enemies, and others who will be so powerful that it will be impossible to even approach them . Special mention to Suguru Geto in this area. Moreover, artificial intelligence has no cooldown and can therefore chain special attacks as he sees fit, making the confrontation as frustrating as possible and punishing for nothing.
A multiplayer that is not desired
In addition to the story mode, we necessarily have multiplayer to be able to face our friends and players from around the world. The clashes take place in 2vs2, as in solo, and once again, this style of combat shows the greatest weakness of the software, its readability. However, it is still minus the boxon on the screen because, this time, we are facing opponents who have cooldowns between each attack.
But that's not all, because Cursed Clash also has a co-op mode where you team up with another player, in order to face AI-controlled enemies in random waves. In fact, in each new game you will face different enemies, but the goal is always the same, survive and bring down the opponents with your teammate.
That said, there is a second category of this PvE mode, which will make you face waves of much tougher enemies, if you are hungry for a challenge. We also have the possibility of leveling up each character, to then have the opportunity to assign them equipment purchasable with in-game currency in the store, which grants bonuses but also penalties on their statistics.
In itself, this co-op mode is interesting on paper, but it severely lacking in depth, which leads to redundancy and weariness after an hour of play. Especially since you will be more able to team up with an AI, because the servers are completely empty at the moment. The network games that we have been able to perform can be counted on the fingers of one hand.