JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven
Japanese cover, depicting the manga's protagonists
Developer(s)	CyberConnect2
Publisher(s)	Bandai Namco Entertainment
Director(s)	Kenei Nakasha
Producer(s)	Noriaki Niino Hiroshi Matsuyama
Designer(s)	Hisashi Natsumura Masayuki Yano Hirofumi Kikuchi Satoshi Kumamoto Tota Sadamoto Yuto Tomoda Shozo Sata Ryohei Miura Yoshimi Kimura
Programmer(s)	Toshiro Kuribayashi Keita Matsueda Tetsuro Inoue Takashi Nakagawa Fumio Honda Takafumi Murauchi Koji Masuda Ryosuke Ito Shusuke Yamanaka Ryouta Murakami Kei Nishiyama Shunsuke Maeta Kazuma Fuchimoto Sho Goda Kohei Fukuda Yuki Hamashima
Artist(s)	Soichiro Iwasaki
Composer(s)	Chikayo Fukuda
Series	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3 (JPN) PlayStation 4 (WW)
Release	JP: December 17, 2015[2] NA: June 28, 2016[1] EU: July 1, 2016[1]
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven (Japanese: ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 アイズオブヘブン, Hepburn: JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken Aizu Obu Hebun) is an action video game for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 developed by CyberConnect2 and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Based on the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga series by Hirohiko Araki, Eyes of Heaven is the second game in the franchise to be developed by CyberConnect2, following 2013's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle. The game was released for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan on December 17, 2015 and was released exclusively on the PlayStation 4 in Western territories on June 28, 2016.

Plot[]

The narrative, over-seen by Hirohiko Araki, takes place immediately following the events of Stardust Crusaders. Jotaro Kujo and his allies, who had just defeated the evil vampire DIO, are suddenly attacked by friends and enemies who have either disappeared or died along the way. It is then they are approached by a young Robert E. O. Speedwagon, who possesses a piece of the Saint's Corpse that allows him to travel through time and space as well as vanquish the evil influence possessing the others. He leads Jotaro and his allies on a journey through time, space, and alternate universes, in order to stop another iteration of DIO and his disciple Father Enrico Pucci from obtaining the other pieces of the Saint's Corpse in DIO's quest to finally be free of the Joestar family and achieve his own personal heaven.^[3] Fighters from all 8 parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure appear as Jotaro travels through time to meet his great-great grandfather Jonathan Joestar, his grandfather Joseph Joestar from a point in his youth, Joseph’s illegitimate son Josuke Higashikata, DIO's son (biologically Jonathan’s) Giorno Giovanna, and his own daughter Jolyne Cujoh, while Jonathan and Josuke meet their alternate universe counterparts, the jockey Johnny Joestar and the amnesiac only known as "Josuke Higashikata."

Once the heroes finish their tasks, they gather the Corpse Parts they have, but notice one is missing. Suddenly, the Joestars are all transported before a DIO with a powered-up version of The World known as The World: Over Heaven. The World: Over Heaven easily repels the Joestars' attacks, even managing to overcome the reality-nullifying power of Giorno's Gold Experience Requiem and the infinite rotation of Johnny's Tusk ACT 4 before using his Corpse's part to draw all the other Corpse parts to him. Before DIO can eliminate the Joestars, however, they manage to escape, as DIO realizes Jotaro managed to keep a Corpse's part to himself. After they were transported, Funny Valentine appears to the group and reveals that DIO couldn't take Jotaro's Corpse Part because their Stands are still the same type, even after the former's evolution. Elaborating further, he explains that when Johnny had captured him with Tusk ACT 4's infinite rotation, he used D4C to escape to a parallel Earth of the original universe in which DIO won the events of Part 3, evolved his Stand, and conquered the world, becoming a godlike being known as Heaven Ascension DIO. After Valentine's unsuccessful attempt to bring Heaven Ascension DIO over to his reality to destroy Johnny, DIO decided to invade the main world so he could conquer it. After Valentine reveals DIO's plan to the group, they split up in order to reclaim the Saint Corpse Parts from DIO's underlings once more, retrieve the remaining allies still being manipulated, and find out the secret of DIO's evolved Stand. Meanwhile, Valentine repeats his vow to protect his nation before entering a hopeless battle with DIO, in which he is defeated and erased from existence.

After accomplishing the first two goals but unable to figure out the secret behind DIO's Stand, the JoJos and Speedwagon return to Egypt to confront DIO, who is defeated, but absorbs most of the Joestars and their allies' souls, as well as the Corpse parts. DIO rewrites the universe to his own liking, but Jotaro and Jolyne survive to face him. DIO quickly overpowers them both and takes Jolyne's soul in the process, leaving Jotaro on his own. DIO manages to land a punch with The World Over Heaven and attempts to erase Jotaro only for it to fail. Jotaro reveals that Star Platinum, being the same type of Stand as The World Over Heaven, has attained Over Heaven as well just as it had attained The World's time stopping abilities before and stopped his erasure with it. With the playing field levelled Jotaro remembers Valentine's warning of two iterations of the same person destroying each other upon contact. Jotaro reveals that he has obtained prime DIO's armlets, which fuses with Heaven Ascension DIO and badly damages his hands, the source of The World Over Heaven's ability to rewrite reality. Without his reality-warping powers, Jotaro gains the upper hand and destroys Heaven Ascension DIO in a manner much like in the main universe. After DIO's defeat, all realities are restored and Jotaro returns to meeting his allies at the end of Part 3. However, the credits reveal that prior to giving up Star Platinum: Over Heaven, Jotaro rewrote his timeline so that everyone who died in Parts 1-6 survived, including all of his own friends who had died, and it's also revealed that he did the same for the Parts 7-8 timeline.

In a post-credits scene set eleven years after the events of the game, Jotaro arrives in Morioh for the events of Part 4, bringing along a 6-year-old Jolyne in an attempt to be a better father to her and avert the events of Part 6. He approaches Koichi Hirose, asking him about the whereabouts of Josuke Higashikata.

Gameplay[]

Eyes of Heaven is designed to be a 3D action brawler with tag-team elements set in large arenas based on locations in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga. Players may pick a single character to control in a large environment, as well as a second character that may be controlled by either a CPU or second human player to fight the enemy team for a 2v2 battle. Certain match-ups contain special animations and dialogue between two characters, mostly between allies in the form of unique combination attacks such as the Dual Combos (デュアルコンボ, Dyuaru Konbo) and Dual Heat Attacks (デュアルヒートアタック, Dyuaru Hīto Attaku), though provide no discernible bonuses or advantages in battle. The playstyle is similar to that of other known CyberConnect2's Shonen Jump game series, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja series, such as the combo mechanisms and the air to air combos. The game allows for online play through the PlayStation Network system.

Battle Styles[]

Like in All Star Battle characters are categorized by Battle Styles which change how each character plays in the game, as well as their different strengths and weaknesses. For example, Vampires and the Mode-using Pillar Men heal from damage over time, except from Ripple-enhanced attacks; They can also be immobilized by ultraviolet lamps as part of Rudol von Stroheim's "The Prime Example of Superior German Science" style. The Battle Styles "Ripple User", "Vampire", "Mode", "Stand User", and "Mounted" return from All Star Battle (with slightly different names), while Eyes of Heaven adds "Ogre Street" (食屍鬼街（オウガーストリート）, Ōgā Sutorīto) and "The Prime Example of Superior German Science" (ゲルマン民族の最高知能の結晶, Geruman Minzoku no Saikō Chinō no Kesshō, literally "The Greatest Crystallized Intelligence of the German People") to the game. Also new in Eyes of Heaven is that characters that were previously classified in All Star Battle as having one Battle Style but displayed abilities of another are now classified as having two Battle Styles. For example, Old Joseph Joestar is now classed as both a Ripple User and a Stand User, while in the previous game he was only classified as a Stand User who happened to have Ripple attacks as well.

Characters[]

The following characters are playable in the game.

Original non-playable character

• DIO, Gone to Heaven (天国に到達したDIO, Tengoku ni Tōtatsu-shita DIO, voice: Takehito Koyasu), Vampire and Stand User; Stand Name: The World Over Heaven (ザ・ワールド・オーバーヘブン, Za Wārudo Ōbā Hebun)^[a][d]

Notes

Development[]

The game was first announced in the January 15, 2015 issue of Famitsu and featured characters returning from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle, such as Joseph Joestar, Jotaro Kujo, Noriaki Kakyoin, Caesar Zeppeli, and Josuke Higashikata (from Diamond Is Unbreakable), but also revealed the introduction of new characters Rudol von Stroheim and Diego Brando.^[12][13] Voice actors from All Star Battle as well as the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders anime adaptation reprise their roles in Eyes of Heaven. The game's genre is described as "Stylish Tag JoJo Action" (スタイリッシュタッグジョジョアクション, Sutairisshu Taggu JoJo Akushon), referring to its tag team style fighting. A demo of the game was revealed at the 2015 Jump Festa on December 20, 2014, and was made public on the Japanese PlayStation Store on January 29, 2015.^[14] On June 20, 2015, a second trailer for Eyes of Heaven was publicly revealed in downtown Shinjuku at the Studio Alta building.^[15] The trailer showcased all playable characters revealed so far from Phantom Blood to Diamond Is Unbreakable, as well as adventure and arena stages based on the locations featured in the manga.

The developer's official Twitter revealed on July 18, 2015, that the story mode for Eyes of Heaven would be personally handled by series creator Hirohiko Araki.^[16] In addition, it was also promised that the game would receive no paid downloadable content (DLC) or microtransactions beyond release, though they noted the possibility of preorder DLC.^[16] On August 21, 2015, a new key visual unveiled for the game revealed the remaining Parts, Stone Ocean and JoJolion alongside the playability of main protagonists Jolyne Cujoh, Johnny Joestar and Josuke Higashikata.^[7] On September 11, an issue of Jump magazine revealed the inclusion of the remaining Diamond is Unbreakable characters previously appearing in All-Star Battle, being Rohan Kishibe, Okuyasu Nijimura and Kosaku Kawajiri, as well as the game's upcoming playable appearance at the 2015 Tokyo Game Show. In addition, it was also announced that players who buy the first printing of the game would receive a limited-available code that allows them to play as Jotaro Kujo in his Part 4 incarnation (unavailable for use in either the game's Story Mode or in a Tag Team match paired with his Part 3 counterpart). Lastly, the game's release date of December 17, 2015 was revealed.^[2][5]

The third trailer of Eyes of Heaven was revealed on September 20, 2015, during a special JoJo conference, along with several gameplay demonstrations streamed live.^[17] The trailer is once again narrated by Rohan who meets with Tonio Trussardi at the "Cafe Deux Magots", and is later confronted by a shadowy figure once he discovers a fallen "Book of Heaven".^[18]

Reception[]

The game received a 34/40 by Famitsu magazine.^[24]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website