Dealspwn writes: "J-Stars Victory VS+ is the ultimate anime and manga crossover.
Where else can Shonen Jump royalty fight with or against each other in pitched combat? Where else can Monkey D. Luffy gomu gomu no bazooka Ichigo Kurosaki through a brick wall while Gintoki Sataka drives his moped straight into Vegeta? Where else can Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo and Koro-sensei gang up against Boa Hancock as Kenshiro winds up his Hundred Crack Fist?
Nowhere. J-Stars Victory VS+ is a real treat for Shonen Jump fans featuring dozens of characters both famous and obscure, but just as importantly, it's a fun and technically accomplished brawler too."
IGN: "If our two-hour hands-on preview is any indication of the rest of the game, then Visions of Mana's fresh take on battle and class systems not only gives it the potential to meet the success of the originals but possibly even the chance to surpass them."
It's balancing old and new, then, and embracing a sort of breezy retro simplicity. Pleasing as that is, though, it so far feels a little shallow by comparison to other genre heavy-hitters. Despite moving to an open world and offering sumptuous presentation, Visions of Mana clings to the past and lacks truly fresh ideas of its own. It's a welcome return and a fun, bubbly, frivolous experience, but the Mana series looks set to remain in the shadow of Square Enix's premiere franchises for now.
Hopes are high as Open Roads allows us to take in a Game Pass, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and PC road trip.
I'm not a huge fan of the Shonen Jump stuff, but I'm glad this is a good game in its own right, if only because it might convince other manga / anime publishers to create similar stuff.