In December, a new game, “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes Of Heaven” was announced. Since then, there has been a lot of new information revealed about the game. At Jump Festa they released a trailer for the game, and those lucky enough to be there got to play a demo of the game. The stages in the demo were revealed to be “Fight Island” from part 2, where Joseph fought AC/DC, and the “Rocky Mountain Town” from Steel Ball Run. It was later revealed in a scan that Jonathan Joestar and Zepelli will be returning from ASB, along with newcomer Speedwagon.
Along with the new characters, the Joestar mansion was revealed as a new stage. Last week, the demo of the game was released on the Japanese PSN for PS4 only. I’ve analyzed the gameplay and found some interesting details. On Fight Island, there is a large pit of spikes in the center. If you play as a Hamon user, you can walk on the spikes harm free using Hamon. If you are not, then you will lose your health slowly as long as you are on it. There is a statue of a lion in the stage. If you are Stand user, you can pick it up and throw it at your opponents. You can do this with a rake in the mountain town as well. If you are a Hamon user, you can send a Hamon charge through the lion, setting up a trap. I noticed Joseph can pick up various tools from treasure chests and various spots across the map, but I couldn’t tell what happened when others open chests.
It appears that you use abilities by pressing R1 and one of the 4 main buttons, and you must have stamina to use them. I have yet to be able to play the game myself, so I can not properly judge the controls. It appears that only certain characters have a true DHA where the characters combine powers for an attack. For example, if Jotaro and Kakyoin use their DHA, they fight together in a cutscene, but when Josuke and Jotaro use the DHA, Jotaro just does a quick ORAORA and then a shortened version of Josuke’s GHA from All Star Battle plays. It is exciting to imagine what cool DHAs will be in the game’s final product.
One final major detail that was hidden in the demo is the background during the loading screen. The screen I refer to has a pattern of stars and various little symbols representing the different parts of the manga. The same as ASB, it includes parts 5, 6, and 8, which at the moment have no characters from their parts revealed to be playable, hinting at future announcements. Considering how many chapters have been released since ASB released, I truly hope to see more than just Josuke from Jojolion representing the part. Additionally, with part 6 confirmed, this gives me hope for Weather Report and F.F. making an appearance in the game. Part 5 also has some of the most epic fights in the series, so more representation on that front would always be appreciated. Eyes of Heaven looks like its going to be one amazing game.
By Reuben Malone
Image courtesy of Albert Wang – Flickr Image