Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash PS5 Review

Having recently finished the second season of Jujutsu Kaisen on Crunchyroll, I was super hyped for the release of Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash. I love Manga and Anime, so I was hoping to complete the full circle and love the game. With this being the first JJK console game there was a lot riding on this from a fan’s perspective as I really wanted to enjoy it and hoped it would do the core material justice.

That being said I managed to get hold of a copy of the digital Ultimate edition which came with some extra goodies that any fan would love to have. This edition came with the core game, digital artbook and soundtrack, outfit sets from the anime ending credits (season 1) and a few extras. I do love a good artbook even more so when it’s a game or franchise I strongly enjoy. After a quick scroll through the digital book and a listen to the soundtrack, it was time to jump into Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash and prove myself as the best Jujutsu Sorcerer in town.

Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash is an action 3D arena fighter that follows the events of the first season and movie of the popular manga/anime series. It features 2 vs 2 tag team fighting and offers fifteen of the series well know characters.

By having this 2 vs 2 mechanic you are able to create unique combinations and dynamics as well as make the perfect team combo that suits your play style. If you are a fan of the series then you are probably as hyped as I was to be able to play a JJK game however while playing I couldn’t help but notice the lack of effort that has gone into the game’s story mode, menus and overall combat.

The story mode is basically a dulled-down recap of the first season and film but with screen grabs from the actual anime and movie. There aren’t any cutscenes which is frustrating and it just feels super repetitive as you are doing the same thing through the six chapters. I did feel let down in a way as I was hoping for a lot more, if I wanted a straight-up recap, I would have watched the anime again or re-read the manga at least it would have offered me a more stratifying experience.

There are 15 characters currently to choose from:

• Aoi Todo
• Eso & Kechizu
• Hanami
• Jogo
• Kento Nanami
• Mahito
• Maki Zen’in
• Megumi Fushiguro
• Nobara Kugisaki
• Panda
• Ryomen Sukuna
• Satoru Gojo
• Suguru Geto
• Toge Inumaki
• Yuji Itadori
• Yuta Okkotsu

There were a few characters that I would have liked to have seen, mainly Toji. He had one of the best scenes in season 2 and loved him in the manga but was nowhere to be seen in Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash. There are other side characters that would have been nice to see added but I suppose these will be kept for future games or inevitable DLC. The gameplay is literally as basic as any fighter comes.

There is a basic combo which you literally be using repetitively, two special attacks and an ultimate attack with can only be used once per match. When you think back to JJK in the manga and anime the fights are epic and on such a visually pleasing scale. Sadly that isn’t the case with Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash as it seems super slow, sluggish and lacklustre. It feels janky at the best of times and when you do land hits it loses its flare after the first few times you see the visuals for the moves. Even though it’s 2 vs 2 this feature doesn’t elevate the gameplay as much as you think.

It comes in handy when you want to do joint attacks and joint finishes but it doesn’t play much more of a role than just making the arena even more chaotic than the combat already feels. It is also a concern of mine how unbalanced some of the characters are. If they have any ranged attacks they will wipe the floor with 90% of the melee characters which just makes them non-playable.

The dodging and evading feels unfinished and feels like it doesn’t always work even when you press the buttons and when you do get knockdown you lie there for like an eternity before standing back up. It makes fights drag on for longer than they need to.

When I did try out the online modes, they were a lot better than the story mode but got repetitive way too quickly. There are a high number of lobby problems and networking issues that I find myself spending way too long looking for matches than I do playing in them. Free battle is a nice addition but again once you have played through the story and dabbled a bit online you have pretty much seen all that Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash has to offer.

Graphically the art style is pleasing and the character models are fantastic, the audio is spot on as I have been playing it subbed and it matches the anime. The arenas are based upon locations in the series and have somewhat destructible scenery, the different outfits you can unlock for each character are a nice addition but nothing game-changing. It would have been much nicer if we got some cutscenes or additional little elements thrown in to make it a bit more impactful.

It did frustrate me that the story mode was mainly made up of still images taken from the anime and still images with the audio playing over the top. I would have loved to see more but it is what it is.

With Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash being a fighting game there is plenty of replay value. Once you have completed the story mode (recap of season 1 and movie) you’ll spend the remainder of your play time in the online modes and possibly free battle.

It’s nice to have all the characters available to you without having to unlock them as you might not want to play through the story mode straight away. There are a lot of in-game cosmetics and accessories that can be unlocked with in-game currency which can be obtained just by playing. If you are a completionist or want to unlock everything for your favourite characters you will be playing for quite some time.

Conclusion

For any Jujutsu Kaisen fan, you might feel let down by this product. I know that I was. I feel like there could have been so much more potential in this game if they did more than just copy and paste season 1 and the movie in a half-arsed way. Yes, it’s nice that we have a JJK game on console but it annoys me that this is it. If someone had never seen the anime or read the manga before this might be their first time seeing these amazing characters and seeing the story and it doesn’t stand up to the Manga or Anime at all.

Visually the models for the characters are brilliant and it’s nice to have the voice actors in the game but this just feels like a cash grab with a huge name attached to it and that doesn’t really sit well with me. When you look at the fact that Tekken 8 has just dropped which is another fighter game and see how brilliantly that player looks, people might not even look Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash’s way.

Its success will come from the fanbase of the series but when it can’t do it justice how successful can it be, for these reasons I’m giving Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash a 5 out of 10. There were elements that I liked but it sadly didn’t blow me away, which is what I was hoping for after the awesomeness of Season 2.

Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Trailer

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