In the words of the developers themselves, Jitsu Squad is inspired by the Marvel vs Capcom games, given a four player co-op twist. Said developers, Tanuki Creative Studios, have certainly aimed high with the target of the game, and so I guess the question that we need to answer in this review is therefore a pretty simple one – Are they going to hit the target, or have they missed the dartboard altogether and landed in someone’s pint?
Given that Jitsu Squad is a fighting game, we need to know what we are fighting for, don’t we? Well, it is a worthy cause, as you’d expect. An evil sorcerer by the name of Origami (yes, I know) has decided that what he really wants is the stone that contains the soul of a powerful demon. And obviously, being a powerful sorcerer, he isn’t going to go and fetch himself. Nope, he is going to resurrect souls of warriors from the past, make them do his bidding, and then send them out to get the stone. Luckily, there is also a good wizard, and he manages to rescue four heroes and send them on a mission to thwart Origami’s ambitions. And this is where you come in, along with up to three friends.
Now, there is no easy way to say this, but Jitsu Squad looks amazing. The characters, both good and bad, ooze personality from every pore. It’s good too that the graphics have been realised with a fantastic hand-drawn style, one that ensures the characters moves are absolutely top notch. It reminds of one of the high octane Saturday morning cartoons that you see these days on television. It’s all a bit different from my day, when it was all Dungeons and Dragons and He-Man, but this style is much fun. The enemies and bosses are a varied bunch too, and with super transformations to utilise, alongside screen filling super attacks, it is way over the top in the best possible way. The sound that goes along with it is also great, with fully voiced cutscenes and a great chop socky sound effect that is about as brash as the visuals.
The heroes that we can choose from are a varied bunch. There is the imaginatively named Hero, a racoon who is pretty much a Samurai; and Baby, a rabbit wielding twin kunai who has a fascinating line in transformations while she attacks. There is also Jazz, a frog who has a lovely line in spinning attacks, and finally Aros, a Viking Warthog (I think?) who is the token slow, but powerful, character. You should be able to find a hero to suit your style, let’s put it that way.
Jitsu Squad looks and sounds brilliant, but how does it play? I sometimes think that trying to compare new games to old ones is a bit lazy, but I just can’t help it here. What this game is is a fusion of Final Fight and one of the fighting games, maybe a Dragon Ball Game, with a dash of Street Fighter II.
Let me explain. Basically, Jitsu Squad is a side scrolling beat ‘em up, where you have to go from left to right and defeat the enemies in the way. However, it isn’t serious like Final Fight (a point referenced in the second boss fight, when the mafia leader says he is just sending a ransom note to the Mayor of Metro City), but instead goes for the jugular with over the top attacks and combos, a bit like a Dragon Ball Z fighter, with new moves being unlocked that use similar controller inputs to a more serious fighting game. In between the stages, there is a version of the famous barrel breaking mini-game from Street Fighter II, where you are destroying giant sushi rolls. Somehow, this fusion works, and the result is absolute carnage.
The controls are simplicity itself. The stick moves you about, X attacks, Y does a special attack (assuming you have picked up a secondary weapon) and B summons a massive screen filling super duper move that deals heavy damage to anything on the screen. A is the jump button, and RT is the counter button, while RB is used to pick up anything that falls on to the floor. These items can be things like food to heal you, or special summon attacks that bring the pain, and they can also be gold and jewels to pick up.
Going to fight the hordes of enemies alone is a lot of fun, but Jitsu Squad also has a party piece – 4 player local co-op. I have to say, playing Jitsu Squad in cooperative mode is a joy. The only thing I will say is that when playing with a partner, it is sometimes hard to see where you are on the screen as the sheer amount of pyrotechnics going off make New Years Eve in London look like a quiet Wednesday in Walsall. It is difficult to play sensibly with other people too, as it is impossible to see when you should block and counter, and so there are a lot more deaths in multiplayer, weirdly. Still, I can imagine that after a few shandies this would be an amazing game to play with a bunch of like-minded friends.
Jitsu Squad is an absolute riot to play, alone or with friends. There is more action than you can shake a katana at, there are more special attacks and pyrotechnics outside of a Dragon Ball anime, and the only thing wrong with it is the difficulty in making out what is going on when playing multiplayer.
If you fancy a side scrolling beat ‘em up, but want something a little bit different, then I commend Jitsu Squad for its inventiveness and sheer exuberance.
Jitsu Squad is on the Xbox Store
