Title - "Moero! Justice Gakuen"
Alternative title(s) - "Burn! Justice Academy"/"Justice Gakuen II"/"Project Justice"
Genre(s) - Fighting - 3D
Platform(s) - Arcade and Sega Dream Cast
"Justice Gakuen II" got its released English name from the group that made the "Justice Gakuen" series. So, yeah, you can call it "Project Justice". Here in my review, I'll call this game "Justice Gakuen II" because when I say "Project Justice" in general, I am referring to the group, not the game. You may think this should be called "Justice Gakuen III" due to the fact that "Evolution" had the number 2, but in fact, "Evolution" is the "Hyper Fighting" of "Justice Gakuen". So, it’s an improvement of the original, not a sincere sequel.
Is this all Greek to you? The only point you have to worry about is that in this review, I will use the name "Justice Gakuen II". That's it. Enough said.
"JG II" came out three years ago. That didn't surprise me. Certain places were testing the game out already at the time. I just didn't get the chance to try the game out myself, until the year before last year. With the delays, Dream Cast owners now get the chance to see what this game is like.
The very good news is that majority of the crew, including Hibiki Ran (the camera girl) and Namikawa Nagare (the male swimmer), both being from "Evolution", are in here and there are more new people as well. (Yay! More kawaii girls!) The bad news is that two people aren't returning: Sakura, and Ichimonji (Imawano) Raizo. (Darn! Sakura just had to be gone! I was planning to have a Hinata-Natsu-Sakura trio, but no! Capcom had to take her out! I know she's only a special character, but who cares? Put her in Capcom! I guess I can't have everything, can I? Well, having Akira take Sakura's spot took some time to get used to, but it is fine by me. ^_^
(Oh, and Raizo? I'll only tell you that his reason of not returning deals with the story, in which you have to find out yourself. Play the game for yourself.)
Story: It's been one year since Hy
attacked high schools all over Japan. (If you forgot who is this guy, he's final boss in the original and "Evoltion". Yeah, he's the guy with the sword.) People lived back to their normal lives. The students have gone up a grade and are doing fine. Some of the students made changes. Akira transferred to an all-girls academy.
Suddenly, another attack has happened. Who could be doing the attack this time around? What's this? Some of the students are under someone's control. Are they clones or what? Only time will tell.
How to play: The fundamentals are same as the original and "Evolution" for the most part, but I'll say the fundamentals anyway.
You still have the same format. You have your light/hard punches on top and your light/hard kicks on the bottom. Both punches as you are up close will let you throw, but you can crouch throw with down like before. Both kicks will let you side step, but can alter direction with down added in, like before as well.
Okay, this is a list that show what makes this game different from the original and "Evolution".
1. There's no time. Can't think of a moment in your life in which a fighter in the arcades has no time, can you?
2. Pick from two modes: story or free. In story, you get to select a high school. You already know about the ones in the prequel, but the two new schools are Seijyun, an all-girls school, and Dark Side, the evil school.
Seijyun is the new school Akira attends. In my personal opinion, I love this change because this makes her a more spirited student who can still beat you down. She still is friends with Yamada Eiji/Edge and Isurugi Gan and she is still close to Daig, her onii-chan though.
Dark Side school is the school that is the cause of the catastrophe. They have released the curse of Demon Hy. The campus cares about power. They want all other campuses to recognize who they are, but do they really realize the real power behind the curse behind the Imawano family? That, you’ll have to find out on your own.
No, Tamagawa Minami is not here, since I told you earlier that Sakura is not in this game.
In this mode, you get your endings. The good part about this mode is that you can gain new members with alliances. The bad part is that, you can't always pick your people. Free mode is just customizing your team. No story is involved.
3. You are now in teams of three. That's right! Three.
4. Since you are now in teams of three, here are a couple of new fundamentals to learn.
A. After picking your main person, you select your partner A and partner B. When doing a duo attack, partner A is called with both light blows while B is called with both hard blows.
B. To do a triple team attack, press three buttons at the same time.
5. Counters - at times, there will be dual attack counters. If you call it, your third person will go up against someone from the other team. That person must connect a hit on you in five seconds to cancel the attack, or it will fail and the dual attack will be landed on.
6. To do a triple team attack, you need five stocks. In fact, that's the most amount of stocks you can carry.
The length of your progress depends on what team you decided. In some cases, you will fight in many matches and in others, that’s not the case. That’s what I mean.
Art - 10
Wow! Capcom really outdid themselves. The graphics here look much better than the first game and "Evolution". I especially like the amusement park. The characters look better than ever as well. In my opinion, this category can summarized in three words: three dimensional perfection.
Story - 10
What I like about the "Justice Gakuen" games is the story. Yeah, an average fighting game fan will say that does not play a factor in these type of games at all and that’s not true. The "Justice Gakuen" series is a series that is all about bonds. There are themes of unity and betrayals. I guess that’s what being an anime and manga fan can do for you. ^-^;
This game is no exception. We have another wonderful story. I can't think of any other Capcom fighting series with a top class story line or even a story line. Well, maybe the "Vampire" series had some story line, but it wasn't much. Plus, everyone knows that "Street Fighter's" story line is messed up for the most part as well. Anyway, the "Justice Gakuen" series has the best story line out of Capcom's fighters.
I like the change for Akira. She transfers to a different school and I guess it makes her more kawaii. Plus, she develops more as a character.
Audio - 10
You got some J-pop like the amusement park theme. You got some rock like the train station theme and some other types of music. This is what you call a wonderful soundtrack.
The music is all new as I did not hear a single track from the original and "Evolution", but it doesn’t matter. Sure, they’re not memorable to the average video game fan. Actually, I don’t think many people would think the series has any memorable songs, but that’s them, not me.
Some of the "Justice Gakuen" tracks are memorable in my heart. In the first game and "Evolution", I like Space of Illusion, the name of Hy’s theme. It has a pretty fast tempo and I consider it to be one of the best techno songs in the video game world. Here, I like the Seijyun theme song. It has a Japanese pop feel and I feel that this is one of those songs that deserves to be in the class of Precious Heart, Sakura's theme song in the second "Street Fighter Zero" game and the "Psycho Soldier" theme song.
The voices are great and the voices of the new characters are just like the original crew's - top class. Ueda Y
ji-san, Hiyama Nobuyuki-san, Mitsuishi Kotono-sama, yeah, everyone's here. Throw in Orikasa Ai-sama who also plays as Ryko in "Tenchi Muy!", Yagumo in "Tengai Maky Shinden", Quatre in "Gundam W", Ayame in "Sakura Taisen" and so forth to play as Himezaki Aoi/Zaki and you have made the crew better. It's a shame that this was Shiozawa-san's last big performance. Oh and by the way, Shiozawa-san was the announcer for this game, while Roy Bromwell’s seiy, Okiayu Rytar-san who plays as characters like Kentar in "Love Hina", Y in "Marmalade Boy", and Jinnai in "El Hazard", announced in the last game.
Yeah, I am aware that the voice samples are the same for the most part. I don’t think the changes are needed. I mean, they’re fine. If I wanted to see changes, they should be in the next "Justice Gakuen" game, if Capcom does decide to make another one.
Control - 10
For the most part, the controls are the same. The new fundamentals might scare you a bit, but you can get the hang of it.
Fun - 7
Thought I would give this part a ten, right? Nope. First off, when you get the Dreamcast version of this game, I hope it's the Japanese one. Capcom of America has taken out the side-games in the American version. This is just like the American version of the original. Not only does the branch say that it takes too much time to translate, but the branch also says that there's some material that is *I do the quotations gesture from Dr. Evil, that Mike Myers character* naughty. I can tolerate this for only one game, but not here now.
Geez! What's so naughty about the board game and the other mini-games? If there's some shots of like a girl accidentally shows her under garments, then I do have quite a lot to say about this.
''Hey Capcom of America! We see material like Love Hina, so there's no point taking the material out. Oh boy. Got to place the blame on parents now, I guess.”
Okay. I should stop complaining about that now.
Any other reasons why this category doesn't get a ten? Personally, I like time more, but I could care less. Really. Sakura is gone, and that will make some fans upset, especially me. Sakura is one of my favorite characters, and she's one character I have success with when I still play the old games. Some changes as a whole are good. (Hinata's Ren Geki Ken, the ball that comes out of her fist, doesn't need the extra punches to come out.) Others are bad. (Hinata's Rasen Enbu Kyaku, an anti-air that kind of works like King's vertical Tornado Kick or Chun-Li's Hazan Ten Sh Kyaku, her anti-air super combo, replaces her Hon Senp Kyaku, her upgraded spinning kick Burning Vigor Attack. It was hard for me to connect it. I don't even remember if I did connect the darn thing. Maybe it's just me.) Other than those reasons and a few other minor flaws, this game still delivers the fun, seen in the last game. Demon Hy is hard, but he is possible to defeat. I did beat him a few times.
Life - 9
Fun roster, many combinations, fun, fun, fun, yeah, the game is fun. Still needs the mini-games for the American version though.
Overall - 8
While not as wonderful as the original or "Evolution", "Justice Academy II" is still a wonderful game to play. Go out there and see the fun, beauty and excitement for yourself now. I know this is not the conclusion of the series. I’m sure Capcom will bring out another "Justice Gakuen" game.
This gaikokujin's report: oh yeah. We're in America, not in Japan. Silly me. Well, here's my report anyway. =P
+
Nice art, nice audio, nice control, the game is solid.
-
What is hard for me to swallow here? There are no mini-games in the Dreamcast port, and there are the changes I don’t like, especially in the roster.
Date of creation - 1/13/03
Last update - 10/3/04