Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions PC Review
I find it appealing how developers can take the basic idea of the turn-based tactical/strategy role-playing genre and create something different. Just look at titles like Valkyria Chronicles, a game that blended turn-based tactics with real-time shooting, Othercide, a game that blended the genre with roguelike elements and stylish visuals, classics like Fire Emblem that uses a familiar sword/paper/scissors style system or Final Fantasy Tactics with its charm and delightful job system and deep mechanics. Then there is Disgaea, a game that is probably overly complex for its own good, but we love what it tries to bring to the genre’s combat and out-of-battle systems. This leads me to Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions, which sits on the other end of the spectrum of complexity, where combat is extremely easy to understand that it welcomes newcomers to the genre who could pick it up and enjoy it, while still making the game engaging for fans of the genre.
Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions tells the story of a young French boy called Damien, who must leave his home country when his parents decide to move to Japan to look after Damien’s grandmother, as Damien’s granddad has recently passed away. This is a big change for Damien, as it means leaving behind everything he has grown up with, his surroundings, school and friends, as now he lives in another country and must overcome his loneliness and adapt to these changes. Damien has a big imagination and uses this to help with his struggles by changing the scenarios he encounters during his first days of being in Japan and converting them into stories of heroism. Damien turns into Captain Velvet Meteor and with his power of imagination saves himself and his new comrades from the dangers of an unknown planet that he has crashed on.
This leads to two stories being told. The first is the main bulk of the game as played in the imagination of Damien as Captain Velvet Meteor. Each chapter with Captain Velvet Meteor involves him and his boxy sidekick Jay-P, who stays back looking after the damaged spaceship and is the captain’s communicator, letting him know when danger is coming, dropping tips about new game mechanics or alerting him to changes within the mission.
What is interesting about this game is how each character, which involves a few battles and ends in a boss fight, involves Captain Velvet Meteor and one other hero, which is different based on the chapter. Chapters can mostly be done in any order, as they are based on completing the story objectives set by Damien’s mother in the real world. This is where the overarching narrative sits, where Damien must do his list of chores, but Damien converts this chore into his imaginary space adventure. Need to check the mail? Oh wait, there’s a scary-looking old lady near the mailbox, time to turn that into a chapter with a dragon boss fight at the end. It is amusing to see how Damien translates real-world imagery into dangerous encounters within his mind. This is a fun little story that helps support the themes of the game. If there is a shortcoming to this element it is that the house elements are incredibly basic, it involves walking to the correct room and clicking on a couple of things. It serves to deliver the feelings of Damien handling the big life change and nothing more.
Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions stays true to most things about the isometric tactical role-playing game genre but makes it much more accessible and streamlined. There is a feeling that the developers wanted the game to be able to be played by most people and not just the ones who are heavily involved in the most complex of tactical RPGs. In that regard, it is fair to say they have succeeded in that, as even with the streamlined gameplay, this still manages to offer some interesting elements to the genre.
This approach comes across in the controls as well. The heroes take turns moving around the grid-based battlefield, up to four at most as standard but can be extended by picking up orbs that are dropped by enemies. There are three types of attacks, a normal one based on the hero’s weapon, a combo attack, which involves being within a highlighted space next to each other and will use both heroes’ attack turn to perform, and then the special move, which is gained by filling up a metre, split into three, by picking up gold orbs dropped from defeated foes while moving around. The game will assume a combo or special is wanted to be used when in the correct space, but pressing a button will cycle through the various attack modes, as sometimes it is better to individually attack enemies depending on the circumstances of the battle.
One of the main adjustments to this game is that there are only two heroes on the battlefield, Captain Velvet Meteor and then the other hero, who is different for each chapter. These additional heroes are based on lesser-known Jump+ manga characters. These characters come with their attacks and alter the combo and special attacks between Captain Velvet Meteor and themselves. One of the first heroes I was introduced to was Kafka, a dude who can turn into a monster from the manga Kaiju No. 8, which is just about to get an anime this month, so that might be worth checking out. Kafka’s standard attack is a ground pound that does damage a few grid places around him. His combo attack with the Captain is an area-of-effect move that damages and pushes back enemies, while the special attack is a long blue energy blast that is three wide and travels a few spaces ahead for some big area damage.
Other Jump+ characters include Gabimaru from Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku, Chrome from Heart Gear, Princess from Tis Time for Torture, Princess and one that I enjoyed, Slime from Slime Life, mainly because Slime’s moves turn the game into somewhat of a puzzle battler. Slime’s combo ability is to launch himself as a ball from the Captain’s gun, which can bounce off walls and change trajectory. The game makes good use of this for fights, even with Slime’s chapter boss fight having him bounce around walls at angles to break chains that have the dragon tied down. One thing the game does good is making sure each Jump+ character comes with distinct moves that play into that chapter’s mechanic. Another one involves the ninja Gabimaru with his ability to create fire, which the game puts into use with the planet’s vast vegetation that needs burning to unblock routes that make it difficult to get to the end of the safety zone.
The objectives are always straightforward and simplistic – never are you doing anything more than getting to the end of the level, defeating all enemies or finding something. More variety would add to this, but I can only assume they wanted the heroes and their mechanics to be what determines the gameplay. Characters never change, as there are no skills or level-up system, they have what they have and it is down to the player to use those limited moves to the best of their abilities. There are some optional objectives in some specific levels, and these do spice things up, such as pushing a certain number of enemies into lava or smashing optional statues, but the main attraction of the game is how it changes the mechanics to be based around each hero in the chapters.
One thing that differs in Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions is how it handles health, specifically with the heroes, as they share the same health pool, meaning if one dies, the battle is over. Not only that, but the way the game incorporates two distinct styles of enemies, the main enemies that deal the big damage and that the game counts as true foes, and then the little black groupings of what looks like goo or soot with eyes. These are extremely weak and can be shot at as normal but will also die simply by being traversed on as heroes pass over their grid to move to the location. The good thing about these black balls is that they restore health on death, and this is the only way to recover damage. This cleverly introduced micromanagement adds a strategic level, plus it promotes offensive gameplay, which is always great when a game makes the player feel powerful. A lot of times these weaker foes will need to be stomped on to make sure that both heroes can sustain rounds of damage. Looking back on this mechanic, it is such a basic inclusion, but it changes a lot to how players approach the game’s battles.
Combining the above-mentioned health regeneration with big area attacks to gain more health and special attack orbs can link to some incredibly amusing scenarios where players are using special attacks a few times in a row that result in mass enemy destruction. It is such a satisfying feeling when it goes right, but it also has a flip side, because shared health also means that if a friendly foe succumbs to big damage from environmental or enemy attacks and the health pool is not enough to cover it, it is game over and the battle needs to restart. The game’s movement, attack and turns are speedy, and battles are never on the long side, lasting a few minutes before the next battle begins, which makes it perfect for short or long play sessions.
Along with making it easy to grasp for lesser experienced tactical players, the game is also easy on requirements. The hand-drawn graphics allow this to run on pretty much any PC running Windows 10, plus it also makes a great Steam Deck game for anyone who has that device. The traditional world is done in a defined hand-drawn style with elements of manga inspiration, while the gameplay battle scenes look more on the anime side. The general sound and environment design is basic, and the soundtrack is decent enough, but one that will be forgotten once the game’s 11-hour+ campaign is over.
The main thing I took away from playing Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions is how it turned a complex genre into a simple yet inventive, fun game. That is quite an accomplishment. Add this to the quick combat and what you have is an ideal game for newcomers to the genre. There will still be a few who find this game easy, and that is fine, it still offers a pleasant experience with some refreshing ideas. It takes the theme of change and makes it into an adventure, and while there is nothing too deep within its story or mechanics, it is nice to see how this boy comes up with the stories. We were all 10 years old once with the same crazy ideas in our heads, and now we see this materialise in a game.
Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions is a game that will not waste your time and is a decent, easy-to-understand tactical title that appeals to a wide range of players. It could do with more objective variety and increased hero count in the game’s battles, but this could easily be expanded on in a sequel. It’s all about imagination and that can go many places for a game like this. As for our hero’s first adventure, it’s a solid and different experience that makes it a worthwhile play for anyone looking for some unadulterated tactical fun.
