I’ll go ahead and say that Hyper Jam is an homage to both the eighties with the use of the word “hyper” and the nineties with the use of the word “jam”. It is able to bring in aspects of fighting games from both decades, as well as paying respects to modern fighting games like Smash Bros.
Now, I am going to say that I am not into fighting games, as stuff like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and the previously mentioned Smash Bros is of no interest to me. I’m not going pretend that this didn’t affect my review. I will say that I have a son that is into Smash Bros, but I couldn’t really get him into Hyper Jam.
I will say that I appreciate what Hyper Jam is doing as it is different from most fighting games. In all examples of fighting games, the camera is put on the side, as if the player is watching this fighters as and audience member. Hyper Jam goes for more of a bird’s eye view, but at a good angle so the player can control their avatar.
As for the arenas, they look like very 80s future ideas right out of Blade Runner or even other not-so-memorable science fiction films. I can’t help but compare it to Kung Fury, and you should just watch that if you haven’t already.
By the way, the fighting isn’t just one-on-one, but the player needs to take out groups of combatants. Another difference between Hyper Jam and other fighting games is that the player earns these “perks” that help you fight. There is your typical punches thrown as well as weapons just lying around for greater damage.
I will have to give Hyper Jam two and a half stars out of five. It would be higher if the game had a bigger suck-in potential, but lower if it wasn’t trying something different.
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