REVIEW | Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions

“How adorably whimsical can one game be?”

Captain Velvet Meteor is a game that many anime fans will no doubt recognise as a crossover of a few famous franchises including the likes of Spy x Family and ‘Tis Time for “Torture” Princess, but even if you have never heard of those particular anime you will find yourself swept up in the whimsical world of Damien AKA Captain Velvet Meteor. This game is a tactical adventure that never pushes the player too hard, the puzzle elements are just the right side of tricky and the story is just a wonderful adventure into the imagination of Damien as he tries to escape the reality of his move to Japan. These adventures are based on an alien world which mirror some of the real life situations Damien gets into, such as an encounter with his confused and slightly snappy dog (don’t worry the dog is fine). I found myself smiling as the game brought back memories from when I was young and moved house, everything was a brand new adventure and while I never went to the extremes of visiting other worlds in my head I did have similar troubles adjusting. Now throughout his adventures as Captain Velvet meteor, Damien is not alone, he has a robot friend which is actually a Roomba in reality and every adventure he meets up with a familiar face to those of you who are into anime such as Loid Forger from Spy x Family, Kafka Hibino from Kaiju No. 8 and Gabimaru from Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku to name a few. The art style and music work perfectly in tandem to spark that sense of adventure you will need as you traverse the alien landscape and fight off the creatures that lay in wait for the young hero and his friends… Ok that sounded like a plug for the game, I mean how adorably whimsical can one game be? Honestly it is a game that will draw you into the world as you play as well it should. Wonderful writing , story telling and gameplay combined make Captain Velvet meteor a game that I will continue to enjoy playing even just to try and beat my time getting through each level.

Bad Puppy!!!

Things I liked!

• The story | The tale of Damien moving to Japan from France and losing himself in a world of his own creation as he tries to make sense of all the strange new experiences he faces is absolutely brilliant. I found myself intrigued by the whole tale, wondering just how each scenario would play out and even knowing that Damien could overcome each obstacle in time, I wondered just how it was going to happen, what kind of creatures he would be facing and how his new friends would help him to slay his inner demons. I love deep story telling in my games but sometimes it doesn’t even have to be all that deep, sometimes it can be just what this game is, A boy with a big imagination using it to become the hero he dreams of. If you are into light but engaging stories as you play your games then please do check out Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump + Dimensions and let yourself be taken on a wonderful journey.

• The art | The art style of this game is fantastic, the worlds are just beautiful and the creatures that Captain Velvet Meteor faces are ferociously fantastic, from the dangerous foes to the huge boss battles, everything is constant and retains a style that never feels off putting. the pause screen and occasional cutscenes featuring artwork by Damien himself are wonderful too, you aren’t expected to believe that he is a fantastic artist, his drawings are as you would expect of a boy his age and his imagination boosts those drawings into how he views them himself. I’m also very happy that even though there are characters from other franchises in the game they kept the style consistent throughout where some other games might have changed the style to suit the guest character. I love the hand drawn style in some games and I honestly can’t find fault with it.

• Crossover characters | Seeing so many familiar faces as well as some I had never heard of before just gave this game a little bit more of a special edge that it might otherwise not have had. They don’t overuse the characters and the way they are introduced and play in the game makes sense. they don’t feel tacked on as an afterthought but rather they are part of Damien’s imaginary world as Captain Velvet Meteor. no character ever over stays their welcome and each one has a little something to add to the story and help to keep it flowing. Plus it’s great to see who will pop up next and also I now have a few more anime to check out thanks to this game.

The Princess Confessed

Neither good nor bad

• The Gameplay | The game itself is a standard tactical adventure game featuring puzzles, a little stealth and some interesting combo’s. If you are a fan of strategy games then you might find this a little bit too easy, however even if you are not into the whole turn based aspect of games or find strategy a little tedious, the story and difficulty make this game a little easier to handle. I’ll be honest and say I suck at stealth so I found those sections a little tricky but I managed somehow by the skin of my teeth. You won’t find yourself raging at the game but there are some sections that might feel just a little bit tedious as you fight the same enemies over and over because you ran out of turns or made a slight error in judgement. But honestly I can say it’s worth it, just lose yourself in the world and the story and let yourself play.

• The controls | It is actually quite obvious that this was originally a mobile game, now that sometimes can be an annoyance to me if the port is done badly, but on this occasion the publisher managed to get it right. However some aspects of movement feels a little bit complicated, you try and go in a straight line only to find yourself moving erratically in directions you never intended, I feel like they tried to retain the touch control style purely for when people are playing this as a cloud based game on mobile devices through Xbox GamePass, but I could be wrong. I don’t really have a huge issue with the controls but I do feel that they could do with a little bit of tweaking to get them just right.

COMBO TIME!!!

Things I disliked!

• Nothing | I really like this game and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an adventure in fantasy and whimsy.