100% Orange Juice Review
Much like some very specific personalities on the popular video game website Giant Bomb, when I was young and impressionable, I was a fan of the Mario Party series of games. Granted, I only really considered myself to be a fan of the first two; but, nonetheless, I considered myself a "fan." When you had friends over, it was a fun alternative to boring old board games! Of course, as the years went by and I outgrew my childish mind, I could recognize those games for what they were, and naturally parted ways with them. Now, as an adult, I very rarely found myself thinking about playing the video game equivalent of board games, so when my friend asked if I'd like to try some 100% Orange Juice with her, I was a little taken aback when I saw it compared to "Anime x Mario Party." Reluctant, I gave it a shot. I'm glad I did.
One of my major issues with the Mario Party games of yore was that, even if strategy was involved, the pacing got completely destroyed by the unrelenting armada of minigames forced upon you. Some of them were fun, a lot more of them weren't; but, again, the way they affected pacing in a negative way was my major misgiving with these unimportant distractions. My concern going into 100% Orange Juice was that it would have the same problem; but it doesn't - the pacing is quick, and games can take under 40 minutes (under 20 if you want)! There are no minigames, in fact. The closest thing to minigames the game has are "battles," which could be more directly compared to the battle system of any classic JRPG - and those can actually be entertaining!
If I were to make my own comparison of what 100% Orange Juice is a mashup of, I would be more inclined to say it is a combination of Mario Party and Hearthstone. Sure, the anime stylings are there; but they are fairly negligible. I compare it to Hearthstone because one of the most important parts of the game is the card collecting aspect. Before any round of the game, you get to choose ten cards from your deck to be played in the proceeding round. You also get to select one of several characters, each of which has their own advantages and disadvantages. Some have higher defense/attack in battles, for example. One of the more major considerations is that each character has their "hyper" card that will come into play during the course of a match. Depending on your character, this card can send a nuke that will bring everyone on the playing field to 1 HP, or you can launch a missile at one player and it will do 4 damage, or you can take your shirt off which swaps your attack and defense stats.
On the board, depending on where you land, a number of different events could occur. You could land on a space to draw a card, in which you will pull a random card from the game's deck. You could land on a bonus panel, which awards you additional stars - a form of tracking progress, and one of the ways to win the game. You could equally land on a drop panel, which takes stars away. If you cross the path of another player, you are given the option to stop on their panel and start a battle with them. If you defeat them in battle, you receive half of their current stars - and, of course, the same applies to them if they are the victors. As mentioned, having a large pool of stars is one of the ways in which you can emerge victorious from 100% Orange Juice. The other way is to win battles - this includes defeating other players, as well as NPCs who appear on battle spaces. Once you achieve a certain goal, you return to a home square (each player gets one), and turn in the quest (for example, collect 30 stars; win 4 battles, etc). If you do that, you raise your "norma" level, which can be seen as your character's individual level for that round of play. Whoever first reaches Norma 5 and goes home is declared the winner. Major drama can happen if you win the battle with the player in the lead, who needs 300 stars to win and you take half of their current 300. Equally, if you are feeling fighty, you can pick one of the characters who has higher attack rolls and lower defense and go for the victory which requires battle wins. The game is breeding ground for dramatic fun, and it's a great experience all around.
Though the game technically has a single player campaign, I would say the majority of the enjoyment comes from the multiplayer experience. Unfortunately, though - people who play though the single player will have an advantage over those who do not. This comes from the unlock system of the game - you will unlock more characters by playing the single player. Don't worry, there are no microtransactions to be found in this game (minus some paid DLC), so you can't pay-to-win; but if you want the full experience, you'll have to drop at least a few hours into the campaign. The campaign has a "story," but it's completely ignorable. Thankfully you can hold Ctrl + Shift and make the speed blisteringly fast; but it is still a nuisance to trudge through a fairly non-trivial amount of boringness just to have a better multiplayer experience. Thankfully, almost every character is very well balanced (with the exception of one, but you can choose to ban that character from a setting).
Overall, 100% Orange Juice is a small but very fun game to play if you are seeking something slight to enjoy with friends. Though I personally have some slight misgivings about the game, I can't help but recognize that it is well made for what it sets out to be, it is well-balanced, and most importantly, it's fun to play with friends. If you have three friends who would also be interested in a board/card game, I 100% recommend 100% Orange Juice. If you are looking for a single-player game, I'd say you could find something better elsewhere.