JoJo Siwa: Worldwide Party

What I learned during this Worldwide Party

This is not part of the JoJo manga.

It is a bizarre adventure tho

You can do it if you see it
if you see it you can be it
you believe it you achieve it
You just D R E A M


Questionable times for this doggo.

There's only two joys in life that I have experienced. The joy of birth, and being a part of this beautiful life, and the joy of experiencing this masterpiece of a game called Jojo Siwa: Worldwide Party. I feel like no matter what I say, and I can speak 3 languages mind you, I will not be able to properly convey the life-changing journey this game has taken me through.
Jojo Siwa: Worldwide Party is a game available right now on Steam for you to purchase with your hard-earned dollars (or currency of choice) that may, or I insist, still may, change your life for the better. It follows the journey of our titular character Jojo Siwa, based off the real popstar Jojo Siwa, as she ventures through the magical world of Jojo Siwa land (call them JojoLands if you will) to throw THE best party the planet has ever seen.
You, the player, will be guiding her through these lands using your dexterity, wits, and quick-thinking to get her to the end of each stage, as you slowly develop Jojo Siwa's Worldwide Party, and see her character develop. You will be partaking in the journey of shaping her character. As the saying goes, when you stare too deep into the abyss, it stares back at you. For this, when you stare into Jojo Siwa's Worldwide Party for long enough, it stares back at you. It changes you. I am a better person.
What are you waiting for? Please play... Not game of the year... Not game of the decade.... Not even the century. Please play Game of the Millennium - Jojo Siwa: Worldwide Party.

There's something oddly endearing about JoJo Siwa: Worldwide Party. Much like it's titular heroine, this title is very unafraid to be gay. As queer art, does it succeed in delivering anything other than rank superficiality? Frankly, no.
Through JoJo's aesthetic choices we are presented an image that's heavily curated yet thoughtlessly considered. It looks and feels something like Lisa Frank fucked a Giga Pudding commercial. You can really tell the game's author wanted it to be Taiko No Tetsujin.
The music is basic; but surprisingly diverse and largely inoffensive. The soundtrack shuffles the player through mindlessly-employed nostalgia and this sorta painful self-awareness; which I feel is the music's defacto signifier as being gen z art. This makes the overall gaming experience needlessly awkward. I must admit this painful earnestness, though undeniably stupid at times, appeals directly to my own lame generational values
Far from the cringe as-shit-nightmare I had envisioned when I installed it -- JoJo shockingly passes as a decent rhythm game in its own right. After spending five minutes to adjust the audio sync in settings, (a solution lost on many i guess) the player is presented with an above-average rhythm-parkour game that has a sensible difficulty ramp and a decent enough variety of level types to keep it engaging. I found the Special Dance levels super dull but I am keenly aware that the intended audience is likely less experienced at gaming.
Occasional annoying ejaculates from the titular hero pepper the gameplay. JoJo Siwa herself sounds like she crawled inside of a carton of cigarettes. The lyrics and overall vibe felt so off at times it hurt. That said, JoJo convincingly shows the player a slice of her world and maybe that doesnt suck?

I was unwillingly forced into playing this game by my friend Rat, who insisted that if I complete this game and give it a positive review, I can receive a Steam gift of my choice... I have never felt so miserable in my life, I have had to rethink my life choices over this game.
Vote Brent Peterson for president of United States.

JoJo Siwa: Worldwide Party is the perfect game for anyone who loves JoJo, It captures the essence of JoJo Siwa in a way that’s engaging, accessible, and full of heart. The mini-games, dance challenges, and colorful visuals make this game an unforgettable experience, and it’s perfect for parties or just spending time with loved ones. Whether you’re a JoJo Siwa superfan or someone who enjoys a good time with friends, this game is a definite winner!
Don’t miss out on the fun—JoJo Siwa: Worldwide Party is a game that’ll have everyone smiling and dancing in no time!

I didn't know who Jojo Siwa was when I got or played this game. I just played it because it was a rhythm game and was in a Humble Bundle. But it's actually a decent little game, probably great for a kid's first rhythm game.
The main stages play kind of like Muse Dash in that you see a character running and you have to jump and punch to the music. The concert stages play a little like Parappa the Rapper or Space Channel 5 where you see a pattern and mimic it. The running stages are very fun, though the music was a little too kid-pop most of the time so it all sounded kinda the same to me, but it wasn't painful to listen to. The concert stages are too easy and too much downtime just watching the badly choreographed 3D model flail around. Thankfully they are the smallest part of the game.
In addition to playing music stages, you get various outfits to dress Jojo up. I like customization, so it was a nice little bonus, and I like obnoxiously loud cute kidcore crap like this, so it was fun having all the zany outfits to pick from. You also get a lot of "makeup" which is more like carnival facepaint that you can customize with.
The stages actually got surprisingly challenging -- within the context of the game. If you come from other rhythm games, it doesn't get much harder than the toughest of songs on the easy difficulties, but I'm surprised it actually threw me a few times and I didn't just 100% every stage right away. It's also musically satisfying, as well, which is always the most important part of a rhythm game.
The game presents itself as an "adventure" so you don't have easy access to a song/stage list. If you want to play the song "Boomerang," for example, you have to remember which stage used Boomerang as its theme and then play that stage. There's no way to know which stage contains which music. A good rhythm game would have a song list or stage list, and an even better one would have high scores and ratings listed alongside them so you can easily see all your best scores and ratings and try to maximize your points.
The game DOES use a scoring system, but it ends up feeling completely arbitrary as you have no idea how scoring works and what the highest possible score is. There's also a "star" rating system, where you get up to 5 stars for clearing a stage. Even when I did bad and failed multiple times in a stage, I still got 5 stars every single time. So I'm not really sure the purpose of this.
During the stages, Jojo will constantly scream things out like positive messages or weird things like, "Bows are my superpower." So if her voice gets on your nerves, stay far, far away. Personally I like "talky" characters like Puyo Puyo and Marvel vs Capcom so this was actually a bit of a delight and made me like the Jojo character.
Almost every part of the game is "inspirational" and "motivational" for kids. The first song you are introduced to, "D.R.E.A.M.," is about believing in yourself and following your dreams. All the other songs follow suit, being about being true to yourself and ignoring negativity and such things.
After playing I learned more about the girl behind the image, and I guess this game actually came out after she came out publicly as pansexual, which is pretty cool, as it still appeals to her kid audience (there is literally 0 LGBTQ content or anything in the game, I'm just saying it's cool that her image was not cancelled simply because she is queer). And it seems like she's trying to convert her image into an edgy queer icon inspired by other stars like Miley Cyrus (of whom I am also a fan). She's stumbling over her own feet a lot trying to make her way, but she's young, and came from a weird stardom childhood, so she's going to be super awkward and weird about it. Personally playing this game made me want to root for her.
The biggest downside to the game is that there's only about 3 hours of content (and yes, I read all the dialogue) and like previously mentioned, no stage select list or collection of your best records to keep you replaying stages. The only reason you'd replay a stage is if you missed a bow or present box and needed to go get it again going for 100% completion.
The second downside to the game is that the songs are reused for many of the stages. And not even staggered -- you will literally be playing D.R.E.A.M. for the first 4 or 5 stages in the game before ever hearing another song. It's different segments of the song, but with big overlaps. And the first stage is always an instrumental version. So while there are many stages, there's only a handful of songs in the game.
The third problem I had with the game was the clunky user interface. In some menus it was hard to tell what I was selecting, sometimes difficult to tell what the game wanted from me, and sometimes I wasn't even sure if the game was even reading my inputs on menus because it's so hard to tell what is selected at times. The game could be polished up with better menu navigation by having a very clear border or pointer showing what is currently highlighted. Instead, the currently selected item will pulsate or have a very faint outline.
If the game had a stage list with your best record on it, I would probably still be playing to get perfects in every stage, because the game was fun enough to warrant that. But since it doesn't have such a critical feature of rhythm games, you'll pretty much done with it in a few hours and have no reason to touch it again.
Oh, also, I got a nice outfit I wanted to wear, equipped it, and then had to play an entire world as Jojo's dog so I couldn't even see it until I finished the whole world.
In all, solid little rhythm game for kids. If you want to introduce your little one to pressing buttons to the timing of music and perhaps improve their musical ability a little bit, go for it. If you're a rhythm gamer willing to try just about anything to get your fix, I can't fully recommend this one because of the lack of replayability, which is what rhythm games should be about. The lack of content means you'll want to buy this on sale only (definitely not worth $40).
Since this is intended for kids and "Siwanators," I'll give it a thumbs up, as it's great for its target audience. But if you're wanting a rhythm game you can keep coming back to with this type of music in it, you'll sadly not find it here.

unironically a decent rhythm game. actually crazy