Senran Kagura: Estival Versus - Review

 

I recently finished playing Tamsoft's ( published by Marvelous Entertainment) Senran Kagura Bon Appetit on the PS Vita which I found to be a lot of silly fun and parts even reminded me a bit of some side quests in the Yakuza series. Naturally, I was curious about the rest of the series and have been on a PS Vita kick so decided to try Senran Kagura: Estival Versus.

I like KitKats, they are simple and satisfying. They always remind me of being sick when I was young, seemed to have them along with some Lucozade. Over course my grandmother likes to remind me that when I was still in a pram I used to ask for 'Pussy Chocolate' (yeah, I know). The other day I tried a new type of KitKat, salted caramel with popcorn. KitKat good, salted caramel alright, popcorn why not. I thought I would like it, I wanted to like it, but I just could not get into it, maybe there were too many flavors, perhaps I don't have a refined enough palette. All I know is that I was not pushed on it and wished I had got a regular KitKat. Playing Senran Kagura: Estival Versus I found my asking was this as tasty as a regular KitKat or had I accidentally ate a salted caramel one with popcorn?

Story

For an anime and video games series which is relatively speaking light hearted the story in Estival Versus is quite dark. Shinobi girls of Hebijo Clandestine Girls Academy are mourning a loss of an older sister.  This is tough enough but then a portal opens that transport them along with there allies and enemies to a an after life of sorts that allows them to see the dead as they remember them. The story is filled with a lot of emotion, drama and coming to terms with loss. 

There is of course the naughty humor that is to be expected from the Senran Kagura series but as whole there is very much a downbeat feeling. Overall the story is deep and though out but for me lacked the lightheartedness of Bon Appetit.

 

Visuals

The PS Vita version of the game visually speaking is not a million miles away from the PlayStation 4. The beach levels are bright and vibrant and feel good, some of my favorite missions were set in the winter resort areas, it felt like Christmas and there were snowman littered around the level. The characters look pretty solid and the only time things go a little sideways is when the characters are moving a lot as they can look a little low quality.

Overall the visuals are pretty good for a PS Vita game, the anime sequences look great as do the visual novel segments. The only draw back visually speaking are the some of the fighting sequences.

Music

The soundtrack is pretty upbeat feature guitars riffs-a-plenty fused together with oriental instruments. Some of the music brought to mind music from Metal Slug and many anime series. The three Japanese composers responsible for the soundtrack have work on a number of video game and anime series. The composers are; Tatsushi Hayashi (Queen's Blade, Stein's Gate, Revival Prophecy), Akihi Motoyama (Oneechanbara, Hyperdimenion Neptunia U, Gun Gun Pixies), and Mutsumi Ishimura (Quora Q-3,  Hyperdimenion Neptunia U, Gun Gun Pixies).

The soundtrack provides around an hour of music, the stand out tracks for me were; 'It's Summer!', 'Great To See You Here!', 'Get Heated Up!', 'Come On', 'Chatting With The Usual Friends', 'Peacefulness Right By Your Side' and 'Shopping Spree'. Overall that soundtrack isn't bad but did not get me that excited. 

Gameplay

The game is a brawler, lots of enemies and a few bosses is the set up for most missions. The fighting is fairly in depth, having a lot moves to learn and unlock. The initial levels you will get away with just bashing buttons but as you progress this tactic will fail. Each character has a Shinobi transformation which shows the character naked (apart from one or two sensitive spots) and a ninja scroll will appear from between their breast, butt or, well, another place. These transformation are quite powerful and let you carry out special moves which in some cases can half a bosses health. 

Each character has their own look and style along with their own weapon. All character can be upgraded simply by playing with them. The game is clearly designed to be played multiple times as I finished each character at around levels fifteen to twenty. The more you level up a character the better they get. 

Out outside of the main story mode there are also side missions for each of the characters. These can be unlocked by moving through the main story along with destroying shrines.

Shopping! There is a lot to buy and unlock in the shop, from outfits and accessories, to music and gallery art. There is also a shrine you can exchange tokens to unlock more items.

Overall the gameplay is pretty solid with no real complaints, it features RPG style elements pushing to level up, earn more rewards and try to unlock everything.

Final Thoughts

So, after nearly thirty hours of playing how did I feel? Undecided. The story itself has a lot to it but was almost too serious in some ways and in some ways wish they had focused more on the comedy. The visuals are pretty solid and only really fail when it comes to fast moving combat. The music is okay but is nothing stand out. The gameplay is pretty solid and has a lot of depth to it. I think when it comes down to it the game just didn't do it for me personally but as a whole is hard to criticize, this one gets a 3 out of 5