Developer: Tamsoft, Honey ∞ Parade Games
Publisher: Marvelous, Marvelous USA Inc.
Platform: PC, PS4
Tested on: PS4
Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal – Review
Oh boy, here we go again. A weird Japanese game that’s probably not weird at all by Japanese standards, yet there is a certain barrier you will have to cross to play something like this. If you ever played something similar, you know what it is about. Almost full nudity, weird fights and logic, and dialogue that’s so suggestive you can’t even see the story bits sitting on the couch next to your family. So you’d maybe want to close those curtains and prepare your eyes for the things the land of the rising sun has to bring you once more. It’s Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal.
Story
In Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal, there are Evil Shinobi who accept work from corporations and politicians to assassinate people or spread fear, and there are Good Shinobi who work together with the government to make the world a better place. Playing the game, you can choose which school of students you will follow. All are being trained in their own chosen path, and your choice basically determines which part of the game you will play first. Following numerous Shinobi-to-be, the storyline differs from a scroll stolen from one of your classmates to bigger, life-changing events. Then there is a third, shorter storyline about one specific girl, which you will probably play last.
There is a lot of text to be read during cutscenes, but they are actually quite enjoyable like when you would be watching a regular anime. The daily business and worries of the shinobi girls are the biggest conversation pieces, and as traditional weird Japanese games like these will have it, most talks are filled with innuendos. If you enjoy animes that are also a little bit on the perverted side, you might want to check this one out, but be aware that the game is made up for about fifty percent story cutscenes and fifty percent gameplay when looking at the divided time spent while playing.
Graphics
Ok, let’s face the facts. If you are still reading this, you are either a huge anime fan or you are here for anime tiddies. Well, the section about graphics might just be describing what you want. Easily offended-by-nudity people, please stop right here as this game might not be for you. Cause Senran Kagura is absolutely FILLED with mild nudity. There are some classic check-boxes such as overly wiggly boobies with every animation, but this game takes it slightly further by constantly ripping clothes off enemies as they are being lowered in health. Not only that but during transformation skills (buttons you press upon charged gauges that allow you to transform into a stronger version of yourself), you will be completely naked for a short amount of time, only censored by some soft blurry anime censoring.
Besides this obvious bit, the animations and overall graphics look pretty good. They are, like the story, somewhat relaxing because they don’t take themselves too seriously! The shredding of the clothes and other over-the-top animations will make you laugh at times, at least once. Other than that, the characters, their behavior, and expressions stay true to anime rules. This means you will quickly learn to see the difference between the ”kawaii” (cute) girls, the psychos, and anything in-between. Surroundings can repeat itself a bit, but you weren’t here for the environments in the first place.
Sound
There is something weird going on with the sound of Senran Kagura Burst. The voice acting is just fine and on point, and it’s good to hear the original Japanese voices next to reading the English subtitles. The sound effects of slashing your enemies or soft bloops when having menu interactions are fine as well. No, it’s actually the background music that has a special place in the game. During the conversations, there is almost always the same song playing, yet it doesn’t get boring! This is because it sounds like almost the perfect piece to create a relaxing atmosphere and focus on the sentences at hand, and every few missions it changes to something slightly different with the same instruments. The same goes for the fights. It’s a very nice bit of subtle design that can drag you through the game if you’re already not that much into the other elements such as the gameplay. In total there are a lot of songs available, and you can buy them as you progress through the game as well.
Gameplay
Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal is mostly like a hack ‘n slash game. RPG elements are not really available, cause the story bits are read-only. You can, however, alter the girls you play with by giving them the outfits and accessories you want them to wear as there is a shop you can access in-between missions where you can use the in-game earned currency to buy these outfits, soundtracks, visual bits and more.
Pretty much every part that you can play will consist of the same formula. First, you are given a piece of the story where a challenge or problem is being laid down, and after that, you will jump into the gameplay and actually face that challenge or solve that problem. You do so by fighting either an entire mob of enemies that often consist of largely the same enemy and a single or few stronger ones. Or by fighting a single opponent, often one of the other shinobi girls, depending on the mission that is given to you. This concept can get a bit boring after a while, but most of the fighting feels smooth enough to not be annoying.
The running and jumping around feels pretty good. You can lock enemies as a target and easily switch between them as you run around. Then, you have a light attack and a heavy attack, that work on a ground level but also in the air. Playing around with these buttons can be fun to figure out new combos, especially as each girl has her own set of weapons or fighting style. Dashing is something you can use to chase enemies, especially during a combo, but it’s not really smooth to just move around a bit or dodge attacks. The same goes for the blocking/parrying mode. You can perform a block or, at the right time, a parry that stuns the enemies around you, but it rarely feels like it’s smooth or very responsive. A shame, cause besides that, the game and the different fighting styles really give you some depth that’s otherwise already somewhat lacking from the repeating combat over a longer time.
Conclusion
Depending on your preference, despite or thanks to the obvious nudity, Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal is a pretty solid game. A game with lesser effort or a bit rougher mechanics would have been mediocre at best, but thanks to the variation of all elements in what’s basically rather simple gameplay, Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal shows itself as good fanservice with enough content for the generic anime-lover at least. The repeating elements of the gameplay could have been better, but the story and the easy-accessible overall gameplay put down a decent, well-crafted game when looking at anime-related titles.
Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal - Review,
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