Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash – Review
It isn’t the first time we’ve encountered the voluptuous ladies from the Senran Kagura series, in their ‘Dynasty Warriors’ clone games. Like always the games revolved around rivaling Shinobi groups, each representing different morals and principles, eventually hoping to beat the competition and come out as the strongest clan. This time however the thematic of the game changes completely, safe for the rivaling groups. This time we get to pick up water guns and soak the competition and, just like the previous games, remove a bit of clothing hither and thither. We were curious to see how this water based shooter would fare in the Senran Kagura franchise.
Story
Seeing this is pretty much a spin-off game, the story is kept rather simplistic. Apparently there’s a heat wave going on, in the midst of winter, allowing the girls from all the different clans to enjoy the weather, with some well needed refreshments. When all of a sudden every group receives a mysterious invitation, all clans pack their things, or lack of, seeing they all arrive with their swimsuits at the ready, and it becomes clear they have to participate in a tournament, that doesn’t really revolve around their skills as ninjas. It seems each clan must partake in a water gun competition, with the best team being allowed to wish for whatever they want. It doesn’t really get any deeper than this, but you’ll get enough fan service to be distracted by the bigger plot, which there is somewhat a lack of.
While the bigger picture might not be all that interesting, like is the case with many of the Senran Kagura games, the smaller stories that transpire within the different groups are fun and interesting. They often revolve around inner conflicts, secrets and other small items that suit the game perfectly. It makes it fun to play the game with all the different schools, as well as the Paradise Episodes, which are small mission packs, each with their own little storyline.
Graphics
Seeing this game came out on the PS4, rather than a multiplatform release on Vita en PS4, Peach Beach Splash looks a bit more crisp than the other releases. The characters are neatly detailed, even though it’s clear that the chest and booty area received the most attention from the designers. You’ll be treated to a very colorful setting, which is perfect for a beach-based tournament. The enemy models are few, but they look decent enough not to grow overly tired of them. The different arenas show ample diversity, so there isn’t really that much to complain about. While the areas lack a lot of clutter, the small corridors, the many walls and different platforms do make them feel much more alive. Even though the game is heavy when it comes to fan service, you will not see any actual nudity, thus making it more a ‘lewd gamer’s paradise’.
Sound
Just like the other games in the series, the story mode is fully voiced, which makes it rather fun and appealing to play through. The Paradise Episodes are sadly not fully voiced, which is a shame, as it would have uplifted the available content even more. Outside of the many cute voices, there’s a rather upbeat and cheerful soundtrack, that is rather perfect for this water based shooter.
Gameplay
Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash is a third person shooter with a watery twist. Instead of actual guns you’ll be using water guns, and special cards that grant you certain special attacks and/or power-ups. The latter is only to add some spice, to an otherwise already fun concept and game. The goal is simple, as you’ll just have to soak the competition into submission, with the many different water guns at your disposal.
Even though having to play with water guns sounds fairly limited, the game actually works pretty much like any other shooter, as you’ll have an arsenal of different weapons at your disposal, outside of the power-up cards. You’ll have normal (water based) pistols, assault rifles, grenade launchers, bazookas, sniper rifles and so on, which makes it so that you actually have different character classes; more or less. You can customize each character by giving them the weapon of their choice and adapting the set of cards they enter a battle with. Other than that you’ll also need cards, which you earn by completing battles or after buying them, to upgrade your characters, their weapons and so on. Overall the system behind everything is pretty simple and straightforward, allowing you to dive into the fun without having to worry about too much. During every match, you’ll have several hearts, which represent the amount of times you can respawn. During the Single Player mode this means the missions fails when you run out of hearts.
The game has a proper multiplayer focus, which means you can aim for online play, be it to fend off waves of enemies, normal team deathmatches or actual ranked play. The latter shows that the creators had a decent multiplayer experience in mind, but seeing the game hasn’t released just yet we can’t really speak about the number of players on the servers.
As expected there is a lot of fan service, even outside the normal gameplay. You can dress up your characters, make them pose however you like and so on, to create sexy dioramas and what not. Overall a fun gimmick for those who need their daily boob-dosage, but all in all it’s the gameplay of this Senran Kagura title that profoundly steals the show.
Conclusion
Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash is a surprisingly fun shooter that situates itself in the big chested Senran Kagura universe. While the overall mechanics are extremely simple, it’s just that what makes the game fun and accessible, even for those who care little for nearly naked voluptuous anime characters. Even though this game is a spin-off, it might just be one of the best in the entire series.
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[…] had the opportunity to play Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash and have written a detailed review, read it here and decide if it’s something for you. You can also check out the trailer […]
[…] Back in September we encountered the girls from the Senran Kagura series once more, fighting again to prove which of the rivaling shinobi schools is the best. Nonetheless, the last time they weren’t throwing themselves in the midst of deadly games, where one would not come out unscathed, but they were actually diving into some summer fun by having an all-out battle royale with water guns. Even though winter is almost here and we long back for some hotter temperatures, we can at least get a bit hotter by watching the voluptuous girls once more thanks to the hefty amount of DLC that has been released for this spinoff Senran Kagura game. In this review we’ll be covering all eleven DLC packs. […]
[…] has featured many games that were loaded with heavy fanservice. This was very clearly seen in the Senran Kagura games, but also in both Criminal Girls games and Valkyrie Drive -Bhikkuni-. The very busty […]