Developer: Meteorise
Publisher: PQube
Platform: PS Vita, PS TV
Tested on: PS TV
Valkyrie Drive -Bhikkuni- – Review
We have gotten quite familiar with the big chested ladies in the Senran Kagura series, which showed us a very lighthearted approach of depicting female warriors, who happened to be wearing very tight clothing, which sometimes got torn to bits in their many battles. If you still don’t know what we’re getting at for this title, we’ll make it even more simple for you: Indulge yourselves in a world of sexy anime ladies, with extremely large breasts who like to fondle one another and fight each other to their hearts’ content.
Story
Valkyrie Drive -Bhikkuni- situates itself in a world much like our own, albeit slightly more advanced. The world is pestered by a virus, which grants those infected with it certain special powers. The so-called V-Virus causes its ‘host’ body to either handle weapons or transform into one. This means that those who are infected will have to pair up to put their powers to good use. This brings us to Rinka and Ranka Kagurazaka, who have been dumped on the island of Bhikkuni, which is supposedly a giant complex that revolves around controlling or curing the disease. While both girls thought they could be rid of their condition, it seems that this place offers no ordinary treatment and that progress can only be made by constant training and brawling.
Even though the above sounds rather simplistic and vague, the story is rather lengthy and revolves more around the girls’ thoughts, bonds and of course the girls that will join the cast of warriors as you progress. Those who were looking for story content will be pleased, but others who thought this game would throw you in an endless heap of fights, without too much story sequences in-between might be bothered by the fact that it does take you quite some time to get to the fights in the story mode.
Graphics
Just like Senran Kagura, Vakyrie Drive -Bhikkhuni- presents us a reasonable cast of adorable looking girls to look at, mainly because of their cute faces and their rather ‘perfect’ proportions. Nonetheless, the game does show a fair amount of pixels, which are rather visible when playing the game on a PS TV. Vita users will probably don’t experience this issue, or at least not as much. That being said, the girls look properly detailed, with enough ‘jiggle’ animations to make sure a hefty proportion of the male audience will be thoroughly glued to their screens. Even the visual novel sections of the game are decently animated, with the characters modeled in 3D, rather than a classical 2D appearance. The backgrounds might be a bit bland in these sequences, but they look decent nonetheless.
The only graphical problem seems to be something which is common for these games, namely the fact you’ll only get to see a handful of different battle locations, which are extremely empty. More than often you’ll find yourself in the flattest clearing ever, surrounded by some trees and/or rocks, and if you’re lucky, you’ll roam through a more suburban area, with a few flights of stairs. That being said, the game made sure you’re properly distracted by allowing you to zoom in onto your character, granting you a much nicer view. Sadly, for those who were looking for some adult content, the game has enough censorship to prevent the player from seeing any actually nudity, which in return allows slightly younger players to enjoy this brawler.
Sound
For a game that revolves around fighting, the soundtrack is actually rather tranquil and atmospheric, rather than ‘in-your-face’. You’ll have to make do with superb voice acting and subtle background music. The voice acting in this game has been properly taken care of, and every story sequence in the Story Mode has full voice acting, which certainly adds a lot of value to this title that has a surprising amount of story content. That being said, some sections of the beginning of the game had a rather grainy sound, making it seem as if they were recorded before the developers signed a contract with a proper recording studio. The latter aside, the game has a pleasant ring to it.
Gameplay
Valkyrie Drive -Bhikkuni- is an action brawler, where you’ll constantly fight your way through short stages, in small enclosed arenas. This means you’ll often find yourself fighting waves of smaller, weaker enemies, before the game pits yourself against a stronger character, being one of your classmates, or the gods that guide you on your path of controlling the virus. Things remain pretty straightforward, it’s pretty much just the controls you really need to get the hang of.
When you first start playing Valkyrie Drive you’ll notice that the game doesn’t offer you that many options when it comes to the different modes. You’ll have to begin with the story mode, if you wish to unlock additional content. The first time you dive into the missions you’ll be forced to play with the ‘story bound’ pair of fighters, where one character is the Liberator and one the Extar. After completing said missions, you can play the game again with the duo of your choosing, at least if you unlock extra characters. Upon completing you’ll be rewarded with experience, which you can distribute between the different characters, granting you the chance to either level the character’s Liberator level, or the other character’s Extar level. Simply put, every character has two level caps, namely one for each role. If you always stick to the same duo, and then suddenly change their roles, thus switch up the Liberator and Extar role, you’ll see that at the end of the stage both characters have a low level in their new current roles. This creates some additional content making sure you have to level all the different team combinations accordingly. That being said, if you start trying out new teams, you’ll notice that each Liberator can only handle one weapon, even if you match them with a different Extar, which is a downright shame.
The controls prove to be responsive and smooth, but some characters clearly have the advantage when it comes to their basic attack set. Nonetheless, all characters handle fairly well but the game isn’t really that easy when it comes to the different sets of combos you’ll have to master. Not only do you have to remember a hefty amount of different possibilities, the game offers you no clear menu of how to find these commands again in case you do forget some of the more crucial moves.
If you’re done with the story mode, you can try your luck in the survival and challenge modes. The first just being a mode in which you’ll have to fend off waves and waves of enemies, hoping you can survive everything that is thrown at you. The challenge mode however is all about completing levels by following a certain objective, which most of the time consists out of pulling off a specific combo a number of times. Both modes add a bit of extra fun, but truth be told, this game is all about the story mode.
Not completely unexpected the game has heaps of collectibles to be found and purchased, which mainly involve items to dress up the girls. True completionists will have an entire list of lingerie to find, which is pretty much the same lingerie set over and over, with a reasonable amount of different patterns. Overall there’s a lot of ‘extra content’ to be found, but only for those who truly love to see their characters in many different outfits.
Conclusion
Valkyrie Drive -Bhikkuni- is a fun action packed brawler along the lines of the Senran Kagura games. You’ll be treated to fairly fluent combat, lots of cleavage and a surprisingly long story mode for a game such as this. While some portions of the game are still rough around the edges and remembering all the different combos can prove to be tricky, action and ecchi fans will certainly find their pick of the litter in this Vita title.
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