The title will feature the cast of Persona 3 and 4 as chibi characters while they explore a labyrinth. From the looks of things this title may be a more comedic cross-over spin-off since fans of the Persona series will likely be able to tell that some of these characters don’t belong. Anyways, check out the trailer below for a peak at the game.
If you thought that the next logical step for Persona 4 would be a dancing game then people probably thought you were crazy, but hell turns out you would be right. Today Atlus has announced that Persona 4: Dancing All Night will be released on the PlayStation Vita.
To go along with the announcement of the game you can check out the gameplay footage below. The game is being called a sound action title and it looks like it will mostly involve Rise and her work as an idol as well as a new character named Kanami. It appears that the story will take place around a half a year after the end of Persona 4 and for those interested, the developers of the Project Diva games, Dingo, are working on Persona 4: Dancing All Night.
We’ve known for quite some time that Compile Heart was working on a spin-off game for the PlayStation Vita that would focus entirely on Noire, also known as Black Heart, which is currently being called Chou Megami Shinkou Noire Gekishin Black Heart.
However ever since the game was announced no details have been given for the title, but it seems that will change next week. Today Compile Heart released a new teaser trailer for the game which gives us a bit of a hint as to what the next game will contain. It looks like Noire will be meeting a number of new friends, but at the moment we still don’t even know what genre the title might be. What we do know though, is that it will likely be localized by NIS America as they have so far been localizing every Hyperdimension Neptunia title.
One Piece: Strong World Studio:Toei Animation Publisher:FUNimation Format: Blu-ray/DVD Combo Release Date:November 19, 2013 Price:$34.98 – Available Here
Overview Whenever an anime breaches the hundred episode mark, it is clear that the series is quite popular and studios often take advantage of this popularity by releasing a few movies for the series. This is quite popular with the shonen genre especially, with shows such as Dragon Ball Z having over ten movies and now One Piece’s tenth movie has been brought over to English speaking audiences.
Now, most of the time these movies are a simple side-story with no correlation on the main plot, however in the case of One Piece: Strong World, we have the English debut of a soon to be main character. Does this unique little addition to Strong World make it worth picking up for One Piece fans?
Story While sailing sometime after the events of the Thriller Bark arc, as demonstrated by a certain skeleton on their ship, the Straw Hat crew learns that an unknown force is causing massive destruction back in East Blue, where the majority of the crew originated from and where many of the friends they left behind still reside.
Putting their adventure on hold, Luffy and the rest start heading towards East Blue to try and put a stop to the city destroying force. While on their way there, a strange floating pirate ship appears above them and after Nami provides a warning about an approaching storm, the captain of the Golden Lion pirates named Shiki introduces himself to the Straw Hats and thanks them for their warning.
He even offers to help them on their way to East Blue as a reward for their help, but unfortunately for the crew and for Nami, Shiki has other plans in mind as he scatters the Straw Hats across numerous floating islands while kidnapping Nami in an effort to recruit her into his crew as their new navigator. As such, Luffy and the rest must reassemble while facing off against some of the strongest and oddest looking creatures on these islands and try to rescue Nami from the clutches of Shiki.
As far as movie storylines go, One Piece: Strong World is fairly impressive even though it does tend to re-tread old ground from the main series, what with Nami becoming an unwilling hostage to a pirate crew at the risk of her hometown being destroyed if she doesn’t agree to do what the bad guy says, though it must be said that Shiki makes for a far more impressive enemy than Arlong did, as Shiki’s power of gravity manipulation and unique backstory involving his legs, or lack thereof, make him quite intriguing.
Perhaps it is because his minions prove to be rather useless or that the various genetically enhanced creatures that run rampant through the islands appear rather imposing at first but are mostly paper tigers, but Shiki could easily pass himself off as long running villain in One Piece. As I just mentioned Shiki’s followers are quickly forgettable and tend to be on the annoying side as both of his main aids are walking jokes that only provide a small chuckle the first time they are used but fail terribly after the fact and eventually become rather annoying.
With Shiki serving as a legitimate threat and having a decent plan under his belt, it helps give the Straw Hats’ fight more purpose. Thanks to the number of characters in crew, a few are relegated to side-duty with Franky and Robin barely receiving any meaningful screentime and even Brook, making his English debut, only receives a small amount of screen time compared to the likes of Chopper and Usopp. However despite that, the story features some nice build up throughout the first half of the movie with a satisfying amount of action to close things out.
Visuals Thanks to One Piece: Strong World having a higher animation budget, most of the film features some rather impressive looking visuals. When the Straw Hats are scattered across different floating islands, each island has its own unique design and ecosystem with a variety of wild animals for the crew to face off against as they focus on coming together and defeating Shiki.
As for the characters themselves, a nice level of detail has been added to each character and they undergo a few costume changes throughout the movie which is a nice touch compared to the standard clothing we’ve seen them in a hundred times so far. The fluidity of the fight scenes and how detailed most of the attacks are show that the animators had a lot to work with in Strong World and it benefits greatly from it.
Audio To be fair, it has been quite some time since I’ve heard the FUNimation dub for One Piece but all of the characters from the main season retain their roles in the cast and handle their roles nicely. Being the English debut of Brook, we have Ian Sinclair handling the role and thankfully he handles it quite nicely with all of the character’s traits making the transition into English.
As for the rest of the audio, the film features some impressive background music at key points of the story and also has an enjoyable ending theme.
Extras As far as bonus features go, One Piece: Strong World features only one notable piece of extra content is included in the release. This happens to be the 20 minute long Behind the Scenes of One Piece: Introducing Brook feature. Joining this is a simplistic set of trailers for other FUNimation anime and the US trailer for the movie.
The Behind the Scenes features Ian Sinclair, Brina Palencia, the voice of Chopper, and Mike McFarland who directed the dub and a number of fans as they discuss Brook and why Ian was chosen to voice the new character.
Overall While a number of the Straw Hat crew, oddly enough even Brook, are given little meaningful screentime in One Piece: Strong World, the movie is a blast. Although his minions may be disappointing, Shiki boasts a powerful array of powers and an actual plan that seems viable enough to work. This makes Luffy and the others’ fight against him all the more meaningful, especially now that Nami is in danger once again and the only way to save her is with some impressive looking fight scenes.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Extend Studio have announced a partnership with studio Spicy Horse to begin their first Kickstarter campaign dedicated to help complete and release the all-ages puzzle-platformer So Many Me onto a variety of gaming platforms. So Many Me takes inspiration from classic and modern highlights of the puzzle-platform genre and will see players take control of the main character Filo, an amorphous green blob who can create a seemingless endless army of clones. Filo will explore a huge world full of tricky puzzles, pitfalls and powerful bosses to stop an evil villian
People who pledge $10 or higher to the Kickstarter campaign will earn you an exclusive So Many Me! costume pack which includes an American McGee’s Grimm costume and the Akaneiro: Demon Hunters costume, both based on the characters present in games created by Spicy Horse Games.
The Kickstarter campaign is looking to raise another $19,000 to help polish up the currently-in-beta title and release it on a core set of platforms (PC/Mac/Linux). Stretch goals include additional releases on Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, and the WiiU. Other stretch goals include a level editor, costume editor and back-end to allow sharing user-generated content, along with brand new game levels and puzzles. Backers will be able to redeem reward copies for PC/Mac/Linux versions of the game directly from Steam the moment the game becomes available.
To check out the Kickstarter, along with all pledge and stretch goal information, please visit this link.
The Wolverine hit theaters in July and was a great film but it felt like it was missing that last little bit to make it outstanding. The Wolverine Unleashed Extended Edition runs 10 minutes longer and those extra minutes add that last little bit. A few scenes get subtle changes, while others are completely different and some are added that weren’t present in the theatrical cut, but they all change the tone and feel of the film and make it the Wolverine movie we have all been waiting for.
Story
The Wolverine is based off the acclaimed limited series by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. Following Wolverine as he travels to Japan to visit Yashida, a dying man whose life he saved back in WWII. The comic book story was adapted to fit into the X-Men movie timeline after the events of The Last Stand, where Logan has become a recluse and constantly reflecting on the toll his near-immortality has taken on him. He is still wracked with guilt after having to kill Jean Grey, and her ghost (or memory) still haunts him.
When he arrives in Japan, Logan is offered a proposition – he can pass on his healing factor to Yashida and live out the rest of his life as a normal man. This causes a sense of conflict for Logan, who has grown tired and weary of his lifespan, and all the losses he has had to endure. Yashida calls him a Ronin, or “Samurai with no master.” Logan reluctantly rejects Yashida’s proposal but still finds his mutant healing stripped from him. Facing mortality for the first time in his life, Logan must once again play the reluctant hero and stop a plot to kill Yashida’s granddaughter, Mariko after she is targeted by the Yakuza.
Making Wolverine mortal serves as a great way to develop him further as a character. He retains his trademark bad-ass, loner attitude but ends up being frequently saved by the female characters of the film (except for Jean, but I will get to that shortly). Throughout the film, Logan requires the aid and even saving by the film’s two female leads – Mariko and Yukio. This helps to not only show Logan as more of a man and less of an indestructible machine, but also really setting up Mariko and Yukio as strong characters in their own right.
As mentioned above, the ghost or memory of Jean Grey also makes an appearance, and really serves as the personification of Logan’s guilt and self-doubt. Logan really faces an identity crisis in this movie, feeling that he is destined to live forever but having a life that is meaningless. This is coupled by the fact that he still can’t shake the guilt of killing Jean. Having Jean be the embodiment of Logan’s guilt is a really cool choice, but unfortunately the end result of having her fill this role is turns her into a total bitch. Even the slightest moments of happiness are stripped away by Jean, who constantly contradicts and belittles Logan. There is a payoff that almost makes it seem worth it, but still in the end we just see Jean as quite a nasty influence.
The choice to not fill the movie’s cast with other mutants is another really strong point of the movie. Aside from Logan, only two other mutants appear – Yukio, whose power is passive at best (she can sometimes see when people will die), and Viper. Not only that, but the film’s climactic battle has Yukio facing off against Viper, so Logan stays pretty far away from the mutant action for the majority of the film. This opens it up to feel more grounded and down to earth. It also goes to make mutants feel special, rare and unique again (a trait that was stripped away in The Last Stand and X-Men: Origins).
The Unleashed Extended Edition runs 10 minutes longer than the theatrical cut. While this doesn’t seem like a lot, those extra 10 minutes go a long way to change the tone and feel of the entire movie. It doesn’t make The Wolverine a completely new film, but instead makes it feel more complete, more exciting and downright better. A lot of the changes to the film are quite subtle, like an extra few seconds when Mariko and Logan run into the house from the rain. The culmination of all these changes profoundly impacts the film.
While many of the changes are subtle, there are many far more overt scenes, including a longer look at Logan and Yashida’s time in Nagasaki after the bomb has dropped. Also, the scene of Logan and Mariko at the Love Hotel has changed drastically – in the original, Logan passes out on the balcony, while here he is knocked off the rooftop by an armed Yakuza member, Mariko comes to his rescue. This scene in particular really builds up Mariko as a strong character who can handle herself, as opposed to a simple throw-away line about her being an expert at throwing knives.
Storyline-wise, one of the biggest changes that the Unleashed Edition brings is Logan’s confrontation with the Black Ninja Clan through the snow-draped Japanese village. In the theatrical release, this battle ended rather abruptly, and anciclimactically with no real explanation as to how he was defeated by a barrage of arrows. Now, the battle is almost twice as long and in addition to there being an explanation and context as to how he was beaten, there is an extra section of battle where Yukio comes to Logan’s aid in a very brutal fashion. It is easy to see why it was scrapped from the original cut, but it really ties the movie together a lot better and is an absolute blast to watch.
Visuals
The film’s backdrops, be they a Canadian rocky mountain, the bustling city of Tokyo or a snow-covered Japanese village all look amazing. Setting the film in Japan really opened the art and set directors for a lot of subtle nuances and cultural inclusions that really set it apart from other action films. Since being in Japan is not only the setting but a key plot point for the film, it is good to see the time and care that went into the set pieces.
Considering its low-key, more down to earth approach, there is still a surprising amount of computer generated visual effects in The Wolverine. Logan’s claws and his healing factor both use CGI magic to come to life on the screen, but both look amazing. Some visual effects feel a tad unnecessary, like Yashida’s auto-adjusting bed, but it doesn’t really detract from the film’s experience.
Since this is a Wolverine movie, you can’t not talk about the action sequences. The highlight of which is definitely the skirmish on the roof of the bullet train. The scenes are choreographed to near-perfection, and with the added visual nuances that the Unleashed edition brings in, are really visceral and downright awesome to watch. Logan’s pouncing leap across the rooftop of the hurtling train is still the most nerdgasm part of the movie, drawing straight from Wolverine’s comic book bag of tricks.
The biggest change that this version of the film brings is the amount of blood. In the original, Wolverine would be slicing and dicing his way through the Yakuza members, with nary a drop to be seen. This has been fixed in a big way, and while there are never geysers of blood (ok, maybe ONE geyser) the small splashes add a lot to the experience. It makes it LOOK like the Wolverine movie that it always should have been.
The additional blood isn’t the only change to the action sequences, as now Logan’s claws are often seen stabbing through his enemies. Now, The Wolverine is no Tarantino film, but this definitely amps up the violence and the brutality a little more, turning it into a movie that is more in line with what you would expect from a man who has swords coming out of his hands.
Audio
The audio of The Wolverine Unleashed Extended Edition remains for the most part unchanged from the original. The film’s setting is largely in Japan, so many characters speak in fluent Japanese. All of the scenes involving Logan remain untranslated, offering a subtle way to draw in the viewer and have them experience the same sense of confusion and culture shock that he is.
Being an uncut edition, there is a little more swearing to go around. In the original cut, Logan drops exactly one F-Bomb, and it is during his battle with the Black Clan. It was a “hell yeah!” moment for older fans watching at theaters, but it really did feel somewhat out of place. Now, a few more choice words are added through the movie. It isn’t like every second sentence is punctuated with a curse word, but when they are used it is to great effect.
Yukio telling Logan to “stop being a dick,” really helps depict their growing friendship, especially with the little smile she flashes afterwards, while Logan telling the corrupt Minister of Justice that he is about to throw him “out that f***ing window!” makes the scene feel more emotional. This version of the film is a great example of how curse words can be used to great effect, and to really add a punch to your dialogue.
Overall
The Wolverine’s theatrical cut was already great in many aspects, but it felt like it was missing some pieces to make it truly memorable. The Unleashed Extended Edition adds those things and many more, turning this into the Wolverine movie that fans have wanted for years. This is still the same film you saw in theaters in July, so if you didn’t like Wolverine fighting off against an 8 foot tall robot then, you probably still wont like it now but the extra 10 minutes does change the tone, feel and context of the movie and makes it a much better experience.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Magic: The Gathering’s Commander format (also known as EDH) has blown up massively in the last few years. Taking the core rules of Magic, and slightly tweaking the rules really opens up the game to a whole world of deck types, crazy combos and otherwise useless cards seeing a tonne of play. However, Commander can be very daunting to get into, especially since they require a 100 card deck, so Wizards have constructed some of their own to get new players in on the action.
A quick general summary of the Commander 2013 decks: They are pre-built 100 card decks for use in the Commander format. They come included with 3 potential commanders, one of which is picked at the start of the game and placed in the Commander Zone, while the other two are shuffled in with the other 97 cards. The Commander can be cast during your turn from the Commander Zone, and when it is destroyed, returns to the Commander Zone to be played again (every time it is cast this way, it costs an additional 2 mana).
NOTE:When it comes to Magic: The Gathering, I primarily play Standard and Limited formats, so I am not as fully versed at the intricacies and nuances of Commander as some other players. If you disagree with anything I say in this review, please let me know in the comments below.
Nature of the Beast is one of this year’s five Commander Decks. It is a 100 card pre built deck that is red/green/white aligned. The focus here is on big beasts, and making them bigger to simply walk over your opponent with sheer strength. The best thing about this deck is how drastically the play style changes depending on which of the three included Commanders you use. Regardless, the deck revolves around building an army of behemoths and simply demolishing everyone in your path.
The primary Commander of this deck is Marath, Will of the Wild. Lets take a quick look at him:
So ok that’s a lot of writing, but lets break it down. Firstly he is a 0/0 but gains a +1/+1 counter for the amount of mana used to cast him. Already we can see that he is simply MADE for this format. Every time he dies and you recast him, he will get stronger. While this is great, Marath truly shines with his second ability. You can pay X mana to remove X counters and either move them to another creature, deal X damage to target creature or player or put an X/X beast token into the battlefield. Being able to kill Marath with his own ability, only to bring him back bigger and do it again is awesome.
Obviously the drawback is that the ever increasing mana cost will at some point mean you just can’t bring him back, so you will be playing a risk vs reward game, “do I bring him back now and hope he isn’t removed, or do i wait a few turns and straight away use his ability?” Obviously the potential here goes a lot deeper than that, but it usually boils down to summoning him now, or waiting a little later on.
When using Marath, you will normally find yourself wanting to either burn your opponents creatures, or building up your own for massive swings of damage, even aiming for lethal damage in a single swing. To this end, Marath can serve as a serious control card (something that this deck largely lacks). “Oh you played a 5/5 creature? I remove X counters from Marath and burn it.”
The deck’s second commander is; Mayael the Anima, and using her can really speed up this deck:
So, Mayael lets you look at the top 5 cards of your library and to place a creature with power 5 or greater onto the battlefield. This particular deck contains 11 creatures with power greater than or equal to 5, so while the odds aren’t astronomically great, you still have a decent chance of letting something big hit the battlefield. All in all however, her ability is pretty unreliable and she doesn’t combo too well with many cards in the deck. One notable exception to this is Where Ancients Tread (However, this combos with almost every card in the deck anyway).
Last but not least, the final included commander is Gahiji, Honored One. Check him out:
Gahiji is helpful. He puts a target on every other player’s head, as anyone not attacking you gets a +2/+0 bonus to their creatures. This serves as not only a disincentive to attack you, and hopefully to pass off some of the heat you might be gathering, but also makes your already beefy creatures simply massive. He is a rather versatile commander in two-player games, or massive multiplayer matches. During a multiplayer game, you can further keep the heat off you by using the deck’s three Curse cards. Each of these will benefit players who AREN’T attacking you. If you keep the heat off you just long enough, you will be able to simply steamroll the competition.
So after playing against the other five pre-constructed Commander 2013 decks, I found Nature of the Beast to be rather he weakest of the bunch. Only4 creatures out of the 22 included in the deck cost less than or equal to 4 mana, and two of those are commanders. This slows down the whole deck considerably. Combine this with the most lands out of any of the decks at 42, it can be hard to come out swinging. However, once the deck does get swinging, it is really hard for anyone to stop it.
The deck’s other massive weakness aside from its speed is the fact that it is useless against flying creatures, with only two of its own to hold opponents back. The Evasive Maneuvers Deck in particular can just walk all over Nature of the Beast, no matter what commander you have chosen.
I also personally found it to be weak in one-on-one matchups. The deck, no matter which commander you use really relies on the multiplayer format for a lot of its cards to work. Gahiji, Mystic Barrier, Witch Hunt and Naya Soulbeast are all basically dependent on there being multiple players in the game (Mystic Barrier just flat doesn’t work otherwise). The deck can pick up speed relatively quickly in a multplayer game though, especially if you have Gahiji out as your commander, as it can take the heat off you for enough time to bring out your heavy hitters and sweep the board.
All in all, while Nature of the Beast is a pretty strong deck, with a tonne of variation and abilities to combo your cards for insane amounts of damage, it is easily the weakest of the five, and practically requires you to be playing a multiplayer game for it to have much use at all. However, it serves well as an entry into the world of Commander, and will be appreciated by anyone who loves playing big beasts and hitting for 40+ damage in a single turn.
So the holiday season is upon us, and Wizards have reached into their stockings and provided the perfect gift to place under the tree for any fan of the beloved trading card strategy game; Magic: The Gathering, in the form of the Magic: The Gathering Holiday Gift Box 2013. This year’s Holiday Gift Box is based on the recently released Theros set, and contains everything Magic players need to enjoy the holiday season.
Firstly, the box itself is decorated with a beautiful picture from the Theros set – featuring Elspeth, Sun’s Champion standing proud over a fallen Hydra (which is also reminiscent of the third step in the Hero’s Path). The box is advertised to hold “over 2000 cards.” I put that to the test, and found that the box will hold roughly 2300 un-sleeved, standard-sized Magic: The Gathering Cards, and approximately 1700 or so if they are sleeved.
While it can hold around 2300 cards, it is not advisable to do this. Putting in too many cards wedges them all together and as such they will be hard to access, sort, and remove safely. I filled my Holiday Gift Box with 2364 commons (and counted every one as went along) and as I was doing so, I damaged no fewer than four of them. They can very easily get caught on the sides of the box, as well as other cards. The safe number I found was around 2200, leaving you a bit of room to flick through your cards when looking for them, as well as limiting the potential damage.
As far as protecting the cards from damage, the box lid reals them in rather nicely, leaving only an extra 1/3 of an inch or so between the cards themselves and the roof of the box. This slight extra room is made for the included dividers to sit comfortably among your card collection. Moving the box around or even shaking it seemed to do nothing, even when the box only had 1900 cards stored.
The Holiday Gift Box 2013 (You will have to fill it with your own cards)
As I mentioned above, the box also includes 6 plastic dividers to separate your cards. Five of these dividers depict the five mana-sources of the MtG Multiverse; Plains, Swamp, Island, Forest and Mountain, while the 6th features Nykthos; Shrine to Nyx (a prominent part of the lore of the Theros set). These dividers stick up about 1/3 of an inch higher than the cards and make it really easy to organise them by colour, rarity or pretty much any other way you choose. Not only that, but you will also get a sticker sheet filled with different mana-symbols, set symbols, names, rarity identifiers etc. These can be used to spruce up your dividers a little bit more and to quickly identify one area from another.
So the physical box is great, but what is the point of a Magic: The Gathering product without some cards! Luckily, the Holiday Gift Box 2013 features four Theros booster packs (netting you 15 cards a piece for a total of 60), a pack of 20 Basic Land Cards (also from Theros), and one special-edition, alternate art foil promotional card; Karametra’s Acolyte. The Acolyte has brand new artwork that is only available as part of the Holiday Gift Box.
Karametra’s Acolyte – Holiday Gift Box 2013 Artwork
So in total, the Holiday Gift Box 2013 will net you – 81 new Magic: The Gathering cards, a thick and study storage box for almost 2300 cards, plastic dividers to separate your collection, and a sticker sheet to customise them to your liking. The box itself retails at $29.99, which is only $1 more than the current RRP for 4 booster packs (here in Australia, anyway). At time of writing, the alternate-art Karametra’s Acolyte is selling online for approximately $1, so really you are getting the storage box, and 20 basic land cards for free just by purchasing them this way.
The thing about the Holiday Gift Box to remember is that it doesn’t discriminate when it comes to player age or skill level – anyone who enjoys Magic: The Gathering will find enjoyment and usefulness out of the box, so it is incredibly difficult to NOT recommend it to anyone and everyone looking for that perfect gift for your favorite Planeswalker this holiday season.
While gamers in Europe and Australia can currently pick up a copy of Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers starting today, those of us in the Americas still have a little bit longer to wait until the title is available for download in our region since it is set to be released next Tuesday on November 26th.
Until then, Namco Bandai has released a tantalizing launch trailer for the game as well as a number of new screenshots, all of which can be found below. For those who don’t know, Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers features all three original story arcs from the Saint Seiya manga and anime series and players can also augment their Saint’s attributes to take online to battle against others.
Senran Kagura Burst Developer:Tamsoft Publisher:XSEED Games Platform: Nintendo 3DS (eShop) Release Date:November 14, 2013 Price: $29.99 – Available Here
Overview
Back when Senran Kagura was released in Japan, 3DS owners in North America were hoping for the day that this interesting little title would be localized. When those days came and went, Senran Kagura Burst was announced which featured both a brand new story as well as the first game for the series. As days went by, many fans were hopeful that this title would bust out Japan in some way, but it seemed like chances were slim.
That is until XSEED chose to bring the game to the West much to the adoration of fans of the franchise who have been hanging around for over two years at this point. Now that the time has come and Senran Kagura Burst has been released in English, was it worth the wait?
Story
In the world of Senran Kagura, shinobi still exist in Japan though they are operate deeper in the shadows than ever before. In the shinobi world there exist two schools where ninja can learn their craft as well as take on various jobs. The Hanzo Academy has trained some of the best ninja around and only accepts the best of the best with pristine records, often from families of high lineage. These ninja work to keep the world at peace and generally work on the good side of things.
Where there is light there is darkness and where those who call themselves ‘good’ assemble there will always be a place for those aligned with ‘evil.’ The second school is Hebijo Clandestine Girls’ Academy where these ninja undergo life-threatening training and often work for politicians or simply anyone who can afford to pay for their services. What sets Hebijo apart from Hanzo is the fact that while Hanzo is exclusionary, Hebijo will accept anyone willing to undertake their training, knowing full well that it may mean their lives if they can’t keep up.
Before we explore the characters, Senran Kagura Burst gives us an interesting focus between these schools and the various shinobi that attend them. While Hanzo students are often seen as good and may live a relatively care-free and happy life when not on a mission, the Hanzo student history is wrought with death and failure and the girls attending the school have also suffered thanks to the high expectations that the school forces on attendees and the families that they come from.
As for the Hebijo students, they all suffer from some dark event in the past which has pushed them onto the path of evil. But along those lines, they are also a group of students that bond together and despite their own plans of revenge or motives for their training; they will willingly put themselves in harm’s way to protect each other. By allowing players to experience both sides of the story and learn about the Hebijo students, Burst lets players see that good and evil are simply two sides of the same coin with as many similarities as there are differences.
Now, as mentioned before Senran Kagura Burst allows players to play through either the Hanzo or Hebijo storyline at their leisure, meaning they can switch between the stories as they wish and there is no specific order the story must unfold. That being said, the story itself is rather basic at heart but what really makes the story, and along the same lines the comedy, shine here is the cast of characters that populate both academies.
With ten different girls available from the start and two unlockable characters, Senran Kagura Burst has its fair share of character archetypes. A number of these characters are interesting and intriguing to look into, though a number of them fall into your stereotypical role, such as a boob fondling athletic girl, a ditzy but still skillful girl, and the childish girl who has a complex about her small chest compared to the rest of the buxom cast to name a few.
Despite a number of these characters falling into something many gamers or anime fans have seen a number of times already, the visual novel delivery method with the back and forth banter between the characters and the various developments that they undergo throughout the game make the game’s story incredibly charming and often quite humorous, especially if you happen to be a fan of ecchi comedy. It also helps that, since this version of the game contains both stories, the much more interesting Hebijo girls are explored to a greater depth which is something that would have been a shame to miss.
Gameplay
While the main attraction that will draw people to Senran Kagura Burst will likely be the girls, their assets, and a heavy dose of fan-service, there is plenty of action packed into the game as well. In fact, the aforementioned aspects are more like toppings on the core of the game which offers a fun, though somewhat repetitive, side-scrolling beat’em up gameplay.
Various attacks are mapped to the 3DS’ face buttons, with light and strong attacks assigned to Y and X while B jumps and A can be used to dash and run. While simple sounding, the game quickly becomes one of fast paced action thanks to some nicely designed gameplay decisions and tight combo work. After delivering a combo attack to an enemy, they will be launched into the air and by using the dash button players will pursue them into the air where they can continue to deal damage, sometimes twice in a row, before sending the opponent crashing to the ground below.
This means that it can be easy to pull off some 300-500 hit combos with some characters that feature fast paced attacks as enemies are not only plentiful but a few of them can take quite a bit of punishment. As the player advances through a stage they will clear out area after area of enemy thugs or shinobi before reaching their goal and completing a stage or facing off against a boss. It is worth noting that although it is easy to lure groups of enemies together to deal out massive combo attacks, the game does suffer from some slowdown if there is too much action occurring on the screen at any given time.
That being said, outside of the standard combo attacks players have a few more tools at their disposal on the battlefield. As the player fights they will gain energy that can first be used to trigger the character’s ‘Shinobi Transformation’ changing them out of their normal outfit into their fighting gear which improves their stats and also unlocks special attacks called ninja arts. These ninja arts are unique to each character and can be used rather effectively on enemies, though there is no smooth transition from mid-combo to a ninja art.
On top of these methods there is also a break option which can be used to separate yourself from an enemy at the sacrifice some help as well as Frantic Mode, which is an option given at the beginning of every stage that lets the player sacrifice nearly all of their defense by stripping down to the character’s ‘swimsuit’ for a massive boost in damage. Deciding when to use a certain ability can be critical depending on the mission type and it is interesting to note that every character plays differently, though there are a few slight similarities here and there so it may take quite some time to get the hang of each fighter. This is key since there are some battles that can be quite difficult at times and although button mashing may help get past a close encounter, it isn’t usually a winning tactic.
Now as a real quick mention, as the player takes damage in battle, there is a clothing meter which will deplete along with their health. While healing items can be picked up and health restores with a level up, clothing will not. As such if the player is fighting in their shinobi outfit their clothing will become torn once the bar drops low enough and if emptied, they will suffer a major clothing malfunction with plenty of cleavage and bare-skin on display but no real nudity.
If the game does become difficult there is always the option to level up a fighter by using them to either partake in other character’s missions once they have been completed or taking part in side-missions to train. Any time a character gains a level they gain more health as well as other stat increases and sometimes a new attack to use against an enemy.
Along those lines, it is also worth noting that there is a truckload of bonus content available in the game that can be unlocked throughout the game, including titles, pictures for the gallery, new outfits, and accessories to dress the girls in as they fight. This means that outside of simply training there is always the motivation of unlocking more content in what is a surprising amount of content for a game such as this.
Visuals Now those who have been following Senran Kagura are probably familiar with the game’s age and it should be worth noting that the game does feature some graphical problems. While the enemies players encounter are often varied in appearance, there are a number of palette swaps in each stage and the background scenery of dialogue appears fuzzy compared to the rest of the game. Also as mentioned earlier, the game does suffer from noticeable slowdown times and these can occur outside of combat as well.
That being said, the character models of the cast is impressively handled with smooth textures and fluid character animation. Thanks to crisp character models and an abundance of clothing options that transfer over to dialogue sequences, any dialogue sequence looks great and the combat flows rather fluidly. It is also worth noting that for fans of well, fan-service, the game has it in spades with a cast of almost all busty girls with tearing clothing and transformation sequences, all featuring a rather bouncy physics engine.
Audio For fans of the anime that aired earlier this year, it sounds like every character from the game’s voice actress handled their role in the anime, meaning that fans of the franchise are already familiar with some of the cast. On that note, XSEED has not provided a dub for the game but that probably works in the game’s favor as the Japanese voice cast handles their characters nicely which is essential in a visual novel type game such as this. As for the background music, the soundtrack works in the game’s favor by providing fast paced action music to go along with the fights and some nice bubbly music during dialogue or home base sequences.
Overall Senran Kagura Burst might attract or push away gamers with its anime-style visuals and a busty cast of characters with shreddable clothing but it has much more to offer than simply eye-candy. While it’s overarching story may not be the most original, a charming cast of characters helps keep it enjoyable and more often than not, funny. The title features an abundant amount of unlockable content which is great considering how varied the fighting styles of the cast are and how enjoyable the combat system is in the game.
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