There are many games that tend to be nothing more than blatant fan-service. They offer nothing more than cheap thrills and almost never back it up with gameplay. Senran Kagura certainly does not fall into that category. While it’s still fan-service and cheap thrills it backs it up with a ton of stuff to do and while it does the whole scantily clad girls thing; it does so with its giant chest held high almost to the point of self-parody.
Looks like your sister came back to life.
Senran Kagura’s story is the following. Ryōbi and Ryōna are two shinobi sisters who lost their elder sister and go visit the grave to remember her. However once they arrive, the siblings notice a strange ritual going on in the forest nearby. During the ritual, they suddenly see a coffin which they follow to a beach.To their surprise their deceased sister is in the coffin, alive and well. In the meantime shinobis from several different clans get teleported through a mysterious light to the very same beach. Once everyone is collected an old woman reveals the shinobis are part of an event called the Kagura Millennium Festival which transcends both space and time. During this event, all the clans must try to take over the other clans platforms. Doing so will give the winner a chance to become a Kagura. Playing Estival Versus for the plot is not something you’re going to be doing. The dialogue in the game is messy and most of it doesn’t even progress what plot is there. Senran is here to have fun and not bother too much about the details. Characters have their motivation and most of them are looking for a deceased relative that is mysteriously alive again. That is, at least, in-between the panty eating contest and boob groping battles. Senran Kagura is light on plot but that’s okay because it still delivers on its promise.
Dialogue usually amounts to limp jokes like these.
It was the start of a miraculous 8 days that can never be forgotten…
Estival Versus plays like the Musou games. You play on a battlefield with big hordes of enemies approaching you. While your opponents stare you down, you can dispose of them with light and heavy attacks. While most Musou games have large areas the players need to conquer, this game seems to focus on small areas. After clearing the map of enemies, a fight against one or multiple “boss” characters starts. There are 23 playable characters and almost all of them have a different play style. Combat itself is very simplistic and flashy. Enemies are cannon fodder and will rarely attack. There are different types of enemies which require the player to take a different approach than just mashing the attack button. While most enemies try to mix things up, combat still basically just boils down to mashing attack or relying on a certain combo. It doesn’t help that players won’t see a lot of different stages as the beach level tends to be reused over and over again. luckily the game tends to mix up the characters enough the keep the game from getting too stale.
Other than the main story mode there is Shinobi Girl’s Heart, which is very similar to fighting game’s arcade mode. The player plays with a specific character through a certain amount of battles before being treated to an epilogue screen. Players can also dress up their characters and put them in dioramas to take pictures of. Then there’s a shop where you can buy all kinds of stuff like videos, music, costumes, hair and more. There is enough to buy and collect. Overall Senran Kagura Estival Versus will fulfill anyone who likes Musou’s simplistic combat and half-naked girls doing half-naked things.
Combat works just like the Warriors games and is very flashy.
Let the Kagura Millenium Festival begin!
Estival Versus has a really nice presentation. Graphically it’s very clean and colorful. Every curve and form looks smooth and the animation is pretty good too. The character’s breasts jiggle with every movement and while some will like it, the jiggling is so intense one might get nauseous from all bouncing. Most cut-scenes are character models with text-screens under them and occasionally a hand-drawn still. One or two animated cut-scenes are in the game too and look nice. The music is serviceable with upbeat and happy tunes being the main sound of the game. What’s more is that both the Vita and PS4 versions keep a consistent frame-rate when the screen gets littered with enemies. One problem is that during a battle, the characters keep talking and soundbites tend to overlap each other causing a lot of annoying noises but that’s about it considering the complaints in the presentation department.
The Game looks colorful and polished.
Closing note:
Senran Kagura Estival Versus is exactly what it looks like. It’s girls with big breasts bouncing around transforming into skimpier outfit while doing slightly erotic stuff and just all around being cute. It’s skeezy and plays into specific sexual fantasies and it just doesn’t care. It’s unapologetic in its presentation in the way it’s handling its themes and material and it’s actually admirable. It doesn’t try to hide, cover up or pretend it’s something more than it is and that’s respectable. It caters to a specific audience that will certainly appreciate it. Its gameplay isn’t bad or anything but it can get pretty repetitive. The story is also just a side focus for the main attraction. And the main attraction sure is a thrill for those who dare to step into this boat.
Now if you excuse me I think I hear the police knocking on my door. Time to face the music.
