Senran Kagura: Burst Review

Senran Kagura: Burst Review.

Developed by Marvelous AQL, Senran Kagura: Burst is one of those games that you might be aware of, but the chances of localization seemed very unlikely to never happening at all. However, publisher Zen United (Xseed Games in the US) have taken a punt here and decided to get it localized and given a release. Leading up to the release, this game was the centre of a bit of controversy in regards to sexism due to its depiction of women. I’m going to try my very best here to not get tangled up in this argument, because honestly, there’s no point trying to argue either case. With that out of the way, lets get to it.

My experience with the Senran Kagura series outside of the game isn’t that much; I read the first volume of the manga and watched two episodes of the anime. After a bit of research, the main story of the game is the same as the anime, which is essentially your basic good versus evil plot; the girls of the Hanzo Academy or the good shinobi are Asuka, Katsuragi, Ikaruga, Yagyũ and Hibari. And the girls of the Hebijo Academy (the evil shinobi) are Homura, Yomi, Hikage, Mirai and Haruka. All of these characters have their own distinct personalities, which for better or worse are the typical anime tropes; Asuka is the cheery likeable airhead, Katsuragi is the pervert of the group and tries to cop a feel whenever she can, Ikaruga is the serious girl, Hibari is the younger and more innocent girl and Yagyũ has a slight infatuation for Hibari. I won’t go through the other girls since you’ll be able to figure them out straight away.

The game is split up into two separate stories with 5 chapters each and 12 playable characters; two of which you’ll have to unlock. The first story is recommended for first time players and follows the adventures of the good shinobi. The second adventure follows the story of the evil shinobi; and while principally they are both the same story from different perspectives, the second story is the more interesting of the two for reasons I won’t spoil here. Each story will take about 4-6 hours each to finish depending on whether you decide to take on the various side missions you’re given. It is generally a good idea to do these missions since you gain EXP from every mission, side or main, that you complete. This EXP goes towards leveling up your character, even if it is the most basic stat progression system, leveling up will grant a few points into each stat, HP, Attack, Defense, Speed and Endurance.

The gameplay is your typical side-scroller beat ‘em up with visual novel pieces thrown in to better explain story elements. The action segments are reminiscent of arcade beat ‘em ups, where you move to the right, enemies appear, kill all the enemies, an arrow appears saying ‘GO!’ and you proceed until you win the mission. Games like these often have a combo system, whether simple or complex; and Senran Kagura opts for the simple system. You can easily get through most missions by mashing the Y button while dashing from time to time. While the combo system isn’t as complex and elegant as something like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, you can still get some good aerial juggling and high combo counters reaching into the thousands. Also available is a special bar, this fills up while you are fighting enemies and when a segment fills up you can perform a special attack by pressing L and Y. These attacks can usually clear the screen of enemies or at least do a substantial amount of damage to them.

There are two ways you can play missions; Yin or Yang. Yin, or Frantic Mode as it is also called, strips your character down to their swimsuit that decreases their defense by 90% but raises their attack power and speed by 750% (numbers were taken from the game manual). Using frantic mode makes the first two chapters an absolute cakewalk, but when the third chapter starts you may have to reconsider. Yang mode keeps your character fully clothed, but when you fill up the special bar for the first time, instead of performing an attack, your character will transform into their shinobi form; and of course this being an anime game, you get a transformation sequence, complete with close ups of the girls, um, assets. While you are in shinobi form you do more damage and can take more damage, however when you take a certain amount of damage, your clothes will start to tear off until you’re just left with a bikini top and very torn up skirt, the downside to this is that every time your clothes get torn, you’ll take more damage; this means that you’ll want to avoid damage to keep your clothes on.

The presentation in Senran Kagura: Burst is nice and keeps with the style of the show, and makes effective use of 3D. And not just for the reasons you might think, the 3D makes the special attacks really stand out from beginning to end and just makes it feel that more intense. The character models look good, but their animations do leave a bit more to be desired; the 3D does make them look better, but the jiggle physics haven’t been perfected; with every movement its like they’re on the moon and no-one is wearing a bra, gravity (or lack thereof) is just having way too much fun which kind of ruins it for everyone else.

There are also unlockables in the game that you’ll steadily get by completing missions or fulfilling certain objectives like killing a boss without taking damage. These unlockables include pictures, music from the soundtrack and cosmetic items and outfits you can put on the girls. These include a maid outfit, (because all anime has at least one maid right?) animal themed pajamas and a shirt that shows off a cleavage you could fall into. There are no shorts/pants with that last outfit; it is literally just a shirt. You can try these costumes from either the story hub or from the main menu in the dressing room; a place where the hardcore fans of the series will probably spend most of their time as you can zoom in/out and the girls will act all embarrassed about changing.

Overall then, Senran Kagura: Burst is a competent action game. The action is decent, the story is somewhat clichéd and the characters have predictable personality traits. However, this game was clearly intended for a niche audience; and they’ll definitely get their moneys worth from this. If you’re not a fan of the type of fanservice that this game portrays, then it definitely isn’t for you. If you’re indifferent either way, then it’s worth buying if you find it in a sale. Just try not to be too embarrassed when you take the case to the counter.

Senran Kagura: Burst was developed by Marvelous AQL and published by Zen United (Europe) and Xseed Games (US).

Retail price is £24.99-£29.99 (prices taken from GAME and Amazon UK) Also available to download via Nintendo eShop for £29.99/$29.99

Thanks for reading this review, if you liked it or if there’s anything I could’ve done better be sure to let me know on Twitter: @itsmattwilmott