Senran Kagura: Reflexions (Switch) Review

Early on in the Switch's life, Kenichiro Takaki, the producer of Senran Kagura, wondered about making a game using the enhanced rumble.  Fans of the series dreamed about what would come next...and then we got Senran Kagura: Reflexions.

If you have ever messed around in the Dressing Room feature in any of the other SK games, then you will have a good idea what this game is all about.  Except now there's dialogue to go with it!  Asuka will talk to you, then you will message a part of her hand.  Depending on which part she responds to, and which part you rub, you are then taken to one of the game's "arcs".  Asuka will be dressed appropriately for the arc, and ready for you to practice your reflexology on her body.  Yes, you read that right.

There are two main actions in the body reflexology, squeezing and touching.  Well, there's also caressing and using the water gun, but they don't seem to do anything.  I take that back.  The water gun mode lets you rotate Asuka around, so you can touch her back.  Not really a function that needs to be tied to it, but it is.

Anyway, you will poke or grab various parts of her body.  When you do, a colored circle will appear.  Getting more and more of any color will be reflected the background effect.  Once you've done that enough, you can use a tool to...message her.  As you go through the arcs, you will eventually earn all 4 different tools.  Once it's time, just select one and go.  Each has its own mini-game that rely on the same principle.  Keep Asuka's happy meter in the right zone, which increases the heart meter.  The trick is to keep it in the right range, as doing something too long or too...um, hard, won't work.  If you get the heart meter to the specified level within the time limit, you win!  And by "win" I mean fill her heart crystal more.  Then back to the hand reflexology and repeat until the crystal is filled.  You will need to do this at least five times to fully fill the crystal.

Both reflexologies can be done with motion controls or the controller buttons.  The motion controls are fairly responsive.  Half of the motions felt appropriate, while the other half didn't feel like they were mimicking the actions they were trying to.  I pretty much stuck to using the controller sticks and buttons, as they were a lot more reliable to succeed in the mini-games.  It was a lot easier for me to find the rhythm when using the sticks.  I would encourage players to try both, as the motion worked better than I would have though, and was fun for some of the mini-games.

The crystal fills with whatever color effects you had when going into the mini-game.  Mixing colors will change the overall crystal, and whatever color it is when it is fully filled, that's the ending you get.  That's good in theory.  In practice, the endings aren't really that different, just different dialogue.  The main reason to end with each of the five colors is to get the "true" ending, which unlocks the second main menu picture.  Other than that, getting all five colors in an arc will unlock that costume.

I'm sure that's not how you use a brush

As for other things to do, there is the mini-reflexology, where you can just squeeze and touch Asuka in the classroom, and it won't go to the mini-game.  It's easiest to dress her up in the various outfits here as well.  If you want a more static experience, Reflexions also has the dressing room option.  This is where you change Asuka's hair, accessories, and outfit, plus it allows you to put her in various poses.  It wasn't something I used very often in the main games, and that hasn't changed here.

Well, Senran Kagura: Reflexions sure is an interesting idea, if not a bit creepy at times.  It does feel more like a tech demo to me, since it relies on the motion controls and vibration for most of the interesting bits.  Otherwise, it's pretty much the stuff you can already do in the dressing room function of the other SK games.  Those also have the added benefits of more (and better) girls and outfits.  While you will be able to buy other girls as DLC at some point, I'm not sure it's enough to make me go back to the game (unless there's Murakumo DLC).  There isn't a whole lot to do, but at least the price reflects that.


The Good:
Interesting use of the motion controls and the vibration function.

The Bad:
Making a stand alone game out of a rarely used menu section of the normal games doesn't automatically make it good.

The SaHD:
The "big brother" arc is of course creepy, but the idol one ("Oh, Mr. Producer!") also feels a little uncomfortable in today's world.

(Review code for Senran Kagura: Reflexions was provided by the publisher)

Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash (PS4) Review

Senran Kagura comes out with another spin-off game, this time a third person shooter called Peach Beach Splash.  No, they aren't using real guns, or even ink guns, but water guns.  So the girls run around in skimpy bathing suits, soaking each other.  Yeah, I'm not sure why this didn't come out sooner, either.  Let's splash!

I was initially worried when the multiplayer option was so prominent on the menu.  After picking single player, I was immediately thrust into a multi-part tutorial.  After completing that, I was then greeted with the single player options.  A character's load out is a small deck of cards which will comprise your weapon, pets, and abilities.  The weapon aims and shoots like you would expect in a third person shooter, but there is a lock-on.  Each weapon takes a different amount of water to fire, and you can refill by holding the square button.  There does seem to be a delay in getting it to start, though.  After trying all of the weapons, and felt the normal assault rifle was the best fit.  It had range, rapid fire, and a decent ammo capacity.

The pets and abilities will be ready to use after a few seconds.  They are randomly distributed in one of three slots you have, activated by the d-pad.  Once you use one, another will take its place and have to charge.  Some of these are very good, so don't ignore them.  The shield ones are invaluable against named characters and bosses, and also a great way to have the time to revive a teammate.

Lastly, there is actually a bonus for using your water on your own characters.  This won't hurt them, but will get them wet.  If they get wet enough...wow that sounds inappropriate...they will enter a powered up state called Soaking Wet.  Original, I know.  This temporarily gives you unlimited ammo.  It's great.  It's also just as hard to get the AI to do it to you.  With unlimited ammo, you become a force to be reckoned with.  Some guns, like the mini-gun, become monsters with how good they are when they don't need to reload.  I have to assume that good multiplayer strategies revolve around using this mechanic with certain loadouts.

The "normal" selection of girls is present, with some of them being unlockable as you go through the story or other modes.  There's even a few there that I don't recognize.  I have to assume they are from a game or games that haven't been released in the US yet.  Hopefully that changes soon.  Because each girl just uses cards for weapons and abilities, there is no real difference between them.  On one hand it kind of sucks because your favorite character might not be as fun to play, since they all play the same.  However, it means you can basically only use the character(s) you like.  Plus, Hibari is no longer bottom tier!  What an upgrade!

"But wait," you might be thinking, "is this really Senran Kagura?  Where is the system to destroy clothing?"  Fret not, as they have added Squirmy Finishes.  Once you drain all of an opponents health, they stay prone for a few seconds, which gives you time to run over and activate this feature.  You pull out a duck squirt gun, and shoot the poor girl with water.  You can buy different colors of water because...I don't know.  Anyway, you can shoot the face, chest, or...bottom.  If you do it enough within the time frame, the girl's top or bottom will fall off, revealing that trademark shine.  Shooting them in the face doesn't seem to do much.  Maybe it's a tame option?  If there's a way to knock off more than one article of clothing, I haven't found it.  Plus, you can't do it to the final girl defeated, since the match just ends.

Water fights are fine once you get used to them.  My first problem was telling everyone apart.  I know the characters, but they all start in the same white bikinis.  When there is water flying everywhere, girls jumping and dashing around, all looking largely the same...it can get confusing.  The first team on team fight was kind of a mess.  Afterward, I set all the girls in colors of bathing suits by school, so it was easier to tell them apart.  I also eventually figured out that different outfits are on different tabs in the dressing room, so you can put the girls in their normal or shinobi clothes.  And yes, those will rip.

As you can probably guess, each school has their own story line and progress.  With all four completed, a fifth story opens up.  Each has 10-15 stages total, and each match goes by pretty quickly.  They also culminate with a boss fight, which can actually be difficult.  In addition, there are "Paradise Episodes" to complete, which are smaller side stories, focused on different groups of the girls.  The final single player section is the "V-Road Challenge", which are basically tournaments.  Complete one, and you can challenge the next.  Unlike the story stages, these tournaments offer good money for completion.

Completing levels with give you some money and a card pack.  The money you get feels really low, at least on the easiest difficulty, and you need a lot of cards to level things up.  I assume it's a slow gain because you are supposed to get some for playing online.  I didn't try the online versus, mostly because I have no interest in it.  I tried once to do the online survival, where you fight waves of enemies and protect certain objects, but wasn't able to find another player.  I did a few waves by myself, but it would certainly be more fun with others.  That actually gave good money too.

All in all, Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash is a fun spin off game.  The shooting is fast and solid, and there is enough single player content to satisfy me.  It won't replace the core game, since none of the girls play different from each other unless you change their cards, but fans of the series should try it out.


The Good:
Bouncy ninja girls getting each other soaking wet.

The Bad:
The only differences in characters is what cards/weapon you give them.

The SaHD:
This feels like it should have come out in June, not September.

(Review code for Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash was provided by the publisher)

Senran Kagura: Estival Versus (PS4) Review

Finally...the girls have come...to consoles!  Sorry for that rock-solid intro, but I'm almost as excited to finally review the game than I am of it being available on a home console for the first time.  Senran Kagura: Estival Versus takes place after Shinovi Versus, and is in that continuity.  (Don't get me started on that...)

Much like its predecessor, Estival Versus is a 3D action game where the girls have been summoned to a tropical island where the dead reside.  In order to go home, they much participate in the Bon Festival, and destroy their opponents' festival platforms.  Besides being an excuse to have the girls in swimsuits (I'm not sure the game needed and excuse...), the platform destruction is worked in to the game, and we get to meet Ryona and Ryobi's departed sister.  Story scenes this time around are less narration by the characters and more interaction between the characters.  Most times it's not as deep as the other (no, seriously, there is really good story in these games), but they deal with some good themes.

Each stage is a battle where you have to fight some enemies of various types, and usually fight another character (or multiple) as a boss fight.  The square attack is used for your normal attack string, the end of which usually has a launcher.  The triangle button is your signature breach art, and you can hold it for a block-breaking attack.  X button is jump and the circle button is dash.  Unfortunately, there is a big downtime at the end of a dash where you cannot move while the animation finishes.  It really slows down the action, but I suppose it is a balancing thing for the versus modes.  Being stuck in a slow animation is still not fun, as much of the action feels slower than previous games in the series.  Some can be canceled by jumping, dashing or blocking, but it's a pain to deal with in the first place, since other games in the genre aren't near as egregious.

The girls can also transform into their shinobi forms when you have at least one super meter.  The transformation animations are more involved this time around.  The shinobi form gives you slightly different attacks, and multiple air dashes to continue combos.  You also gain access to your super arts, which can be devastating when used correctly.  Instead of transforming to the shinobi form, you can shred your own clothes and go into "frantic" mode, which increases your speed and damage, but lowers your defense.  You also have access to new attacks and your super arts in this mode.  Of course, during battle both your an your opponents will get their clothing torn, and finishing them off with a super can completely strip them, complete with balls of light covering their parts (which I honestly prefer to the chibi faces and streak of light).

While the basic combat is mostly the same, they added a few new touches.  The girls can run up walls now, and preform a diving attack while doing it.  There are bomb items you can pick up and throw at enemies for various effects, like freezing or poisoning them.  My favorite bomb is the puppet one that gives you a pilot-able mech suit for a short time.  They have also added a friend on some missions.  You can use them to bust you out of a combo, continue yours, or team up for a flashy mid-air combo attack.  While this is a step in the right direction, I'm still hoping for an actual tag mechanic or even -gasp- couch co-op.

My favorite addition to the series is the location KOs.  Called "creative finishes", these are like stage fatalities, but with covered nudity ("conveniently placed apostrophes") instead of gore.  If you finish your opponent near certain areas of the stages (denoted by a sign with a "!" on it), they will be stripped and be launched into the environment for some more humiliation.  Several more have been added through patches to the Japanese version, which are included in the US release.  While most of them are location-based, there are three that are tied to specific costumes available from Ayame's store.  Those won't shred like normal, but offer a unique finish animation.

The story is presented as a long, single narrative where each stage has a set girl for you to use.  Once you have completed a level, you are free to do it again with any of the unlocked shinobi.  I like the single narrative aspect of the story presentation, but there is still some problems with being under-leveled.  Later on in the story it will bump a character's level up to 10, which does help.  As you make your way through the story, you will eventually unlock the extra (non-DLC) characters. It's a pretty long story, will 8 days having 5 or so missions each (usually one per school/group of shinobi).  Half the missions aren't very hard, but the ones against multiple girls (of which there are many) can be tricky.

The AI is about the same as it has always been, where it likes to attack the moment you are within range, or zip around you while you are trying to hit them.  In the final stages, it seemed that I would be assaulting them, and then I would just get hit.  Or, they would recover from me hitting them before I did.  Yikes.  They seem less prone to break out of your air combos, but probably because the button mashing mini-game from Shinovi Versus is gone.  While the AI doing these things might be them taking full advantage of the game's systems, I don't think it's what they should do on an "easy" setting.  It's true that I only failed a stage once or twice, but it had frustrating parts nonetheless.

Each character also has a mini story that becomes available as you destroy the festival platforms in the story.  Each story stage shows how many platforms there are, so it is easy to see where you missed them.  The "Girls Heart" stories open in a weird order, but you can see how many platforms you need to unlock them.  There are five stages in each one, and some dialogue in the stages that furthers the short stories.  They are pretty fun, a great way to get more experience, money and a nice picture at the end.  They can be pretty humorous, too.

Like Shinovi Versus before it, there are multiplayer modes in Estival Versus.  Hence why the word "versus" is in the title.  The modes have been expanded a bit since last time, and one addition in particular I actually like.  There is Point Battle (try to get the highest points by killing enemies), Understorm (collect panties that drop around the arena), Capture the Bra (it's a flag), Queen of the Hills (destroy platforms), Walker Battle (fight in the mechs), Shinobi Deathmatch (self explanatory) and Shinobi Survival.  Of the actual versus ones, Queen of the Hills, is the best, simply because it has team creative finishes.  I really like Shinobi Survival, because it is co-op against waves of enemies.  It's a great place to get experience for characters, but doesn't seem good for money.  You can do it by yourself, but the score won't upload, which is fine.  I'd love to play it with my friends if any of them get this game.  It's worth noting that the versus modes can have up to 10 people on the PS4 (only 4 for the survival mode), and 4 players max for the Vita version.

As a fan of the Senran Kagura games, I was happy to finally see one on a console, and Estival Versus did not disappoint.  The story is long and involved, but there doesn't seem to be as much exposition as previous titles.  There are some balance changes to the characters that I'm not too fond of, but it doesn't ruin the experience for me.  Multiplayer modes have returned (meh), but have added a co-op survival (nice!).  The AI can still be annoying, but the game overall is very fun.  Not one I would play around the kids, though.

____________________

The Good:

Same fast-paced, ninja stripping action, now with environmental humiliations and more characters!

The Bad:
The CPU opponents.  They can easily move out of the way of whatever they want, shrug off as many hits as they want, and hit you out of just about anything.  Fun!

The SaHD:
I'm glad some of the characters I really like using haven't been nerfed.  It seems like every game they tweak the characters, which usually results in some becoming terrible.  Katsuragi still hasn't recovered from the first 3DS game, where she was great...and now is not.  Haruka has been tooled with and is somewhat better, but still not good.  Ryona fell far from the previous game where she was top-tier, and Mirai somehow got worse.  Sadly though, I think newcomer Hanabi is the worst character.  Hopefully them make her more usable in a future game.

I'm still gunning for the platinum in the game, time permitting.  I only need to finish buying everything in the store and I'm good!

Score: 8.8/10

(Review code for Senran Kagura: Estival Versus was provided by the publisher.)

Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson (3DS) Review

I enjoyed the first Senran Kagura on the 3DS, even though it was flawed.  I was excited for the Vita game, Shiovi Versus, and loved it even more than the 3DS entry.  So when Senran Kagura 2 came out in the US for the 3DS, I was again looking forward to jumping into the bouncy ninja world.  After all, this one could be even better!

Senran Kagura 2 is more of a 3D brawler than then the first (which felt more 2D).  Shinovi Versus, the PS Vita title, also was 3D, but sadly did it better.  It's really hard to keep enemies on the screen lots of the time, so it's easy to get hit and not know exactly where you should be attacking.  This was present in the other games, but it seems worse here.  You will lock onto enemies easily enough, but it doesn't lock the camera on them, making it next to useless.

The girls have a lot more differences among them now, with some characters having a power-up on the X Button instead of a strong attack.  The combo system doesn't seem as deep though, and chasing after a launched opponent is too slow.  Personally, it seems like one or two characters improved, but the rest either stayed the same or got worse.  The two worst (in my opinion) didn't get any better at all.  Enemies fell out of my super attacks often, or were knocked out by my partner.  Bosses and tougher enemies easily shrug off your hits and just start hitting you in the middle of your combo.  To me it's not that they changed a major thing and it screwed up the game, it's just several little things were either not changed or made worse.  Not enough to ruin the game completely, but enough to put a damper on my fun and enthusiasm for the game.

Frantic mode has also received an overhaul, as you don't have to choose it only at the beginning of a mission.  Now you can easily activate it when you are transformed and have full scrolls (super meter).  It will constantly drain health now but provide infinite scrolls.  If you hit enemies, you will regenerate some health and stay in the mode longer.  I like these changes because it makes it more of a gamble with better pay offs if you use it right.  The strength boost and infinite scrolls can make short work of a tough enemy, but only if you hit!  Lose too much health and you are kicked out of the mode and left with little health and no scrolls.

Easily the best addition in the game is the tag function, which allows you to have two people fighting at a time, either with one player switching between them, or two player co-op.  You also get tag team super moves to deal out lots of damage.  Co-op is done locally or online, and sadly I was not able to try either.  None of my friends have the game and when I tried to search online, there was nobody.  However, in single player it works fine except for one thing.  By default, the button to switch is also the button used to dash after a launched enemy.  While it will switch people and chase the enemy, it is more of an inconvenience than not.  Switching it with the R Button works better, but it just seems weird to have both functions on one button in the first place.

The story picks up right at the end of the previous game.  For better or worse, it actually includes fights from that game here.  It's nice for people who skipped the first one, but I didn't like it so much simply because I already did these fights, making the first chapter just a repeat.  However, the Orochi boss fight is much more refined and easier than that in the first game.  The cut scene before did have me ask aloud "Why does Orochi have boobs?"  This wasn't answered.  Another thing I wasn't too keen on: this story and Shinovi Versus can't exist at the same time, so three games in and we already have alternate timelines?  Really!?

Anyway, there are five chapters and over 60 missions in the game, most lasting 2-3 minutes.  There is still a fair amount of dialogue, and even some text plot, but not as much as the first game had.  The side stories that helped flesh out the characters are also gone, sadly.  Instead of two stories, one for each side, it is one single story with multiple events and perspectives.  The plot is enjoyable but just doesn't seem quite as deep as the first game.  They did compensate with a better enemy variety and actual bosses this time.  No more only fighting the other girls as bosses!

My two favorite (non-Murakumo) ladies lay down the law!

While there doesn't appear to be a free mode where you can use any character on any level, there is a Yoma cave that has over 100 missions on 14 floors.  The difficulty ramps up each floor, and you can do any level next to any that have been completed.  Some of the later floors will unlock weapon skins for the various characters, but I wish they were spread out a bit more.  On its own, this mode is pretty fun and you get some nice rewards for it.  It still feels like it is there to grind levels in place of free play on any completed level, and it isn't as good for that.

Besides weapon skins, you can equip up to three shinobi stones that improve your stats.  This is a great addition to the series and helps you refine or differentiate the characters.  To get a stone, you have to complete a challenge mission.  They have different requirements, like only dash attacks will damage, you can't get hit, etc.  The rewards are worth it since the stones help a lot.  Thankfully the challenge missions have to be done once, not once per side or character, and all characters can equip unlocked stones at the same time.  The challenge missions can get pretty hard, though.

I found some difficulties just making my way through the story mode.  A few times I would stop and run through the Yoma cave a time or two to grind some levels and make the missions easier.  Utilizing the new Frantic mode helps a lot in the tougher fights.  Overall there doesn't seem to be as much content as either the first Senran Kagura on 3DS or Shinovi Versus on the PS Vita.  However, doing all of the story, Yoma cave and challenge stages will get you your money's worth and and set you back 30+ hours.

Also unlockable are plenty of costumes to put the lovely ladies into.  You can also change their hair color and styles, and each costume has a few color choices.  There are a lot of options, which is always welcome.  There is also a photo mode where you can take pictures of them in various poses and even two at a time.  While these costumes will be shredded by either you or the enemies, the girls will stay in their undergarments.  No SD faces or beams of light in this entry!

One extra cool thing is the DLC character that you can unlock for free if you have a save file of Senran Kagura Burst.  However, you have to select an option in that game for it to save it separately.  Since it was a digital only title in the US, I would think this wouldn't be an issue.  It's only an inconvenience, but it seems dumb to have to do the extra step in the first place.  Oh well, at least then you get the character for free.  Even if he's pretty much a joke character, it is the first playable male character in the series!  There are also a few other pieces of paid DLC that add more costumes and missions.

Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson is pretty fun, but I think I prefer the first one to this.  I know I like Shinovi Versus better.  The tag mechanic is fun, even if it takes getting used to, and some of the changes are for the better.  It doesn't feel like there is as much content as before, but there is still plenty and the story is nice, too.  The stripping is still out in full force, but isn't as risque as the Vita outing.  So overall not a bad game, but a bit of a let down for me personally.

Senran Kagura 2 and Onechanbara Z2 Announced for US!

Xseed announced a few days ago that they were localizing (for the US) both Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson for the 3DS and Onechanbara Z2: Chaos for the PS4.

I'm a fan of Senran Kagura after playing the first one on the 3DS.  I prefer the fighting system on the PS Vita one, Shinovi Versus, but the original is still solid.  Deep Crimson is supposed to be a direct sequel, but doesn't mention the SV girls, so I have to assume it is set in the sixth months between those two games.  Either way, I'm eager to get my hands on it later this year.  Wait... I probably should have phrased that better, considering the game...um... here's the trailer!

The other one is another Onechanbara game.  As far as I know, only one other has come over here, both on the Xbox 360 and Wii (?!), which was Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad.  I played the 360 version and have all achievements in the game.  It was a lot of fun!  There were a few frustrating spots, like the final boss, a boss fight halfway through, and trying to perfectly time combos for some unlocks and achievements... but you do fight a killer whale zombie boss in it!  What other game can boast that?

Anyway, the game was fun, it was a budget title and I ended up buying the expensive DLC for the extra characters.  I kept hoping someone would bring another of the series over, and I only had to wait 8 years!  (Seriously, I asked the people at the D3 booth at PAX one year if they were going to bring out any more)

You can see the announcement trailer here.  XSeed teased that they would release an Onechanbara game this year, and the silhouette matched to a previous game on the PS3.  It seems we will get this instead, but at least it's on PS4!  Just like Deep Crimson, I'm excited to play Z2: Chaos.  Maybe we will get both Onechanbara games?  I'd be happy with that.

Senran Kagura: Bon Appetit (Vita) Review

Hot off the heels of Shinovi Versus, Senran Kagura hits us with another domestic release, Bon Appetit.  While the previous two are action games, this one is... a rhythm game about cooking battles.  Yes, you read that correctly.  As is clearly stated from the outset, this is just a silly side game and has no bearing on the actual plot.

Being a rhythm game, you must push the correct button or direction at the correct moment.  There are two different lines that go from right to left that these buttons appear on.  I'm not sure why there are two, but I think it's so they can fit more buttons in a smaller area.  The directional buttons that must be pressed are color-coordinated to correspond to the face button (circle, triangle, etc.) so it's easier to see when there are a lot of quick moving buttons on the screen.  Granted, the buttons are color coded on the system controllers, not the Vita, so it's borderline silly to do that for a Vita game.  Silly as it is, it's still helpful, especially when there are so many buttons shooting along.

Each of the 10 songs are separated into three rounds.  Winning one of the first two rounds will damage the clothing of the opponent.  If you win the first two rounds and do really well on the third, you will completely strip the opponent, and they will be wearing the now infamous chibi faces and light stripe.  There's also two halves of a heart meter (one per round) that if you fill, will create a special heart button that can give you a humiliating camera view in the background for a few seconds.  While this is a reward for performing well, it's also distracting.  If you ignore it to do better, then it's not much of a reward, huh?  I probably shouldn't admit this, but I've almost dropped a combo a few times while they are playing in the background.  Plus, they look so sad at the end of the scene that I almost feel bad doing it.  Almost.

Winning a round treats you to a scene of Hanzo (Asuka's grandfather, master ninja and tournament creator) enjoying the dish.  Each girl creates a different dish, so there are 10 of these scenes.  The are definitely silly and over the top, but they get old pretty fast, and I was skipping them after seeing them two or three times.  However, the real treat for winning and completely stripping your opponent isn't Hanzo's scene... it's the special.  Your opponent will be placed on a pastry and covered with whipped cream and chocolate syrup.  It's as suggestive as you might think.  While it fits the tone of the game, I think it's even more risque than anything else so far in the series.  And that's an accomplishment, to be honest.  I didn't think it possible while keeping the game under an AO rating, but they did it.  To me, it's not a problem since it's on a handheld system, but as with the action games in the series, I wouldn't play it around my kids.

There are three settings, easy, normal and hard.  Easy is really easy.  I rarely missed even one note in a song, and I'm not really well versed in the current rhythm genre (I was really good at Bust a Groove and decent at Parappa).  Normal seems like a big step up from easy, and was challenging.  I can now consistently win at the normal setting (except Daidoji's song), but not without a mistake or two.  Hard is ridiculous to me, since that's where they add in the up direction and the triangle button, plus have more and harder button sequences.  The way it plays reminds me of the Hatsune Miku game demo I tried a year or so ago.  On the harder settings, the challenge for me was hitting the strange sequence of buttons and not on getting the timing.  I'm not sure if that's how rhythm games are nowadays, but I would prefer the focus be on timing.  Even so, I was able to complete all 10 stories on easy or normal.

Each character's story is 5 levels long, and takes about 30 minutes total to make your way through.  There's 10 girls to use (or 11 if you purchased the DLC characters for Shinovi Versus) and many costumes and underwear selections to unlock.  Each girl has their own song, 2 of which are vocal.  There's also an arcade mode which picks opponents based on the difficulty you select.  It's a decent value for $15, and you'll get your money's worth if you go after the platinum.  A few of the trophies require you to grind out a lot of songs, so if you really like the game, you might want to hold off on those until you get the DLC expansion that adds the girls from Shinovi Versus to give you a broader selection of characters and songs.

Fans of the Senran Kagura series will get the most out of the game.  It's a different style, but you'll know the characters and situations, and get more out of whatever story is present.  Rhythm fans may also enjoy it, but I'm not sure how it stacks up to other rhythm offerings.  Plus, if you aren't accustomed to the world of Senran Kagura, some of the racier aspects might be startling.  The game itself is decent, but I don't think it would convert anyone not into the series.  If you are a Senran Kagura fan and rhythm games are not your thing, you can skip it and not miss out on any ongoing plot.  If you are interested, the game isn't very expensive unless you get it and the forthcoming expansion, plus, a lot of the Shinovi Versus DLC (free and otherwise) will also work in Bon Appetit.

Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus (Vita) Review

Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus picks up six months after the ending of Senran Kagura Burst, a 3DS game.  It introduces a new shinobi school, Gessen Academy, and a new crew for the evil Hebijo, since the previous elites have gone rogue.  Of course, the fan service the game is built upon is in full force, and maybe even a little more risque.

While the 3DS game, Burst, is more of a side scrolling action game (think Final Fight or Streets of Rage), Shinovi Versus is more of a 3D hack and slash (think Dynasty Warriors or Sengoku Basara).  Thankfully, blocking has been added, making some fights a lot easier (yes, you strangely couldn't block in the 3DS one, even though the enemies could).  Attacking and moving just feel a little better and more fluid than before.  The only real downside is that it can be much harder to keep track of your opponents.  Before, they mostly stayed on one screen, but now they can easily attack from offscreen or even behind you.

The biggest thing the Senran Kagura series is known for is the fan service.  Most of the girls have big chests that bounce around a lot, and in combat, damage can get your clothes ripped off.  Since the bosses are all playable characters, they, too, can shed their clothing as you damage them.  Now, if you finish off a boss with a super move while they are in their underwear (top or bottom), it will shred that.  They won't be totally nude, since there will be little chibi faces covering their top, or a streak of light covering their bottom if you do it.  Ironically, some of these cover up more than the underwear they replace.  Yeah, not everyone is going to like this aspect (it doesn't bother me at all), but at least the game is upfront with its focus.

Last game, ranged enemies and characters were easily the most annoying, because you couldn't block their attacks.  Now, they can still be really annoying (Yagyu in the air being the main offender), but notably less so.  The AI overall is much more aggressive, and chase you down whenever you escape their attacks.  This makes them all harder than the previous game, but they didn't feel cheap or unfair (except maybe Asuka's strong attack).  Still, it can get annoying when you are just trying to air recover and escape, only to have the boss and their minions hound you incessantly.  Another cool addition is the midair fights.  Previously, when you launched a boss, you could follow them up and pile on extra damage with little resistance.  Now, if the launcher person recovers fast enough and attacks as the other is, it enters a clash where you have to button mash to win.  It's pretty fun, but there ended up being too many of those toward the end of each school's story mode.

From the outset, there are now three schools to choose from and go through their story.  Plus, you can unlock another group from the previous game, bringing the total to four groups of five girls, meaning there are twice as many characters as last time.  The returning characters have been tweaked as well, which benefits most of them (especially Hibari).  Sadly, I felt like Katsuragi was changed a bit for the worse, but it could be because she was my favorite to use in Burst.  Most of the new characters are just as good as the old, but I feel like each school still get at least one character that isn't that good.  I'm sure it's personal preference, as someone will undoubtedly love a character I don't, and dislike the ones I do.  I guess the point of this is that no one felt out of place.  They were all usable, and the new characters fit in perfectly.

One of the surprises of the previous game was how much story and character growth they had, and Shinovi Versus continues this.  A lot of the story is told through on-screen text with some spoken dialogue (in Japanese).  If you are willing to pay attention to it, it's actually good, and you see growth and depth in many of the characters.  Sadly it's easy for people to completely ignore it, since they will dismiss the game out of hand.  I'm not saying the story is the reason to buy this game, but it's actually done well, and better than many AAA games that I've played.

Content wise, there's also a lot of stages in the game.  Four playable schools with 24 or 25 stages each adds up to 97 story stages.  Each character also has their own mini story of 5 stages.  That's 100 more stages.  Even if each stages only takes a few minutes, counting story and loading, you'll get around 30 hours just to get through everyone's story.  This will also net you most of the trophies, since the list is pretty standard.  Expect trophies for story completion, purchasing costume pieces and other similar things.  The stage areas themselves aren't super interesting, but I was usually paying attention to the enemies, so I wasn't bothered by them getting reused a lot.

Supposedly, the draw, or at least unique aspect, of this entry in the series is the versus mode.  Ad-hoc and online are both supported.  While this would be cool to some, I feel it's unnecessary.  It tried the modes out because thankfully you can put bots in the empty slots instead of waiting around for someone (I had the game before release so it would be even harder to find a game).  There are three modes, but they all feel the same.  There are four people, so you just pick an opponent and keep fighting them.  You could switch targets, but there's little point unless it's the down time between respawns.  One mode has you attack each other for points, and another gives points for knocking their clothes off.  The third sounds different, as you collect underwear.  However, since getting hit knocks some out of you, you just sit there and hit each other.  I have no doubt there are people who will love the versus modes, and play it with their friends, but it still feels tacked on.  Thankfully, it can be ignored (save for 3 easy trophies that only require participation, not winning) and it doesn't seem to have affected the main game.

I really like Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus.  It's a fun hack and slash with lots of fast-paced ninja action.  It revels in its fanservice and doesn't shy away from its risque nature.  If that doesn't bother you, or you enjoy that, I'd recommend playing the game.  The story is better and more developed than most people would give it credit for, and there are a lot of stages to conquer.  The versus mode is forgettable, but overall I had a lot of fun playing the game.  I'm also eagerly awaiting the two DLC characters that should be coming out soon.