Review thread

My review:
Graphics: 9
Fantastic anime style visuals

Sound: 9
Imo it is not so good as Shinei and Guren, but still very good and has some very nice tracks, I like Homura and Murasaki's the best

Gameplay: 9
Trying to get the highest rank in hard mode is challenging in some stages, the ai is incredible compared with Guren, AI knows how to use ukemi and hiden ninpo. The variety of the minions is also very good. But in most stages there aren't enough enemies to beat, I hope there are more stages like Hanzo 5-1, 147 enemies in hard mode is really interesting to play. Most stages end in less than 3 minutes, personally I feel it would be more interesting if a stage last 5 to 10 min.

The online modes are the most interesting part. Despite some balance and matchup issues it is interesting as hell. Every character is fun to use.

Presentation 9
Very good as long as you can understand simple japanese.

Overall: 9
This is the main reason I bought a Vita last month lol

I'll just use Allen's Review Model...I'm mostly going to be critical on the music....
Graphics: 8
While it isn't breathtakingly realistic like other Vita games, the graphics are great - Anime style beautifully done. A big improvement on what we've seen in the 3DS games. Although the shadows and some of the clothing being pixelated and blocky, the characters and scenery really standout.

Sound: 6
I'll be honest, I am disappointed with how most of the songs turned out. Compared to the originals, the music sounds bland and incomplete. Most of the character themes sound like overly long intros. In fact, they sound more like stage themes than the actual stage themes. I feel that it takes much too long for the songs to start up. Like, between 20 to 40 seconds for certain songs. And then there's no real transitional build up from the intro, the songs just stay the same throughout. I can appreciate that the Hanzou and Guren girls' themes are similar in sound to their older themes, but I feel that they have lost their intensity. There's some good music, it's just the bulk of it isn't as powerful as it could've been.

Most of the remix tracks felt lackluster, but I must credit them for sampling Yomi's, Haruka's, and the tender moments themes from the 3DS games. The traditional Japanese take on classical masterpieces in the Gessen girls' remix song was interesting, but, I wouldn't be compelled to listen to it over and over. The Hanzou girls' remix was bizarre. So was the mixing of Guren girls' theme. I feel trolled, too....with the Minori/Hibari mix. It's a good mix. Makes sense and done well.....I just don't like it. The game's main theme was better than the first game's theme, but not as good as Burst's. Even the story themes felt not as atmospherically pleasant. I may be biased, but I had high hopes for the music and I feel let down. Still, there are parts where I can praise it.

Haruka's new theme captures her essence well. Her remixed theme is also very well done and love the way her older themes are worked into it. I thoroughly enjoy listening to them. regarding the main themes from the first and burst, I am so glad that they included those themes. Loved the nostalgia. The Mighty Girls.....I have mixed feelings about this song. I feel that it makes Miyabi's theme more tolerable and energy pumping. Murasaki's and Imu's themes are also heavier, but it's too short - especially Murasaki. Pretty much everyone's theme gets buffed. Personally, Imu's theme, her normal theme, is my favorite, even if I do think it climax's too soon.

Gameplay: 7
The Camera control to me feels sluggish and awkward in such a fast-paced game. Not being able to see where your opponent is or to zoom in on her can be annoying at times. The variety of enemies this time around is welcome and that certain strategies must be taken at times to deal with these enemies. The AI is more troublesome in hard mode, which is to be expected, but getting a high rank can be obnoxious considering the defensive capabilities of enemies and the actions they take.

So far, I haven't seen a way to turn of the clothes ripping, which happens to be one of the main selling points of this series. It can get in the way of combos and considering that nearly each stage has a boss that will get her clothes ripped, transform into newer, and get ripped again, expect a lot of these scenes, including your own. I'm sure they'll fix that eventually.

The multiplayer right now feels obnoxious. The items can make the point battle one-sided from the start. Inochi kakei was nerfed so hard, there's no point in using it. But, I do enjoy the 2-on-2 battles because I see more strategy involved.

The main game and its missions feel too short. Even with the Hard mode spiritually adding more missions, I miss the actual extra missions from the old games without all of the bosses.

Presentation: 9
The costumes are a really big part of this game. There's a lot of lewd costumes. The Naked Apron, Maebari, Lowleg panties, thongs, bodysuits, band-aids. Then there's the clothes ripping, when your not busy worrying about the fight, the clothing destruction scenes can be quite enjoyable. Although, I wish the characters wouldn't utter the same recorded line twice in one scene where their top and bottom gets ripped. The ability to alter accessories was a much needed addition. Switching outfits between characters is also a great addition. My one gripe with that is that not everyone can have the same look of the costume as the owner. Yumi's Kimino being cutoff at the knees, Murasaki's dress being cut short on others, and the same issue with others.

Full clothing destruction is not that great......without the bugs and glitches. While it seems to censor more than the bandaids and the underwear, we've gotten to see what's underneath. Even if it's just barbiedoll anatomy.

Overall: 7.5
It has its flaws, but it's genuinely fun to play. It has its merits beyond the fanservice. Also, it has fanservice *thumbs up* From what I've been reading on what's translated and my ability to comprehend the characters, the story and character interaction is decent. That aren't any games as unique as this and as much of hard time as I'm giving this, I like it way more than anything else I've seen on the Vita.

Great review indeed. I also feel the overall quality of the BGM is a little bit of disappointing, let alone there is only one bgm for each character, not the original two before and after shinobi tenshin. Some remix sounds great but there are also some that don't suit my taste.

It is true that in multiplayer modes the item that recover all health and scrolls shouldn't exist as it grants too big advantage. At least it should appear randomly rather than the same position everytime. So I only choose those maps that don't have it. The minions in some stages grants too big advantage for Miyabi and Hikage as they can use homing aerial combo as they wish, which is a little bit of ridiculous. That's why most players prefer Night Battlefield lol, no minions, no item, fair and square. Hope there are more stages like that.

Actually I feel after the nerf inochi kakei becomes fair and interesting rather than useless. Using it at the beginning of a battle isn't bad, because everyone doesn't have any ninpo at that time so it is much safer. And for those characters that have high defense and health, even after inochi kakei there are still some room for errors. Also, there are some characters that have better moves in Yin mode, like Hibari or Murakumo. Moreover, even if you're defeated very soon after using inochi kakei the point is still 0 so no loss LOL, and after the respawn you'll gain a scroll. Finally, the 120% points earned and 200% damage of Yin mode is still very good if it is used correctly.

Personally I don't like the free for all battles, there are some unsolvable problems in this mode, like running all day long after gaining some advantage, or keep on guarding in Sen mode, and almost all characters can't do anything about it, which is not so interesting. The ultimate solution is playing with friends or playing 2vs2 mode.

My Review (long version)

Graphics: 9.5

For a 3D anime styled game on the Vita, this is one of the best so far when it comes to graphics in this style.

Sound: 7

Sound took a serious quality nosedive, while there are a few good themes, Yomi’s, Yagyu’s, and Murasaki’s, however the rest of the music felt extremely generic or rehashed. The remixed music on the other hand is very good. I recommend using the Vita’s built in Custom soundtrack feature to put your own tunes, just cut the BGM to zero in the options menu for it to work right.

Presentation: 9

Well polished and appealing to see and play, the opening is exceptionally good, nothing much else to say.

Gameplay: 9

Gameplay is solid, with minimal slowdown (usually at the start of the mission when characters are introduced and only in some stages) and some great slow motion effects when you are sent flying. Loading times are an absolute crapshoot, 10.8 seconds for single play, 29 seconds for multiplayer and sadly it hasn’t been fixed. The way styles work have been changed a bit as well, each style has 5 levels represented by a meter and a percentage range, once you level up a style you get the abilities of that style level + any ability or stat modification from previous style levels, these abilities can range from infinite juggling to an increase in attack and defense.

Single Player gameplay modes consist of Academy Story Missions for the school you have selected, these follow the main story of the game, Character Stories, which consists of 5 missions done semi-arcade style for each of the characters in that particular school which are side stories for each character and reveal more about their personality and such. There’s also a training mode to get you up to speed in the controls and move categories and to practice new moves gained by leveling up. You will need the training mode as this game is hard, the bosses and even the stock enemies are very smart and aggressive even on normal difficulty, they will block when needed, some can and will stun lock/burn/daze/poison you to death, and bosses will use Hidden Ninpo more than once, so don’t be surprised if a boss uses Hidden Ninpo 2-5 times in a row, in Hard it’s even worse since they’ll use all 3 types of Hidden Ninpo and multiple uses is even more common. There are also more power ups, besides scrolls for Ninpo and Onigiri for health, there’s also power ups to increase clothing durability, invincibility, and to increase attack. The clothing damage is really nice, now that you can fully strip your opponent and vice versa, granted the censor faces and light show up when you do but it’s nice as a shock factor and it’s shown in a cut scene so you can snap a pic or 2 of your results. Speaking of the use of the Vita’s camera, this game makes full use of it and you can take pics almost everywhere in the game from the gameplay to the menus, and even in the dressing room, a big plus in my opinion and I want this in future games not just Senran Kagura and not just anything by Marvelous AQL.

For the Academy Story Mode missions, you must complete missions with a specific character the first time, and then after you complete it once, you can replay the mission with any of the characters from that school and even replay them on hard difficulty.

Character Stories can only be played by one specific character and can only be replayed again with the same character after the missions are completed, and sadly there’s no hard mode for this. Note: if you beat this mode with any character before finishing the normal mode missions in the Academy Story Mode, that character will be able to breeze easily through their particular missions, as they’ll be level 19+ by the time you complete that character’s story, so complete this mode early at your own risk.

Training mode is available to all characters; I already explained its purpose.

There are three multiplayer modes, Point Battle which you compete to have the highest score, Strip battle, where you get points for well stripping the skirt and everything else off your opponent, and panty battle, where you have to get the most panties. All modes can be played alone against the CPU, Ad-Hoc if you have it, or online via PSN, but be aware you will need a Japanese or a HK PSN to play and you need the online pass as well to play or even to just download DLC as well, so make sure you are on the JP/HK PSN and have used the code or paid 1000 yen ($10.72) to download the online pass. In my opinion, I don’t like this at all because prior to this game, the Japanese market was safe from online passes and it’s a step in the wrong direction, because it’s killing gaming in the West and I’m concerned it will do the same thing in the East with little opposition unlike the Western market. Multiplayer is above average overall, quite fun and surprisingly, it gets supported with patches for balance, something I didn’t expect.

There is a store where you can buy new outfits, accessories, lingerie, pictures, and music unlocked from completing missions in Academy and Character Story modes with in game money, typical stuff in some modern games these days.

There is also a panty lottery where you can win some panties by paying money and this uses two different forms of currency as payment, DLC coins and in game money. You can use in game money and still get every panty in the lottery but it’s time consuming to grind for money and gets costly at the end when the chances of getting new panties gets very low. Then you have the DLC coins, there were ways to get them for free such as by purchasing the issue of Dengeki Playstation Venus, but if you want more you have to pay 100 yen ($1.07) per coin. If you lose connection to the net for any reason, you lose the coins you bought, so be careful. The advantage is that you always win a new set of panties if you use a DLC coin.

The dressing room allows you to change outfits and view the results, you can also take pictures of your character in the dressing room, touch them, and test the clothing damage, the sad part is you can’t strip them all the way until the censor faces show up, would have been nice though if the game allowed it. The customization of headwear and other accessories is off the wall good; you can change the length, width, placement, and even angle. Outfit and accessory selection is good but it could have been better, there’s way too many school uniforms and needed more casualwear and the Nurse Outfit and dress are DLC only, not a very good decision at all.

There’s also DLC for Daidouji and Rin/Suzune which you should pick up, just get the pack with both for 1000 yen. Both can be used in the Academy Story mode and each has their own Character Story modes, with an anticlimactic battle at the end and it is very hard. I strongly recommend you get this DLC pack even if this is the only DLC you’ll ever get for this game. This game would be even better in the DLC department if New Wave characters were introduced as DLC, it’s a tease to see Ayame as a shopkeeper but not playable, well at least you can play with her breasts.

Control: 9

Controls are very responsive and simple enough to pick up and play, there’s an easily accessible move list if you pause the game, which I recommend looking at every 5 or so levels for newcomers and veterans alike. There are also the training mode with everything you need to know to help you even more with the controls and moves if you need it, so you won’t be stumped for too long if at all despite the difficulty. The only issue is that the camera gets really jerky at times and even moving the right analog stick won’t control the camera well once it runs amok.

Fun Factor: 10

This is still a mostly Single player focused game and it is fun to replay the missions and character story after you beat the game entirely either with your personal favorite for the particular school or the required character for the mission. Multiplayer is quite fun and above average overall, whither it is against the CPU or online, you can’t go wrong with it. Then you have the dressing room, oh my God, you will be spending a while in there especially if you get the DLC, for hair, outfits, and accessories.

Overall 8.9/10

Thanks for the review. Nice to have one review by someone thats new to the series and is not affected my the transition in anyway.

OMG! Your not suppose to do that. Well when you can get time away from Asuka I would like to see your full review.

The children. T for teen.