It’s not often you get an email, one that’s filled to the brim with exciting information regarding both games new and old. Luckily for us, all of these games look exciting, are exciting, and the franchises they are from are some of the most renowned around the world by XSEED fans both new and old. With a new lineup featuring many of their famed franchises, XSEED Games has announced that Marvelous will be kicking off their offerings starting on April 25, 2018 with a PC re-release of the once Xbox 360 exclusive Bullet Witch.
Pros:
-Nice and cute, very friendly feeling dungeon crawler
-Not too much complexity to the game
Cons:
-Distracting mouse placement in chats
-Not much to the game
-Very fast paced with little-to-no guidance or tool-tips
I was given the wonderful opportunity to review this game which I had heard a little bit about before in the past. I looked more into it and found out that it was originally a game on PlayStation 2, which I thought was really cool and made wonder how good it would be on PC. From the first bit of the game, I played I liked it!
Pros: +Amazingly well done combat mechanics
+All-star cast offering different views to similar stories
+Tons of customizations ranging from weapons, clothing, and ability cards
+DLC is moderately priced and completely optional. The addition of new outfits and characters is welcomed.
Cons: -Grope simulator 2017 is a minor drawback, but can be ignored
-Higher difficulties are locked behind progression based upgrades
-Modes don’t vary outside of deathmatch or king of the hill
Six years ago, I was first introduced to the ladies of Marvelous’ Senran Kagura seies. A lackluster beat ‘up title that sold itself on its cookie cutter fan service in order to help move copies. The series itself wasn’t well inspired or even designed at the time of release. Just as anything else, things can sometimes get better or worse with time. For Senran Kagura things have gotten a little weird. Why did it get weird? Because the series has actually gotten better. Even it’s six years of main-entry titles and a spin-off’s have done the series a bit of justice.
Pros:
-Characters are uniquely developed during the games story
-Farm upgrades feel like they take a bit, which adds prolonged playability
-Plenty of side adventures to complete such as friendships, relationships, fishing, etc.
Cons:
– The game is very slow starting out
-Tends to take control from the player during tutorials
-Tutorials lasted roughly 20 hours, which is a bit much
-Story progress is slow to start, sitting between 5 to 10 hours before unlocking other chapters.
Ever wondered what a game would be like where repetition, time management, and a lot of tutorials would be like over the span of between 15-20 hours? This is the welcoming players are in for with this Harvest Moon spiritual successor. If it hadn’t been for my curiosity, it’d been easier said than done to shut down my Nintendo 3DS, and simply walked away for any other title of the genre.
Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns is a coming of age progression title. One that offers multiple options for you to explore as you play. In the game, you start out at odds with your characters father. In effort to prove him wrong, you step out into the world in order to become a great father, and set the record straight in this dispute.
Pros:
+North American copies will detect the Japanese version’s save file and allows for Data Sharing across both. +Extremely smooth frame-rates and performances.
+Phenomenal gameplay mechanics for a first-time Musuo style entry.
Cons: +Story may be confusing some due to Fate/Extra CCC having not come to North America.
Spoiler Warning: This review will spoil parts of Extella’s narrative and other parts of the Fate lore. If you actually want to avoid these, please check out the import preview, otherwise please read this awesome summary of the events of Fate/Extra and Fate/Extra CCC by nrvnqsr poster, mewarmo990.
For nearly the last month, I’ve had a chance to play through Extella and I’ll be honest, even I’m still trying to properly sum up the events in a way that make sense to me. If there’s one thing I can say about the Nasuverse, it’s got quite the lore to pull from much less the historical components from which Type-Moon has liberally taken from. Extella takes itself no less serious, and if you approach the game without basic knowledge of the series, it will go right over your head.
Pros: +Accomplishes the amazing blending of multiple genres +Highly fun and addictive to play +Levels offer variety, beautiful views, and charming songs to experience
Cons:
–Enemies sometimes blend into the environments –Can be easy to lose direction of where you need to go –For some the game could be an easy hit or miss
Lately it’s almost odd to see as many bullet Hell games as we have. Just recently we got a chance to play that missed chance with Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet, which could have offered a rather large opportunity, but failed to do so in the end. Next up is a second chance for the bullet Hell genre, but luckily? This latest entry does an amazing job at several feats, but in a rather interesting way for fans to enjoy.
But before I begin I want to disclose the fact I’ve never heard of the Tohou series until now. Thanks to XSEED Games that’s no longer the case. We here at Blast Away the Game Review have now become familiar with the famed Touhou franchise that captivates fans around the world. This entry is only the second one to come here to the West, and with what it is, it’s actually one that we can now say how we feel about a franchise of this prestige. As some of you may see this as a sincere apology, it’s anything but that since it was interesting to approach a game franchise that left me scorned with the spin-off fighting title.
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity Is Surprisingly Fun
As one would expect, a game of this kind is unique, and because it’s one from the East, it makes it all the more interesting to see due to how unknown this series is in the West. To begin, Touhou: Scarlet Curiousity is surprisingly and astonishingly fun. It’s a captivating title that manages to blend multiple genres together in one. With its combat fluidity as balanced out as ever, the game flows gracefully between Bullet Hell, RPG, Adventure, and even brawler hanks to the unique presentation of the games core mechanics by the developer. In my earliest hours of gameplay, it was hard for me to find the story as captivating as it could be, but later in I found myself hooked and unable to quit.
Our story presents itself as a tale that takes on the adventure between Remilia, a 500-year old vampire that could easily be a tween, and her maid Sakuya. Sakuya of course being tasked with keeping care of this rather powerful and bored vampire that she just so-happens to know rather well. While all would seem well for Remilia, all is not as well as one would think. Living together proves this true for Sakuya who lives within the Scarlet Devil Manor in a place known as Gensokyo (Tokyo anyone?) and more often than not finds her mistress wandering around the colorful wildernesses nearby. With fantastical creatures such as fairies, wolves, lively plant life, and giant bugs running awry, Remilia has decided to wander off to see the world around her.
While many of us are familiar with Remilia’s every-day problems, many of us get to take a glimpse into a common occurance we all know rather well: Boredom. Alleviating it for Remilia involves her taking off into the wilderness near by, however, for her it’s not an experience like one we know where we can alleviate such issues with video games, movies, and music, but instead for her it’s an adventure. Unfortunately for us, her adventure includes her need for finding a challenge that would be noteworthy and make her legend famed. Fortunately for her, this happens quickly as a rather large monster has been seen in the areas around Gensyoko, which includes her Scarlet Devil Mansion being left in ruin, which she returns to almost immediately upon this discovery. Their new adventure is no longer about curing Remilia’s boredem, but instead takes the twist of becoming a full on adventure.
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity Perfectly Blends the Genres
As one would expect, the game is all about both Emilia and Sakuya. Both of these characters come with several features that are unique to them. Each have their own spells, their own equipment, and even their own approach to the story itself. Underneath those two features, the game drives deeper into core mechanics than any other game I’ve played, which is a wonderful thing for Touhou: Scarlet Curiousity. In the beginning we first get to see the game as a top-down dungeon crawler with core JRPG mechanics in it. However, things go a bit deeper as the game quickly goes into a transitive change where it goes from the aforementioned genres to blending in two more: Bullet Hell and Hack-and-Slash.
With these genres blending together so perfectly, traveling through each forest, each town, and each maze comes in with amazing designs. The game will appeal in a top-down style where players are looking down upon the world around them and in the next section, the game could quite easily transform into a side-scrolling title. While it sounds like the game would eventually starve players of something to do, it manages to divert players from this with switching between those formats only to bring in an all-new interesting twist: sometimes the zones become tricky mazes and puzzles to complete. While aggressively fighting enemies seems it would be wise, this isn’t always the case as sometimes using ranged attacks is best, and can quite easily set up enemies to be dismissed with a rather powerful combo counter. Plus, who doesn’t enjoy a rather humorous appeal to the game with a “5 HIT!” counter quickly goes up to a “100 HIT!” combo counter? I know I sure as heck did and chuckled every time I got to that point.
While all this sounds fun and all, something underneath it does seem a bit problematic, and can be a bit of a pain. While you could be like myself, and enjoy combat, the biggest issue is getting hit by enemies that can cancel out your combos. However, in turn, it’s quite easy to get these combos back up, which provides player with a new approach to their combat situation. The biggest change of pace is the games boss fights, which come out of the box as a bullet Hell experience. Projectiles are quickly unleashed across the screen in a vast array of colors and shapes. While these sound fun to look at, these will quickly remind players that they need to move as quick as possible to carefully avoid them, and will then send players screeching players into an abrupt halt in order to smack the enemy a few times. These fights can take a decent amount of time as enemies will find their health bar degrading rather quickly before the enemy dies if you don’t approach the fights with some care.
The biggest problem I faced here was the contrast — or lack thereof — of the enemies to the environment, sometimes creating moments where I would unfairly lose my combo counter to an unseen fairy or sneaky frog. The combo counter increases gold and experience gains, so these losses are about more than just losing the high score. Still, the combat throughout each level never presented much of a challenge, being more fun and relaxed than most bullet hell games. Finally getting to the end of these stages presents the real attraction of Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity. The boss fights are a true exhibition of Touhou’s bullet hell roots, seeing patterns of brightly colored projectiles that must be carefully avoided in order to get in close enough for a few brief attacks, slowly whittling down their health until victory is yours.
And Here’s the Problem in the Game
While the combat is enjoyable, and I’m adamant for others to experience it, there’s a large and overly glaring issue a the forefront. Playing through Remilia and Sakuya’s story didn’t see much variety within the game. You see the same paths, same levels, same fights, and ultimately you see the same story at hand. The only change to make this work? Changing names in the narrative where the writers deemed it necessary.
While this can be considered a minor nuance, it brings the question forth: Why not write a unique story for both? After all, isn’t the idea to give us two sides of the same story, but one from each view? Well, that’s not the case. It makes the story feel artificial as we pick from both characters to experience a new story, but instead get the same one, which could have had a lot of potential in exploring each characters unique motive. However, completing the story with one character opens up a bonus dungeon and an alternative ending for players to enjoy, which would have made the alternative narrative a bit more enjoyable in the long run.
Okay, okay, the Game is a JRPG After All
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity Developer: Ankake Supa Publisher: XSEED Games Price: $19.99 Released: Available Now
While many of the encounters could be seen in a bullet Hell fashion, it’s hard to call the game a true bullet Hell title due to its underlying JRPG mechanics. Players will find themselves grinding out enemies in order to level up, obtain new gear, and even hunting down hidden treasure to provide themselves with a leading edge against their foes. While I didn’t find the mildly letdown of a story bug me, I did find myself more interested in the overall progression of both characters. Downside? They aren’t all that different from one another. Both fight almost the same, they both almost itemize the same, and they both approach tactics to each enemy the same.
While picking fights with these minor sprites can seem fun, the game does find itself growing dry on the enjoyable experiences after the first time through. The most enjoyable part was seeing the flashing “bullets” going across the screen and seeing the spectacle of magic flowing across the screen when new spells are integrated into a players combat. Their most usefulness utility is when boss fights present themselves for players to enjoy. Whether it’s sending Remilia’s shadowy like tendrils into the ground to dispatch enemies or even her “spiral of death” as I endearingly call it.
Like any JRPG, Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity finds its most enjoyment in exploring, the beautiful animations, and the boss fights due to the fact many underlying itemization options such as shops and spell equipping seem minor. However, purchasing and discovering items seem minor due to the fact most of them offer the same bonuses with little effect.
However, if you can look past these small flaws, Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is rather enjoyable, charming, and quite unique among many of the PlayStation 4’s franchises that are already here.
Our review is based on a full release version that was provided to us by the games publisher. For information about our ethics policy please clickhere.
Final Score: 7 out of 10
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.
Pros:
+Graphically astounding in comparison to the PlayStation Vita Version +60fps brings the game back to life with fluid combat and animations +Natively supports mouse and keyboard as well as Xbox One controllers
Cons:
–Boobs, boobs, boobs.. It’s an overload at times.
When it comes to anything being a guilty pleasure, it’s hard to state, which one is which. If it’s not the boobs jiggling or the high pitched squeals as pieces of clothing breaks, it’s hard to determine what point is the “guilty pleasure” state and what point is actually the ability to enjoy the game for what it is; a brawler.
In my original review (now buried on our Facebook wall, as it was before we had a blog, or even a website like we do now), I stated the game is perfect for those looking for skimpy outfits, female shinobi, and excessive amounts of boob jokes that tend to be funny. The truth is? That previous statement hasn’t changed since the original games release on the PlayStation Vita back in 2014.Thankfully to the power of games such as this one moving to PC, Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus gets another chance to reprise the role it had as a hilarious title with some cheerful moments and even light gags. However, can it be as funny as well as enjoyable compared to its previous release? With this, that’s what we’re going to take a look at as we’ll treat this review not just as a re-review, but a whole new review all together.
For those unfamiliar with the series, Senran Kagura is, at its core, a comedic buxom brawler that brings in the meanest of the meanest female warriors from Hanzō National Academy, Hebijo and Gessen. While some may be able to find a school they prefer, Senran Kagura offers a variety of reasons to play characters from both while also experiencing the stories from both. This is something that does add in replay value and keeps the game alive in many ways, ways in such, I’m still playing it and haven’t put it back down even though I’m playing it again on both PC and PlayStation Vita.
“The mechanics, even though they are musou style, are what keep the game alive”
When reviewing any game such as this one, the story could easily be one of the parts to ignore if you aren’t in for a few boob jokes, and a few facepalm worthy moments. Granted all the dubbing is done quite well for fans to enjoy, but so is the translation. This is where XSEED Games sets the par against many localization teams. The one thing though that has kept me coming back? Isn’t the story believe it or not, but the combat mechanics.
For those familiar with the series and those that aren’t will quickly be able to the game without a hitch. Thanks to the not-so-complex combat style that can quite easily be compared to Dynasty Warriors style games (trust me, this game has a lot that can be a nod towards the franchise), players will find themselves quite often mashing both square and triangle in able to beat their enemies to a pulp. With combo’s galore at their hands, players will find themselves mashing square as fast as possible before transferring into a triangle held moment to pop enemies in the air before pursuing them. This will easily take enemies into a aerial stun where they will gain ground of the battlefield.
Included in the combat mechanics is something a bit more unique, one that causes clothing options to be destroyed when the opposing or player character has received a set amount of damage. While this is easy to do, enemies or the player are capable to initiate a shinobi transformation, which allows the girls to be stripped down (censored by golden rays), and transformed into their ninja form. For all those new or never played the series, all of their clothing options can be customized from undergarments, shirts, dresses, etc. In this new form, the character becomes more powerful, versatile, and even heals up to full health while now being able to unleash powerful new shinobi abilities. Some that will stun enemies while locking them into an obscene amount of damage and allowing the tides of battle to be turned. The mechanics, even though they are musou style are what keep the game alive.
“The Performance and Port Quality is Top-Notch”
Hardware Used for the Review: Asus RoG G53SX-DH71 Gaming Laptop (External Link to Asus RoG Website) Windows 10 Premium – 64-bit
1920 x 1080 resolution screen
8GB DDR4 RAM
1TB 7200RPM HDD with a 1TB 7200RPM Backup HDD
Nvidia GTX 560M 2GB
The transition, however, from Vita to PC was quite easy thanks to the game supporting Xbox One controllers as well as other PC supported controllers. Deciding to test the game on two PC’s, I was impressed from the moment I booted up the game, setting it to 1080p, 16×9, and running at full 60+fps consistently without a drop. This stayed true across both platforms, one with a integrated video card, and the other a dedicated.Even on a TV as a monitor, the game played without a hitch as expected.
When looking at the idea of a game being “ported”; it’s hard not to take a moment to glance at what makes the port solidified and a justifiable purchase for those wanting to go at the title again. Unlike most games, we’ve seen a few that were only half-ports where only the in-game animations during player control had been scaled up to perform as one would expect. This time around? This game is not one of those and it was done perfectly enough, the performance and port quality is top-notch, and it would be hard to state that XSEED Games and Marvelous AQL didn’t go out of their way to ensure player’s would come back for another purchase. This port? Is perfect the way it is.
“Multiplayer Lag Was Unbearable at Times”
Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus – PC (Reviewed), PlayStation Vita Developer: Marvelous AQL Publisher: XSEED Games Price: $29.99 USD Released: Available Now
Out of all my experiences outside of unique customization choices that can be done via the shop, the games multiplayer is where the game begins to shine outside of linear and repetitive designs. The multiplayer is where the game makes the combat a bit more enjoyable as players will find themselves facing off against themselves and NPCs. While combat remains the same, players will find themselves battling it out for the top score in order to show their talents. As one would expect, the game supports online multiplayer, which is where the core ability to enjoy the game is for many of the players.
While finding a few good matches had been highly possible, there was still some trouble finding the matches I needed that didn’t lag. Luckily the few matches I got in ran pretty smooth without little to no hiccups after the bits of lag that managed to land on us. Overall? It wasn’t enough to damn the game in any form. If this how any game comes across as a port? I think XSEED Games has set the new standard for how a port should work out.
Our review is based on a copy provided to us by the games publisher. For information about our ethics policy please clickhere.
Final Score: 8 out of 10
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.
Pros:
+Shinobi Girls Heart has returned from Shinovi Versus
+Tons of new stages. Eight to Nine Chapters with around 7 stages.
+Dialogue is rather hilarious. Come for the fanservice, stay for the stories
+Soundtrack offers a few standout tracks such, read the review for more on this
Cons:
-Feels more like a side story to Shinovi Versus than a proper sequel
-Levels tend to be re-used quite a bit. Only differences are mission goals.
-Background score tends to be repeats from previous titles
-Both PlayStation 4 and Vita versions suffer from minor frame rate drops
-Fanservice has gotten even worse
When you read the pros and cons above, it’s hard to not-state that the series is all about the fan service in regards to the high-school aged or slightly older girls. It’s what Senran Kagura is known for, but in this latest version? It’s getting to be just about that. When we first experienced Senran Kagura almost two years ago, the series has become one that we highly appreciate for its combat mechanics, knee-slap worthy jokes, and even the anime-esque art style that keeps the series alive. Let alone does the series keep us around for that, it also keeps us around because the combat tends to be quite enjoyable, but so does the DLC when it actually has something to offer to the game.
Having been plying the game since its Japanese release thanks to co-writer and co-reviewer Greg F, we’ve taken a note of a few things in our joint review. Senran Kagura Estival Versus has seen some minor changes to its previous title. There are a few new mechanics such as bomb throwing, wall combat, and even special knock-outs that essentially go into a cut scene and humiliate the enemy characters in the best possible way. This isn’t odd for the franchise though, it’s all about the knee-slapping jokes and the heavy fan service and these new “Creative Knock-outs” or as in the Japanese version “Purupuru” offers a unique twist to the game. The first one players are introduced to is one of the girls being knocked up into a taito drum and getting her butt literally spanked with taito drum sticks. Literally.
While it’s worthwhile that we can shake our heads and laugh about this, this is a theme that sticks around for quite sometime throughout the entry. Something we’ve gotten used to by now even, but the real look at the game isn’t the fact that the main chapters are rather short leaving players to fly through the main campaign in roughly six hours. While that can be a disgruntling feature, one that has returned and remains soft in our hearts is the return of Shinobi Girls Heart. Or as Greg puts it, “Yo dog, I heard you like side stories so I put side stories in your side stories.”
While the main story is short, Shinobi Girls Heart allows us to once more take to the side stories to uncover new side stories to each of the girls. This giving us a true look behind the events of each character so that we get a bit more of a view from their side of things related to what’s going on with Estival Versus. While this is enjoyable, it’d be nice to see the main-campaign getting much of the same treatment. However, this wasn’t the case, and that leaves us with the feeling that this game is more of a continuation of Shinovi Versus instead of a true sequel. While that can be considered a troublesome flaw, we’ll cope with it for now. It’d be nice to see a true continuation with some of the girls either graduating from their schools or even becoming “Master’s” or in their case “Mistresses” of their schools to allow for a new and more dynamic cast.
While playing the game on both the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4, both in Japanese and English versions for the Vita, we did take note of several things. The Japanese versions patch file has been staying ahead for a few weeks now. With the launch of 1.19 the game has seen a few changes while the American version is still sitting at 1.17, which only added in some of the new Purupuru Knock-Outs, a few bug fixes, and a few other behind the scenes notes. The biggest thing though is how the game has kept up since the Japanese version, which is pretty stable and runs as one would expect for a PlayStation Vita title. Just like the Japanese version, both the American PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita versions run into occasional frame rate drops that can make the game seem as if it were stuttering a bit. Nothing like sitting at a smooth 60fps until combat gets nuts and a lot of animated characters appear on screen knocking that frame rate down to what feels like between 45-50fps until combat lightens down a bit. While this seems like it is isolated to the PlayStation 4 variant. The PS Vita version seems to see the same framerate drops, but hardly as noticeable since that version tends to stick around an estimated 30fps. However, the PS4 version sees a lot more stability in the long run of things.
While performance does remain a question at hand, we do take a peek at the PlayStation Vita TV since Greg ran some tests on it just to ensure our review would be as accurate as possible. While we are used to seeing the PS TV get ignored a bit, the Vita TV still remains an important part to reviewing since many owners do use it and tend to prefer it so that they can play their Vita games on TV with the luxury of not staring at a tiny screen, but for those wondering if the game scales to the PS TV? You’re not getting that treatment this time around it seems. Without a post-release update, the Vita TV remains without proper scaling and looks almost atrocious on Vita TV. It’s best to get the PlayStation 4 version for the 10 USD more. Just not that the PS4 versions enemies all seem to render onscreen at once while the Vita version has pop-in enemies, rather extra waves of enemies in comparison to the Vita version. Or so it seems.
While we do discuss the video capabilities and performance, the game does continue on with traditional cutscenes that variate between walls of text, character model reactions, and well animated shorts. All of this works well for the game as the narrating remains on-par with previous titles. But the one thing that comes down to really looking at the game isn’t necessarily just the graphics and video performance, but also controls. While we’ve become used to the franchise stun-locking our characters in combat, we’ve also seen the infamous return of button mashing in order to keep our enemies at bay, the title does enter in with some new combat mechanics. This includes wall-attacks, knock-up specials, and even parry attacks that tend to leave enemies pretty much out of the fray due to their inability to fight back. Just like before, players can use things such as bombs to knock enemies away, poison them, or simply do what I prefer and blow them up.
Sadly? That’s all that is truly new to the game outside of the Purupuru finishers that leave rival school characters in rather provocative positions while being in what little clothing they have or none only to be covered by glowing gold lights. While this is hilarious, it may deter some new series adopters left shaking their head, and wondering where the series is going to go from there. For those wanting to know about the disturbing Vita groping mechanics. It’s still there and still causes us to shake our heads. At least they censored the girls ages from the Japanese version so that American fans won’t feel as if they should be ashamed of themselves at the end of the day.
Senran Kagura: Estival Versus- PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita [Reviewed on both] Developer: MARVELOUS Publisher: XSEED Games Price: 49.99 USD and 59.99 USD Released: Available Now
While there could be more to go on about, it’s going to be hard to do so without looking at all the fan-service that has been given to this game, but at the heart of it all? Senran Kagura is a brawler that tries to take itself seriously when it comes down to core fighting mechanics unlike it’s comedic narrative that could leave a grown man or woman blushing. While fighting mechanics are at the games core, they’ve not grown enough to make themselves substantially different from previous titles. However, if you want to continue on laughing, blushing, and button smashing? This is the game for you if you can get over all the tits and arse this game has to offer.
Our review is based on a review copy that was provided to us by the games publisher. For information about our ethics policy please clickhere.
Final Score: 7 out of 10
About the Writers:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.
Greg F. is an RPG enthusiast whom absolutely enjoys the niche titles that come across from the East. When it comes to beat-’em-up brawlers such as Senran Kagura. Greg knows the titles just about as good as anyone else, but his passion not-so-secretly sits with his love for retro games from the NES and Sega period. In his free time Greg contributes to B.A.T.G.R. with his knowledge of such feedback.
Ever wondered what would happen to those Buxom Brawlers we’ve become familiar with? What about the fact the series is about to bring it’s busy beat-’em’up touch to the PlayStation 4 this year? For those unfamiliar, both the PlayStation Vita version and PlayStation 4 versions of the game will launch on March 15th this year.
With the titles getting dated, our friends at XSEED Games have also revealed that the newest team of badass beauties, the Overseers of the Festival, will be showing their faces in the newest title. For those of us who played the Japanese version have become acquinted with Sayuri, Ryōki, Renka, Hanabi, and Kafuru, who each possess a unique Shinobi Transformation and utilize powerful Ninja Art. These deadly ladies also seem to have taken a liking for their sunny island of paradise where… They’re in another dimension. Our silly ladies from the well known SENRAN series are whisked away and forced to operate the mystical Kagura Millenium Festival that seems to beckon new guests to this deadly island.
In turn, our friends at XSEED Games have also released a packshot of the new “Endless Summer” edition that will release through retailers in March. This release contains a 108-page art book packed full of artwork from the SENRAN KAGURA series, a randomly chosen set of ten 2.5” by 3.5” holographic “pin-up cards” featuring one of the six factions of buxom beauties each in two distinct poses, and a 2-disc soundtrack containing 70 total tracks. Players can grab the Vita version for 39.99 USD or the PS4 version for 49.99 USD.
This should be more than enough to keep you busy for a while! Stay tuned for our review.
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.
Pros: +Continuous reasons to play based on multiple classes and coop missions +Highly customizable range of weapons +Missions tend to be decent in length giving the game decent playtime
Cons: –Mindless NPC banter tends to get old quickly –Getting classes up to needed areas of progression for harder difficulties can be challenging
Imagine a world where aliens have some reason decided that your planet would play perfect host to them. In turn they have also invaded your world with overly sized insects ranging from ants to spiders. This is the ongoing theme with Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders from Planet Space. It’s not uncommon to see enemies who wish to take over and annihilate everything using insects as their main military force. This is something that has become a theme for Earth Defense Force games and has become a part of why the games are quite enjoyable when picked up and played. Granted they don’t top the fun we could have in a good Godzilla game, but these games offer enough for players to pick them up, blow up a few hundred alien ships and insects only to move on with their day having a grin on their faces.
You may want to ask us as to why we have another Earth Defense Force review going up when we just reviewed the one for PlayStation 4. Well the reason is because XSEED Games, D3 Publisher, and Sandlot were very busy to bring these games over and did so beautifully. Thanks to the Christmas break I took, there was plenty of time for blowing up massive alien insects and ships along with the occasional Kaiju or three over the course of around 80 missions. Granted I have yet to complete all 80 no thanks to my want to play each mission with each class on each difficulty, I’ve found myself easing in at around 40 of 80 completed. Granted that may seem like a lot, imagine the fact I’ve played each mission three times on just the normal difficulty, which sets me in at around 120 missions completed even though it’s only been those forty missions three times.
Much like in the previous game we mentioned there are a few classes, the go-to-class for those wanting pure firepower and maneuverability and an occasional vehicle will want to suit up and take the Infantry class. Those wanting jetpacks and amazing energy weapons will be selecting the Pale Wing while others will be selecting the other guy, the games support class who can call in strikes and use turrets. Sadly he’s not as fun as he sounds due to his inherently long cool downs. Thanks to the game’s capability of using both online features and an ad-hoc mode, players can go online in order to complete the missions in whatever order is available to the host in order to assure enjoyability for all those teamed up. This is the only way it seems to truly enjoy the game and play with friends and the way we highly recommend playing it so that the game is more enjoyable.
While these little things are noticeable is that the game is graphically scaled down compared to its PS4 counterpart, which is saying quite a bit as we’ve seen some rather beautiful games on the PlayStation Vita within the past few years. The most noteworthy change between these two versions is simply scale. The PlayStation 4 game, Earth Defense Force 4.1offers a more robust scale in combat, weaponry, graphics, and scenery. While the Vita counterpart does what it can it is worth noting that combat itself seems a bit harder to do on the PlayStation Vita when it comes to moments that require quick responses when playing solo.
Much like our more in-depth review of the two released games, the most and largest difference between these two games is the fact that this game does not have the on-screen support troops like the PS4 title does, but also the game features a lot less content than its more superior counterpart. While some may find this lacking and destructive to the title, the game is still rather enjoyable, and one that offers quite a bit of replayability due to roughly 400 collectible weapons, hundreds of ways to do each missions, but also the increase in difficulties that can be completed to unlock even better equipment.
Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders from Planet Space – PS Vita (Reviewed) Developer: Sandlot Publisher: XSEED Games Cost: 39.99 USD Release Date: Now Available
Overall? The game is fun, offers a lot of replayability, but does not offer enough for those wanting multiple goal based missions and lots of variation in what they are doing. The game offers the idea of just blowing up insane amounts of enemies at one’s own will. However, it’s not a game that will keep those that easily grow bored with repetition! If you dare? The game will hook you for hours on end.
Our review is based upon the final version that the publisher provided us with. For information about our ethics policy please clickhere.
Final Score: 7 out of 10
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.
