Senran Kagura: Estival Versus Review (PS4)

Senran Kagura gets sort of a bad rap.  To an extent, it's understandable.  I mean, let's look into what it is.  It's a game where you play as a girl and beat other girls until their clothes fall off.  These other girls won't take this lying down and will instead beat you until your clothes fall off if you allow them to.  It sounds kind of perverted, which can turn some people off.  This is a little sad, because there is actually a solid game underneath this exterior.

Upon getting into the game, you may be reminded of Dynasty/Samurai Warriors. You pick a character, beat on waves of peons, and occassionally fight a boss (who themselves are selectable characters).  You have weak attacks, strong attacks, jump attacks and other things.  It's monotonous, button mashing fun like the aformentioned Warriors games.

Sometimes you can barely find you own character because of all the peons.  Surprisingly, there's no slowdown.

Estival Versus isn't a total Warriors clone, however.  There are a number of differences that set it apart.  The most obvious one is that this game has an all female cast.  That's right.  Every character (main characters and peons alike) is female.  As such, you have the usual crap that comes with female characters interacting in manga/anime type settings.  That sisterspeak garbage, the attempted groping from the perverted girl, among other things are all present here.  Fortunately, it's not overdone in this game.

The next and possibly most important difference from the Warriors series is tone.  The graphics are cartoony and the action is lighthearted.  As a result, the sexuality doesn't come off as sexy, but funny, which is what I believe the developers were going for.  You'll hit peon with a combo, causing their clothes to explode Ikkitousen-style while sending them flying Team Rocket-style.

Beat the crap out of them and watch their clothing explode.

Continuing on, you also have the ability to use bombs, which can inflict maladies such as poison and freeze, to inflict even more pain on hapless victims.  The game even has cute little mechs (yes, really) you can ride, allowing you to dish out some major-league hurt.  The enemy may ride there own mechs into battle as well and yes, their hits hit badly.  You can also use transformations to wreck havoc on peons and bosses alike.  Bosses can also transform and put some major-league hurt on you as well, so be careful.

That mech may look cute, but don't laugh.  Those things are serious business.

As for those transformations, you have two.  The first changes your character into some magical-type girl.  While in this mode, your girl gets powers and her defense increases.  As for the second transformation...you strip your girl down to her underwear, which extends her combos and increases her attack power.  This second transformation is kind of pervy, but you could simply opt to not to use it.

Moving on, this game is long.  There's a lot to do, though most of it is the same.  You have a main story mode the spans nine days, forcing you to play as different characters to advance.  This can suck if you don't like a particular character because they have a crappy fighting style.  You can replay these missions with any character after you beat them.

There are also various difficulty settings you can play on.  The game isn't too difficult as long as you don't underestimate it.  Seriously.  You may be ready to for the hard difficulty, but if your girl isn't, you'll be walking into a vicious ass-whuppin'.

The scars of an intense battle, clearly visible.

On top of the main story, each girl has her own seperate story.  Things can get tough here, so make sure your girls are leveled up enough before delving into these.  Good luck playing as one one the crappier characters.  Once again, you can play these with any character once you've beaten them.

She's the coolest character in the game.  Literally.

As for everything else...it fits.  The graphics have that cute, anime look.  The music is playful, yet still intense enough for combat.  Some character themes, like Ikaruga's, are pure badass.  The story is what you'd expect; cute girls fighting and doing silly things.  The game is content heavy, with lots of stuff to find (creative finishers), buy in game (dat store though), and download (yay, Ryofu Housen and Ayane).

Look closely for familiar sights.

There is a library where you can listen to music and pictures you've unlocked and bought.  Also, you have a dressing room where a lot can go down.  You can dress the girls in outfits you bought from the store or put them in other girls' outfit.  You can chose any five girls you want and put them in various poses and states.  Or you can just drool over them, if you want (if you like girls like this).

All in all, Senran Kagura: Estival Versus is a pretty darned good game.  It's long, fun, and satisfying.  It has a big roster and only a few characters suck.  The DLC characters they added make it that much sweeter.  It can be repetitive and a little perverted, but it has too many other things going for it to recommend against.  Grow a backbone and play this one as soon as you can.