Review: Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson (3DS)
The game picks up directly where its Nintendo 3DS predecessor SENRAN KAGURA Burst left off, and follows the Hanzo & Hebijo Shinobi Academies as they battle for good and evil respectively. This time however there is a greater evil at work, as the tyrannous tycoon behind the Hebijo Academy is hell-bent on raining terror across all of Japan by utilising a destructive army of summoned demons!
Pros:
- Brilliant Anime cartoon art graphics.
- Three save slots.
- Anime cutscenes that feel like you are watching an actual film.
- Name your character option.
- Full 3D implementation.
- Japanese voice work with English subtitles.
- Circle Pad Pro support.
- Set the system voice to any of the characters or use the random feature.
- Gameplay is a 3D fighter with a few 2.5D platform areas.
- No gore in game.
- Some levels will have you playing as a tag team, In solo play this means you can swap characters at a press of a button.
- Victory in game is achieved by stripping your opponent down to their underwear.
- Finishing a level lets you pan the victor with the 3DS tilt controls and take pictures.
- Ninja room- Main hub of the game and it is here where you can select missions, change your outfits in the wardrobe area,options,online and re watch or re read any cut scenes. You can move around the hub or use the touchscreen short cuts.
- Photo shoot area where you choose clothes,pose,backdrop and take pictures.
- Online co op play via local or online.
- Streetpass-Send/recieve player cards and stats.
- Opening tutorial with ongoing support and a option to re read any previous tutorials.
- Shinobi stones-Equip up to 3 and you clear special missions to unlock them. They grant buffs like aerial attacks do more damage or move faster etc.
- Fast loading times.
- Missions-
- Story with easy,normal and hard difficulties.
- Yoma Nest challenge mode.
- Training field aka practice.
- Special missions are challenges with set situations like only heavy hits or you have half a health bar etc.
- Mission shop: Where to buy DLC or download any extra missions from eShop.
- End of level rank based on time,damage taken,damage given,combo count.
- Earn exp by finishing levels and missions to upgrade stats and unlock new items.
- Combo counter in game.
- Save prompt after every level.
- On mission select you can change loadout and character select if applicable.
- Bottom screen in game shows all available combo guides.
- Huge boss fights.
- Can save multiple outfit loadouts for ease of use.
- Can skip cutscenes.
- Simple control layout.
Cons:
- Camera angle can be awkward.
- Lot of loading screens.
- Overly sexual theme as you aim to strip your opponent down to their underwear, Boobs take up a huge part of the characters.
- Repetitive gameplay where all you do is the same clear a room of enemies, cutscene,fight a bit more then maybe a boss fight.
- No PVP online option.
- Changing outfits and items can be a long boring drawn out process.
Senran is a game I like to call niche, I mean its not for everyone. Yes it has very well formed females beating the crap out of each other as they attempt to strip each other. That aside it is a straight hack and slash 3D brawler with a complete solid combo system with really good special moves. The attention to detail in this game is some of the best I have played. I like that skipping cutscenes can have the characters saying stuff like skip it or skip this crap, Little things but its welcome. Game pace is done perfectly at first where winning levels is easy and you learn combos and what not, But then the first boss is a true wake up and from then on in the road is a bumpy one with difficulty spikes and combo skills needed. Dying on boss fights can sometimes mean replaying the whole level again but use that as motivation to not suck. Use the game as a pick up and play and its a good example of a solid brawler but long periods of play will be a repetitive one with a lot of booby shots and creepy camera shots. In short its a good game but lacks any variety in the gameplay.
