My first experience with a Tamsoft developed game was with a prior PSVita release called Neptunia U: Action Unleashed, a sort of action brawler spin-off featuring popular characters from the mainline Hyperdimenion Neptunia role-playing game series, typically developed by Compile Heart. Most notably, that game took a drastically different direction with the combat system, ditching the slower traditional turn-based style combat familiar in the mainline RPG series in favor of a faster and purely action hack and slash brawler combat system, pitting the titular heroines against waves of enemies in open arenas, instead of exploring dungeon maps. It resembled a light Dynasty Warriors clone, with Anime art if you will. Ultimately I was left quite impressed with the all-out action experience and I found the game to be quite fun and looked forward to more offerings from developer Tamsoft in the near future.

SenKag-01

So, it isn’t too much of a surprise that I found the latest offering from Tamsoft, an arena hack and slash brawler with a bikini beach party theme called Senran Kagura: Estival Versus, to pretty much serve up the same fun action combat experience as before, this time on the PlayStation 4. In brief, the Senran Karuga game series is developed by Tamsoft and has previously been featured on the Nintendo 3DS hardware platform in the form of 2D action games before landing on the PS4. It also has an Anime series.

The Senran Kagura series revolves around rival factions of female ninjas, or shinobi, who clash with one another in all out brawls utilizing a variety of different martial arts techniques and specialized weapons. The plot points and motivations for each character and group differs with each game, and in Estival Versus, all of the rival ninja groups are transported to a mysterious parallel dimension resembling a summer beach. Only the world’s finest shinobi are summoned here and are tasked with facing off against departed warriors. The chance to give their fallen comrades a proper rest and learn more about shinobi lore is the ultimate reward offered to the winning school that survives the trials.

SenKag-02

The main story kicks off with just enough of a premise to get the 8-day beach battle royal and martial arts tournament going. It provides an incentive for the 25+ starting character roster to let loose on each other and attempt to annihilate one another in an almost Hunger Games type scenario. With the seemingly jarring number of characters and backgrounds to follow, the rivalries between certain groups and characters can get a little complicated at times, yet the game tries to add clarification by offering a bit of narrative for each character by providing personal insights into character motivations through visual novel segments and animated cut-scenes to break up the action.

On the surface, Senran Kagura looks, plays and feels a lot like any other Musou or Dynasty Warriors clone, but following a formula isn’t necessarily a bad thing when followed properly. The game starts off with 5 groups of ninja girls, with 5 girls in each group making it a total of 25 starting characters to play as, with a few more unlockable characters becoming available as the game progresses.  Each ninja handles a unique weapon and martial arts style ability but controls are universal–basically a combination of weak and strong attacks, a super meter that fills up by attacking enemies which allow flashier, and more powerful attacks.  Unlike a Warriors game that requires clearing out large maps, most combat in Senran is confined to large open arenas, requiring you to defeat multiple waves of humanoid enemies until a boss or multiple bosses appear in order to clear the mission.

SenKag-03

The game doesn’t shy away from the overt use of sex appeal either. The game is practically built around it. Having the game take place on a summer island is no coincidence. Much in the same way that the ladies of the Dead or Alive fighting game series are depicted frolicking on the beach in bikinis while playing beach games in the Xtreme titles, Estival Versus likes to play up the ‘fun in the sun’ bikini party from the very beginning. The opening title of the game depicts all of the heroines running along the shore and dancing on the beach before entering the main menu. Even in the mission selection menu screen, the girls are just hanging out in the background posing in bikinis. While the combat features an interesting clothes tearing system, it’s really there to emphasize undressing more so than anything else. The player characters feature 3 layers of clothing, a uniform, lingerie, and special shinobi armor that they can transform into mid-game for extra strength and defense that practically depicts characters in the nude except for strategically placed lighting. It is what it is.

The game has tons of missions to play through and offers an enormous roster of characters to play with, ranging from simple move and weapon sets to odd and quirky ones. One character uses a giant frying pan as a weapon while another uses her stuffed animal and likes to butt stomp on crowds? One character summons a giant water squid from her umbrella which spins and sprays water like a pinwheel while another simply allows her robot companion to do all the fighting for her. It’s a light-hearted and humorous take on a fighting game, although it’s depiction of sex appeal is kind of absurd. There are also loads of extra costumes and accessories to unlock via the in-game shop and an optional dressing room mode for posing in different outfits.

This review is based on a review copy of the PlayStation 4 version of Senran Kagura: Estival Versus developed by Tamsoft

Bikini Beach Battle Royal! | Senran Kagura: Estival Versus Review
The game has tons of missions to play through, and offers an enormous roster of characters to play with, ranging from simple move and weapon sets to odd and quirky ones.
Overall Score7
Positives
  • A lot of content
  • Fun Beat em up
  • Customization
Negatives
  • Repetative
  • Simple Combat
7Overall Score
Reader Rating: (0 Votes)
0.0

About The Author

Writer

Writing 'bout games n' stuff, watching as physical games library turns to artifacts and everything is all clouds now.