Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars, a bizarre crossover review

Today we often use the term “”fan service“because the tradition of stuffing video games, movies, anime, and anything else that refers to products or media that delights fans in particular, has spread like wildfire. However, its origins go back to the Rising Sun and to a broader meaning, so Eroticism and its users Talking, which embraces the desire to please in another sense, explains the prosperous forms of the protagonists of series such as Senran Kagura and Hyperdimension Neptunia, which they cut as a hard core in our country as well: the first is thanks to a few very well-packaged action games for the Nintendo 3DS, and the second is especially successful parody JRPGs. with.

It may seem silly to combine busty ninjas and custom consoles in one action game, but Tamsoft and Compilation Heart tried the same and this Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars review It will explain why they failed.

Dialogue after dialogue

The idea of ​​winking at the fanbase with a hybrid title that is part visual novel and part action would also make sense if we hadn’t gone too far in the first direction. we have nothing against visual novel and nowhere does it say that these heroes must always beat each other, but half an hour of dialogue before you actually start playing isn’t exactly sustainable.

that complo The Shakespearean was not to be expected: Beyond this unlikely franchise reunion, we have a shuriken-shaped island named Gamninjustri (ditto!) that is under siege by the Steeme Legion, just as the two factions guarding it are determined to fight back. On the one hand, there are the four protagonists of Neptunia, and on the other hand, there are the most famous kunoichi of Senran Kagura: They will have to fight together in the face of the threat.

Note that Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is a spin-off and you don’t need to know the original series to understand the story. The characters are all re-proposed as if they were an alternate reality where they take on different roles while maintaining the same personalities, and already at this point we notice a few inconsistencies that suggest a superficial rendering: Neptune, Vert, Blanc and Noire completely redesigned for the occasion, Asuka, Homura, Yumi and Miyabi they are almost identical to their classical counterparts.

Actually the whole game unbalanced So much in the direction of Neptunia that at a certain point we realize that if they had replaced Senran Kagura’s kunoichi with four completely different characters, nothing would have changed, neither from a narrative standpoint nor gameplay.

Maybe it’s really embarrassing since the creators of Senran Kagura almost abandoned the series due to the ever-tightening censorship. In the end, Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars doesn’t lack an iota of the soft eroticism that makes Senran Kagura fans laugh so much, and it’s based on nonverbal dialogues that tear apart more than a few smiles just by chance. The lucky parody path Tamsoft has undertaken with the Neptunia series. When completing in-game less than ten hours And since we spend most of the time reading these waifu’s delusions, let’s just say the narrative part is perhaps the most successful, which is an issue when it comes to an action game.

Hallways, corridors

This battle system actually the least convincing thing, especially considering one of the series that gave the game its name. The problem is, once you get over the massive dose of dialogue, you can skip it, but what’s the point? – and if you set foot on the battlefield, gameplay Compared to Senran Kagura, who played on the Nintendo 3DS almost a decade ago. The player can create a team of two heroes and switch them instantly with the push of a button, even in the middle of a combo. Normal attacks, jumping, guarding, and shuriken are associated with the front keys, while dorsal and D-pad combos allow you to dodge and consume healing items.

The first disappointment comes when you realize that the combat system is extremely simple and doesn’t give the same freedom and pomp of ex-Senran Kagura, who is currently not Bayonetta or Devil May Cry, but at least it has its own dignity. Here, however, the articulating combinations are missing, and the characters are all somewhat alike and very few: only eight come from the series featured in the series. cross over Tamsoft is also a couple created for this occasion.

However, none of them stand out particularly and aren’t all that necessary as the enemies are anything but aggressive: on the default difficulty level, Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is practically played alone and challenge remains limited even in the last missions. The maps consist of corridors interspersed with open spaces where hordes of enemies or huge bosses are always telegraphing to dodge their attacks.

The action is extremely smooth and repetitive, whether you complete the main campaign or return to the stages to complete the side missions. A number of additional functions make the combat system a little more expressive with inconsistent results. This ninja arts they learn to equip themselves four at a time and are recalled at the push of a button: at which point the action slows down enough to choose the Art to use and break the rhythm of the fight, which isn’t particularly interesting on its own.

we later Fuurinkazan Driverempowering our hero on duty for a certain period of time, and extreme Shinobi, an extremely spectacular super attack that acts as a smart bomb and destroys all enemies within its range. Unfortunately, none of these features can save the combat system from its mediocrity.

Where is the fan service?

Paradox, Senran Kagura’s also fan service and funny fights where the heroines gradually lose their clothes, there is no such thing here. Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is an extremely chaste game where you don’t know what kind of target you’re aiming for.

Not even minigames and bland RPG elements – especially Soul Gem These improve combat performance – they improve this part of the experience, but it must be said that the Tamsoft title should not be thrown out completely if we are limiting the field to an audience looking for a less knowledgeable, simple and colorful entertainment.

This control system It’s intuitive and responsive to inputs, and we didn’t encounter any significant slowdowns or ambiguities: technically a good job and even if some definition is lost compared to PlayStation 4 and PC We’ve had a comparable product on the market for a couple of months, graphically also good for portability .