What started off as a hack and slash series of games featuring a cast of shinobi school girls has evolved into a series that has afforded itself many a spin off. A pinball one, a strange touchy feely one (Reflexions) and a third person shooter, albeit one with water based combat.
I first noticed the Senran Kagura series by pure chance. The Estival Versus game was on sale for a very reasonable amount and out of curiosity and without knowing anything of the series, I dived in.
Now, I’ve played games with fan service before, ranging from the Dead or Alive series and it’s infamous jiggle mechanic, to the Sword Art Online games which often feature art depicting the characters in various states of undress and lewd moments, but Senran Kagura takes it to a whole new level.
Having become accustomed to the series and it’s quirks, I opted to buy Peach Beach Splash in the sale. I half knew what to expect in terms of visuals and to be honest I thought that the game was going to be cash in on the name but I was very surprised that the gameplay is actually quite good but before we get into the gameplay, let me quickly mention the story.
Well, like most people who play these games and in particularly the spin-offs, you don’t play them for the story but it is canon. In this case the story revolves around the Peach Beach Splash (or PBS) water gun tournament, where the winning faction can get any reward that they so desire, the catch is that the Shinobi cannot use their special abilities and must win with the use of water guns or the one allowed melee attack. Like all Senran Kagura games the narrative is told through text heavy conversations between the characters but to be honest I just quickly read through these, you can just get the gist but, really we want to get to the action don’t we?
Aswell as the main story there is a tournament mode to work through with each battle harder than the last and failure means restarting again from round 1, this offers a genuine challenge as some of the fights can be quite tough. It’s a case of who can get the most knockouts in the time limit and you can find yourself on the losing side quite easily.
There is a huge roster of characters to choose from and after completing missions you are able to replay them with any character you like.
Peach Beach Splash looks and sounds great with a sort of cel shaded look with bright and popping visuals. There are a few catchy songs on the soundtrack which are suitably tropical and upbeat although there’s nothing too memorable apart from the odd track but all in all it’s a fairly good soundtrack and the version I purchased came with the soundtrack separately allowing me to listen whenever I like.
Any third person shooter is only as good as the gun fighting and gameplay and thankfully Peach Beach Splash delivers on both fronts. The guns range from duel pistols to rocket launches and everything in-between and the shooting, for the most part is done rather well.
I did enjoy using some weapons over others, I rather enjoyed the simple assault rifle and the duel pistols as they felt the most satisfactory and allow you to get stuck into the fight, whereas I didn’t like the slow sniper rifle as although it causes a lot of damage, you need to refill your water after every shot. The only thing that I found frustrating was getting knocked down as your character seems to take far too long to get back up.
You have a couple of moves up your sleeve to help you evade your enemies, like the slide mechanic or the water powered jet pack allowing you to quickly traverse the arena.
There’s some side missions for the characters which are simple missions in which you clear waves of enemies until the boss appears. These side missions are very easy and can be completed in a matter of minutes but there are a nice distraction from the story and usually reward you with card packs and a nice illustration at the end.
To aid you in your aquatic warfare, is the ability to activate cards that can give you special abilities, give you a defensive buff or shield or fire off a powerful offensive attack. To earn cards you can either win card packs from the various game modes or purchase them from the store with your hard earned money. I did find the card collecting aspect of the game rather addictive, as if its own game in itself.
The cards are nicely illustrated and I genuinely enjoyed pulling cards that I’d not got before in packs, but you will pull a lot of duplicates which you can use to power up the characters, weapons or the abilities of the other cards.
Of course it wouldn’t be a Senran Kagura game without copious amounts of fan service and for those in favour, you’re in luck. When you down an enemy and have fully depleted their health, a heart will appear over them allowing you to activate a first person sequence where you can continuously aim water at a specific body part or clothing, after which the clothing will disappear, leaving them in a state of embarrassment. There’s no full on nudity as their blushes are spared by the ever conveniently placed blinding white light but there’s very little left to the imagination.
It doesn’t really add much to the game in the same way the creative finishes did in Estival Verses which were genuinely creative but for those who like the fan service, the option is there.
There is a also an “intimacy” mode in which you can touch and squeeze certain parts of your chosen character. Again this doesn’t add anything and I didn’t find it necessary to the game, I don’t know who the aim of this aspect is for but it’s not a part of the game I’ll ever use.
Another Senran staple is the diorama mode in which you can pose and take pictures of characters. I actually like this mode as you can really get creative with the characters and backdrops available for you to select. The character models look great and it’s fun to mess around with the characters to get some great screenshots. I even opted to purchase the Dead or Alive Ayane DLC character, who just happens to be one of my favourite fighters from the series.
As in previous titles, there is a shop to purchase illustrations, costumes, card packs, music and card packs which you can purchase with your earned Zeni. The illustrations are always excellently done in these games and I look forward to unlocking them and viewing at my own leisure. There aren’t as many illustrations as other titles in the series but there’s more than enough to get your fix.
The Final Say
Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash is a very competent alternative third person shooter, filled with colourful visuals, a whole host of buxom beauties and plenty of extras and collectibles. If you’re a fan of the series or just curious for a third person shooter that is a little different, then Peach Beach Splash can give you what you’re looking for.
Final Score – 6/10
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