Is it crass? Yes, sure, but the completely uninhibited tone of it also comes across as satirical and self-aware. The girls hide things in their cleavage, enjoy long sushi rolls that are clearly designed to be phallic, and grope one another with abandon. Just about every cutscene in Re:Newal plays up the sexualised humour. There's an odd tonal blend in the storytelling side of things too. That's not a feature of Senran Kagura, though, and consequently, though the action is plenty fast and furious, it doesn't come across as inherently silly as it should do. With that you can appreciate the over-the-top ridiculousness of it all.
Senran kagura burst renewal switch free#
With some of Tamsoft's similarly-themed action games on PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 (the Hyperdimension Neptunia action games, for example, or Onechanbara), you can pause the action at any point to enjoy a free camera view and screenshot opportunity of whatever is going on.
![senran kagura burst renewal switch senran kagura burst renewal switch](https://attackofthefanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SENRAN-KAGURA-Burst-Re_Newal-Review-Cover.jpg)
For a game that's built around sexualised humour, to have action that's so fast that you never have the time to notice the ripped clothes and crotch shots is to make the action come across as rather bland. Senran Kagura is, at times, a game of twitch response and precision, which actually seems counter-intuitive at times.
![senran kagura burst renewal switch senran kagura burst renewal switch](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AQA45eRs_PU/maxresdefault.jpg)
Air juggling's an important mechanic to master (where you throw enemies up into the air and then execute follow up attacks from up there), as is the timing for blocks and counters, and there's a transformed mode you can enter where you to be powered up for a time (and get to enjoy a magical girl-style stripping/re-dressing cut scene), but you need to build up to that and it needs to be executed at the right moment.Īll of this happens fast. As with Dynasty Warriors, on any given level you'll be mobbed by a large group of enemies, which you then need to use a mix of light, strong, and special attacks to deal with them. The combat is very dynamic and entertaining, though. Given that the environments are also purely functional in nature, the shift to having a 3D perspective of them doesn't add anything to the experience, which makes it all feel like a big step backwards on what the original Burst offered. Given the pace of the action in Senran Kagura Burst Re: Newal, this can become very frustrating to deal with, very quickly. Any environment that features buildings of foliage is susceptible to the camera getting lost on the scenery. The biggest problem with Tamsoft's camera engine. It's still a lot of fun, but in the world of 3D brawlers Senran Kagura competes less favourably within its genre than its 2D brawlers do compared to their peers. Now, Senran Kagura Burst plays a little like a Dynasty Warriors or Sengoku Basara, but with school uniforms, panties, and barely contained boobs everywhere.
![senran kagura burst renewal switch senran kagura burst renewal switch](https://i1.wp.com/www.demonvideogame.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/senran-kagura-burst-renewal-ps4-review-3.jpg)
Instead, Tamsoft has gone and remade the game entirely, using the 3D brawler engine that was previously used in titles such as Estival Versus.
![senran kagura burst renewal switch senran kagura burst renewal switch](https://www.skidrowcodex.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SENRAN-KAGURA-Burst-Re-Newal.jpg)
The developer of Re:Newal, Tamsoft, could have just taken that exact game and juiced up the resolution for PlayStation 4, and it would have been a great purchase. The original Senran Kagura Burst, on the Nintendo 3DS, was a side-scrolling brawler that was equal parts pure controversy (because games that have girls with big boobs and endless upskirts are always going to be controversial), and really damn good brawler. In the grand scheme of things, the complete re-development of the original Senran Kagura Burst is about as pointless as a game development project gets.