If you haven’t spent any time playing those more vague Japanese games, or heard of any of their games, you should know just how…interesting their games can be, i mean they can hold your attention very well and very easily for a long time.
So when people say Japan make the craziest things, that they make stuff no one else would ever thing of? Yeah sometimes i have to agree with them, especially when you see a game like Danganronpa 2, i mean hell, this game is the embodiment of crazy, and i’m still not sure whats going on even after playing the first game. I mean sure if you played the first game you might be expecting a certain game, but don’t worry they have managed to still add what you least expect, most of all a small talking bunny in a diaper.
Yeah, diaper wearing rabbit is the theme of this review so quickly into it, so i am sure you can see where the level of the game is going, and if you can’t, well maybe you have played a few too many Japanese games in your time.
So Danganronpa 1 came out on the Vita to many different mix reviews, but it was a bit of a surprise hit, becoming more of a cult classic that a supper hit though and creating many fans for the series, which all wanted something new to do with the series. Well i guess they got an Anime adaptation, that fit the long story into a 12 episode crime drama, but some didn’t enjoy that as much as others.
So the story starts out the same really, well almost, in the previous game you get brought to Hope high, where the elite of the elite go, where a student is the top of his or her field, and you are the ultimate lucky student. This time around however, you can’t remember what your skill was because of memory loss, a bit cliche i know, but i can forgive it for this game. You do meet the new Ultimate lucky student too, so that is still being kept. Though the biggest difference from the first game is now you have been transferred to a beach paradise to live your school life, whilst making sure to be friends with all the other students.
Of course if you played the first you will know that all here is not to be trusted, and soon things become much darker than expected, but no more will be said right now, the game should be played blind and enjoyed fully.
Graphically the game has the same style as the previous instalment with all the game being presented as some kind of demonic popup book, with back drops unfolding into view when you enter a new area. This is still a really nice effect and it does suit the point and click genre i think and still enjoy the highly stylised look of the game, and think its a very pretty game too, always a bonus on the vitas fantastic screen. The characters again have that highly stylised look, with having that standard anime look but with more detail, each of the characters look more like a over blown caricature of their skills than anything though, which is a very nice effect.
Gameplay wise is almost the same, its a point and click game where you explore each of the levels, you can either move your pointer around the screen, or cut out the middle man and use the touch screen directly. You can still hold down a button to quickly display all of the intractable areas of the screen if your the kind who doesn’t want to keep trying trial and error when playing the game, which is fine and does help speed up a bit. One big change is map exploration, instead of the first person exploration from the first game in the school, this time you transfer to a 2D running mode, where the whole map is shown as a long path that finally meets up. As you walk along the path you walk past each of the explorable areas, you can also speed up your running or just transport instantly to your chosen place.
Why would you choose to walk? Well as you walk you get points on your in game tamagotchi, and lets me honest here guys why wouldn’t you want to raise a pet video game inside another video game? I haven’t found an excuse not to yet.
Danganronpa 2 is a odd game and is one that throws many different surprises when you are playing which i didn’t expect and made the game a big enjoyment to play, sure replay ability isn’t high here, but that first play through is so much fun i can forgive it. It also kept the charm of the first game, without ruining what made it great, so for a sequel that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel it was already using, a solid 4/5 can be given for its fantastic quirky story telling game.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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