Originally released a year ago on PlayStation 4, Neptunia x SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars finally made its way to Nintendo Switch earlier this year. It was also ported to a PC and can be purchased via Steam.
The game, which features a crossover of the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise and the Senran Kagura franchise, is a bit of a mixed bag but one that will undoubtedly still appeal to the very specific niche market that loves these kinds of games.
Neptunia x SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars
So what exactly is Neptunia x SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars? To put it quite simply, it’s a fan-service-laden hack-and-slash button basher with visual novel elements. If you’ve played games from either of these franchises, you’ll know that they lean very heavily into anime tropes. Hyperdimension Neptunia follows a more traditional JRPG formula while Senran Kagura features more hack-and-slash gameplay and a heck of a lot more fanservice elements.
Neptunia x SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars fuses the two game’s worlds together in the form of Gamninjustri. Yup, they renamed and reworked Gameindustri from Hyperdimension Neptunia into a ninja-themed world and somehow, it works. The Hyperdimension Neptunia characters feature the Compa Style which means they have mastered the Ninja Arts based on the Command Technique.
The Senran Kagura characters feature the Honeypa Style, which means they mastered the Ninja Arts rooted in the Action Technique. Together, these techniques will be required to face off against a tonne of tough foes in the game’s levels. The onboarding process takes a bit of time to get you into the game’s story and the world but the visual novel scenes get you there eventually. Without spoiling too much, Gamninjustri is overrun by an evil military force and it’s up to both the Neptunia and Senran Kagura character’s Ninja clans to save the world.
Ninja Wars!
The actual gameplay in Neptunia x SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars involves players controlling their selected characters and using special attacks along with standard attacks and ranged attacks. The special attacks are ridiculously flashy and are remarkably satisfying to pull off each time. Players will have to fight off hordes of enemies in levels and do some light puzzle-solving to progress. The game isn’t hard but some tougher opponents later on in the game might cause some frustration. Once done with a mission, you’ll be treated to another hefty visual novel segment and return back to base to re-equip and level up. These break up the game quite well. The pacing of Neptunia x SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars is satisfactory but some sections do feature quite a bit of back-and-forth talking about things that are inconsequential to the game’s story.
Being a Neptunia title though, expect a tonne of jokes and references in the game as well as quite a few 4th wall-breaking comments. The writing in the game is alright but if you lack patience, you might just want to skip through the dialogue so you can dive right back into the action. However, if you do this you will miss out on the story and getting to know the characters that you play as in-game. There’s also a mini-game that features the characters meditating on a peach while being rather scantily clad. Nothing over the top though. This isn’t Senran Kagura Reflexions which was significantly more risque. In fact, Neptunia x SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars felt quite toned down in general and more focused on the actual combat gameplay.
Graphically, Neptunia x SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars on PC looks great. The flashy effects are well done and the 2D artwork is top-notch as per usual. The actual level environments however are severely lacking in detail and are lacklustre – Though this is not uncommon for both franchises here. The soundtrack of the game on the other hand is fantastic. There are quite a few tracks that play in the game that fit its theme perfectly and the Japanese voice acting is performed by well-known voice actors. There’s no English dub here this time around, unfortunately.
Regarding the game’s actual PC performance, I only encountered one error where the game wouldn’t load. Closing and re-opening it however solved this problem. Other than that, it ran perfectly fine.
Now for the controversial part. Fans of Senran Kagura know that their franchise features a tonne of lewd content. Since a lot of that is not present here, they might feel disappointed. This ultimately feels like more of a traditional Hyperdimension Neptunia game with Senran Kagura characters just visiting and this might put off fans of Senran Kagura’s type of content.
The limited roster of playable characters also puts a damper on things and it feels like a lot more could have been done here with both franchises’ extensive line-up of characters.
Final Verdict
Overall, Neptunia x SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars is an ok button-bashing, hack-and-slash title with visual novel segments. If you’ve played a title like Warriors Orochi 3 or Warriors Orochi 4 though, this will feel very watered down and disappointing to you. The gameplay is formulaic yet enjoyable but it doesn’t really grip you in the way a Warriors Orochi musou-style game does. Thankfully, you’ll be able to finish off the main story before the fatigue really sets in and unless you’re a completionist, you won’t be coming back to this title once you’re done with that.
Enjoy the review? want to read more of our reviews? then click right here to be whisked away to the realm of our opinions.
You must be logged in to post a comment.