the same disturbing-yet-funny writing that the series is known for. In this way, combining a shooter with a visual novel actually works well. Save for collectibles along the way, both genres keep you moving forward, allowing players to focus on the story/blowing up bear robots instead of getting needlessly distracted with side quests. The actual battles offer a decent amount of variety. Though you’ll spend most of your time aiming for the red-eye weak point of the various types of Monokumas, progressing through the story gifts Komaru with further Truth Bullets that mix up the action. Enemies can be halted with Dance, knocked back with the imaginatively-named Knockback, and even remote-controlled. If things ever get too hectic, a simple press of the Triangle button switches to your partner, Genocide Jack, the serial-killer alternate personality of Toko Fukawa, a survivor from the first game. (Seriously, just go with it.) While Toko cannot be killed and has brutal finisher attacks, she only lasts as long as you have batteries, making her hack-and-slash style the perfect solution to overwhelming numbers. It’s a very simple system that creates one of the few drawbacks of the game. Combat is often simply a matter of keeping your distance and aiming at the red eye. Between that and always having Genocide Jack in your back pocket, it can’t be said that the fighting provides any real challenge. In the same way, many of the game’s puzzles fall over themselves to give you extremely obvious hints, spoiling the pleasure of working it out for yourself. Dangan Ronpa has always been about the story rather than the puzzle, but the variety on show here ends up being diluted by refusing to trust the player’s intellect for longer than one personality-switching sneeze. Thankfully, it’s not all bad. For the fans, everything great about the previous Danganronpas is back in full force. The despair-inducing horror of the post-Tragedy world glows even more vividly outside of the closed arenas of Hope’s Peak Academy and Jabberwock Island. Blood is rendered in pop-art pink, seeping from blue and purple bodies, creating stark contrasts against gloomy streets and blinding right into insane cartoon boardwalks. On the musical side, Masafumi Takada returns to deliver another wonderful soundtrack, echoing the spirit of the previous iterations. It all melds together into a powerful experience, as engaging as any good novel or movie. That said, there is one important caveat: this game is definitely not for kids. As one might expect from a game dealing with children killing adults and the savagery of a ruined society, there are some extremely confronting and upsetting themes on display. Danganronpa as a series has never shied away from really making the player feel the horror and despair it takes as its main theme, but Ultra Despair Girls shows no hesitating in plunging into ever more horrifying scenarios. If you have any kind of queasiness about discomforting themes at all, be sure to prepare yourself before giving the game a go. That just leaves one question, the scourge of every gamer in this sequel-heavy world: do you have to have played the others to get this one? In short, no. All relevant details of the other games are skilfully relayed through Komaru’s ignorance of her situation and Toko’s reticent explanations. Like always, playing the others will help to catch little hints and nods – there’s a lot there for returning players – but never is it necessary to stop and do research to understand what’s going on. Ultra Despair Girls is, understandably, not for everyone. There are a lot of roadblocks to stop prospective players: the Vita exclusivity, the deeply strange dialogue and characters, the tackling of very upsetting taboo topics. Despite these things, fans will find another incredible entry into the Danganronpa mythos, faithful to the spirit and attitude of its visual-novel brethren. For a newcomer, there’s a deep, rewarding story to be had and plenty of fun shooting maniacal bear robots in between. Really, isn’t that all you can ask for?
8.4/10 Click to view the trailer here! PROS: ABSORBING STORY GORGEOUS VISUALS INCREDIBLE SOUNDTRACK FAITHFUL TO DR FRANCHISE CONS: TOO-EASY COMBAT PUZZLES VERY QUICK TO GIVE ANSWER CONFRONTING, UPSETTING THEMES WRITTEN BY Aaron Milligan WWW.STICKYTRIGGER.COM
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OCTOBER 2015 ISSUE What makes you s
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INSIDE 20 Video 46 Previews 76 Geek
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Mortal Kombat X Cancelled For Xbox
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OFFICIALLY LICENSED LIMITED EDITION
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C O S P LA mike rollerson interview
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E OZ COMIC CON! BER 2015
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E OZ COMIC CON! BER 2015
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RK: Board There are two separate Bo