Anyone following my reviews will know that there are two series that I would give any time of the day for: Hyper Dimension Neptunia and Senran Kagura. These two series have crossed over before but usually involving guest characters and nothing more…until now! The recently released Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is currently available for the PlayStation 4 is like a dream come true for me. The moment the collaboration spin-off was announced I had my eyes on any news and I’m finally able to get my hands on it. Honestly, I believe that each Neptunia spin-off game improves upon their predecessors and this has to be the best Neptunia spin-off title to date.
Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars opens up with the four shinobi of the compa style (Neptunia) squaring off against the four shinobi of the honeypa style (Senran Kagura) when their battle is interrupted by the Steeme Legion who declares war on all of the other nations! The shinobi of the compa and honeypa style team up to stop the Steeme Legion. Like many other of the games in both series, Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is broken up into action and visual novel segments. The developers have achieved a nice balance of the two segments, never leaning too heavy on either side.
During the action segments the player controls a team of two out of the ten playable characters. To traverse the map and complete objectives in certain areas, the player can take missions before going into each area to help out the local townspeople. The combat is fast-paced and does have depth to it. It’s not quite the depth that you’ll find in other character action games but still enough to make it worth your while. It’s surreal to me that the visual novel sections have characters from both franchises meet up. The story was enjoyable for the most part even if it did drag on at points but overall the pacing was pretty decent. Playing most of the games in each of the series while the story isn’t anything new it was enjoyable enough to keep me playing the game. There are moments when the art styles of each series clash but you’ll get used to it very quickly.
This is probably the best that either series has ever looked. Everything from the character designs to the way that combat flows is smooth like butter and is something that you would expect out of any high-profile character action game. One of the things that work against Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars Is the same thing that bugs me about both of these series: the camera works against the player in many instances. I lost count of how much the camera worked against me in certain areas. It took me out of the experience a little bit but I kind of expected it with this game.
The balancing is another issue with this title. While not as imbalanced as some of the previous titles in the series, the action segments are easy to get past without much challenge. There isn’t as much grinding compared to previous entries because each one of your teammates level up at the same time. It’s very easy to just continue through the game without having to worry about unnecessary grinding.
I know I say this every time I review a Neptunia game, but I’m very surprised that this series has lasted over a decade. With each iteration and spin-off title in the Neptunia series, the development team learns more and more on how to make a perfect game. What we have here is a perfect collaboration that we probably won’t get for a while again. We have the crazy story brought over from the Neptunia series and we have the smooth action gameplay the Senran Kagura franchise is known for. I believe that anybody who is a fan of character action games will be happy with Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja War.
