Most folks will probably look at Senran Kagura: Peach Beach
Splash as merely fanservice anime trash and that’s a shame as it’s actually a
lot more than that. It is a surprisingly solid third-person multiplayer shooter
with a wonderfully innovative and addictive upgrade system that is a total
blast to play. There’s tons of ridiculous gravity defying bouncy fanservice
too, of course, but that’s just the icing on the already delicious gameplay
cake. I get it that some people won’t like it due to the fanservice, and that’s
fine, but fans of the franchise and cheesecake anime in general will find a lot
to love about Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash. Continue reading our full PS4
review for all of the details.Game Details
- Publisher: XSEED, Marvelous
- Developer: Tamsoft
- ESRB Rating: “M” for Mature
- Genre: Shooter
- Pros: Fanservice, duh; great gameplay mechanics; fascinating upgrade / loadout system; tons of content; nice presentation
- Cons: Ridiculous amounts of DLC already; fanservice spoils the pacing now and then; bad subtitles font
- MSRP: $50
The story in Peach Beach Splash is about a mysterious power
that transports all of the Senran Kagura girls to a tropical island where they
are asked to participate in an ancient ritual – a water gun combat tournament.
Sounds dumb? Of course it does! But that is honestly the strength of the Senran
Kagura franchise overall. The franchise started as a serious tale about rival
ninja schools but it has turned into a much more light hearted, silly, and fun
excuse to show fanservice and just be nonsensical. There is still ultimately a
greater deep dark evil they’re all fighting, but the focus is generally on fun
and games. I’m a fan.
Peach Beach Splash is loaded to the brim with content for
both single player and online multiplayer. The story mode takes place over four
arcs – one for each school’s set of main characters – and beating all four
unlocks an additional arc that ties everything together. There is also a series
of side story episodes you can play through that focus on particularly silly
stuff. And there is a V-Road Tournament mode where you play through
increasingly tough opponents with no story at all. Beating the story modes and
tournaments unlocks additional characters, outfits, accessories, and more.
There are also practice and free play modes that you can set up and play
however you want. And, of course, you can also play the game online against
human opponents too.
Playing all of the modes earns you in-game currency and card
packs. Currency can be used in the in-game shop to buy new outfits, hairstyles,
and accessories as well as artwork and other stuff. The card packs are the most
interesting part of Peach Beach Splash, though, because they are the core of
the game’s upgrade and loadout system. Before each match you can equip your
girl with a set of cards to determine their different abilities. You have to
equip a weapon card – water gun versions of pistols, machine guns, rocket
launchers, gatling guns, and more –, pet cards that are sort of like little
familiars that help you fight, and ability cards that give you shields,
replenish your health, shoot out powerful projectiles, or activate buffs /
debuffs. There are a couple hundred cards to discover, which means there is an
almost limitless amount of customization options to make your character, and
entire team, play exactly how you want. It is really a smartly designed and
well-executed system overall.
Check out our Senran Kagura: Estival Versus PS4 review
Check out our Senran Kagura: Estival Versus PS4 review
You can also upgrade the cards in your deck through another
unique system. Any new cards you find are permanently available (they don’t go
away when you use them) while duplicate cards can be spent to upgrade the cards
you already have. Card upgrades are not character specific so you don’t have to
upgrade everything separately for each individual character (which would take
freaking forever since there are dozens). Upgrading cards has a noticeable
impact so it is a very rewarding system that keeps you motivated to play and
collect more cards because it actually makes a big difference. This upgrade
system also carries over to online play, which means you had better have a
fully maxed out deck because everyone you play against is probably going to be
crazy powerful.
The actual gameplay in Peach Beach Splash is remarkably
mechanically sound. It is a fast-paced third-person-shooter that, despite the
wildly different subject matter and intended audiences, feels remarkably like
Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare or Splatoon. It is relatively relaxed and
laid back and just fun instead of being super serious like most other shooters.
PBS also has some fantastic movement options such as a water-assisted rocket
jump and a super speed run that allow you to get around the arenas fairly
quickly. The movement options feel really good and stringing together jumps and
dashes and reloading in mid air and flying around and doing all sorts of crazy
stuff is just awesome. You’d never expect it looking from the outside in, but
Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash actually has great gameplay.
Since this is a Senran Kagura game I suppose I should also talk about the fanservice. You should be able to look at screenshots or videos and tell if you like the aesthetic or not, but it’s a game full of generously endowed cute anime girls of all shapes and sizes running around in swimsuits blasting each other with water. Their bouncing breasts defy the laws of physics and it is all totally over the top and gratuitous and ridiculous. You can also dress all of the characters up in a ton of different swimsuits and other outfits, change their hair, and give them all sorts of accessories. I like it.
Since this is a Senran Kagura game I suppose I should also talk about the fanservice. You should be able to look at screenshots or videos and tell if you like the aesthetic or not, but it’s a game full of generously endowed cute anime girls of all shapes and sizes running around in swimsuits blasting each other with water. Their bouncing breasts defy the laws of physics and it is all totally over the top and gratuitous and ridiculous. You can also dress all of the characters up in a ton of different swimsuits and other outfits, change their hair, and give them all sorts of accessories. I like it.
I don’t like certain aspects of it, though; as some things
are just so unnecessarily lewd and humiliating that it is sort of hard to
watch. For example, when a main character gets knocked out in battle you can
run over and do a “Squirmy Finish” where you shoot them in the face or butt or
boobs with a water gun until you blast their clothes off. This has a gameplay
benefit, as it recharges your power meters faster and is even necessary in
certain gameplay modes (like Kill Confirmed in COD), but it is so over the top
and embarrassing that it isn’t even fun to watch. Before you even do a Squirmy
Finish, right at the moment when a character is knocked out, the camera zooms
in to a close up slo-mo “Oh I’m so embarrassed” shot of the girl that is just
stupid. These features spoil the pacing of the game a bit, too, because it is
constantly stopping mid-battle to show you something lewd. The game is already
sexy and fanservic-y enough. Squirmy Finishes and gratuitous slo-mo are just
unnecessary. Oh, and you can also grope the girls in the dressing room like
playing with Mario’s face at the beginning of Super Mario 64. Yeah.
I have a couple of other complaints as well. First, the font
used during story cutscenes is awful. It’s too small to comfortably read and
the color is too light so it blends into the background. Come on, get your
fonts right! My second complaint is that there is a ridiculous amount of DLC
for the game already out with even more planned. I do feel like there is plenty
of content in the game already to justify the $50 asking price, but having
hundreds of dollars of DLC immediately after launch is kind of nuts.
The presentation in Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash is
quite nice overall. The game has kind of a soft look to it and there isn’t a
huge amount of detail in the environments, but it looks good. The girls look
fantastic as well and the animation is nice. Sound wise the game features only
Japanese language audio, which is fine, and the sound effects are solid. The
soundtrack is also pretty great and full of catchy pop / rock tunes that
matches the action well.
All in all, Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash is a
very enjoyable third-person multiplayer shooter that fans of the franchise, and
anyone else looking for a laid back new shooter and won’t mind the fanservice,
will have a great time with. It looks great, plays great, has tons of content
for both solo and online play, and is just a solid package overall. For anime fans,
Senran Kagura fans, and fanservice aficionados – Senran Kagura: Peach Beach
Splash is worth a look. Buy it.
Disclosure: A review code was provided by the publisher.
