Review: Senran Kagura Bon Appétit

I was not overly impressed with the singular focus of Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus on over-sexualising its characters. The rudimentary game-play and paper-thin plot could not mask what was an overly crude game. Its rewards in game-play were also all tied in providing you with new ways to ‘perv’ on the game’s cast.

You will not have to guess then how I felt when I started playing the latest game in the long-running series, Senran Kagura Bon Appétit.

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The plot of the game places the students of the various shinobi schools in combat with each other once again to win a secret ninja scroll that will grant the owner a single wish. It just so happens that the combat in question will test their culinary skills rather than their blade skills (well, actually…). Each of the characters have their own motivation for winning, which range from the ridiculous to the far more ridiculous.

The core of Bon Appétit sees you take control of one of the female shinobi. You are tasked with defeating a series of your peers in order to win the scroll. The game-play takes the form of a classic rhythm game – you push specific buttons in time with the game’s music. The button prompts running across two horizontal tracks at the bottom of the screen, while the characters themselves proceed to prepare the various dishes in the game. There is no customisability to the dishes you make either, it is just a distraction to the button presses.

Each round consists of three stages. In between each stage, Hanzo, the master, judges each of the prepared dishes and decides on the winner. To be honest, I found the figures that pop up on screen to be confusing. They did not seem to tally with the numbers of button hits I got and there was no indication that your opponent’s score could be influenced at all.

Once a winner is declared for a round, the loser’s clothes ‘explode’ off of them. If you manage to defeat your opponent in three consecutive rounds, the last remaining scraps of clothes they have on get blown away. The only thing keeping this from being an 18 rated game is some strategically placed lens flare and censor stickers in the shape of the character’s face!

During the story mode, if you managed to pull off a perfect round, you will then get treated to a scene with your now-naked opponent posing in a life-size dessert – with whipped cream and chocolate sauce being the saviour to the character’s modesty. This is often followed by a desperate plea from the girl for you to stop staring at her. This made me particularly uncomfortable to be honest.

Once again, the rewards for success are all tied into ogling the cast. Every win during the story earns you items of clothing for your character. After each match, you are prompted to visit the dressing room to try on these new pieces. Completing the story then unlocks voice samples and pictures of your shinobi.

The uneasy feeling would be easier to suffer through if the game-play somehow redeemed it. However, Bon Appétit’s core system is utterly rudimentary. Playing each round involves just pressing buttons in time with the music – there is no way to throw off your opponent, or earn more points. The only pick up I found was a heart icon the often appears. It has no material effect on the game-play; instead it changes the background video to show your opponent in compromising positions, with the camera focusing on their breasts and backsides!

The only way you know if you are winning is a gauge at the top of the screen showing a moving icon which displays a tug-of-war-like battle going on. However, even here the game is confusing. Sometimes, I missed one button prompt and it had little effect on the gauge, other times, it caused the battle to almost switch sides. This inconsistency made it useless in gauging how well or poorly I was doing.

There are three difficulty modes which do exactly what they say on the tin. The other modes are really just extensions of the story mode. Arcade mode simply removes the story elements and pits you against a random selection of opponents. Free mode involves just a single match.

The only real positive I can level at the game is the fact that it looks good. The game uses CriWare and looks fantastic in terms of character representations, colour palette and animations. It is just a pity that the game is so focused on delivering bouncy boobs rather than decent game-play!

Bon Appétit does not offer enough gameplay entertainment to overcome an already losing battle it has with me over its subject matter. Similar to Shinovi Versus, hardcore fans of the series might find something here.

However, if it is game-play you want, Hatsune Miku or similar has you covered. If it is titillation you want, I must point out that you are currently on the Internet… just let that sink in for a minute…

Tags: Marvelous AQL, Meteorise, PlayStation Vita, Senran Kagura, Senran Kagura Bon Appétit, Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus