Anime Vs Evil: Apocalypse Review – Return Of the Fan Service

There’s a lot of stigma nowadays around asset-flip games, which is fair enough, yet it’s hardly a new phenomenon. Heck, I’ve seen triple-A developers rejig a few assets of existing games and successfully pass it off as a sequel (you know who you are). However, as with anything controversial, there’s always more to it than first thought; just because a game begins as a bunch of recycled assets doesn’t mean it needs to stay that way.

Introduction

Borrowing the engine which was seemingly floating around between smaller teams to produce such games as Satur Entertainment’s Succubus With Guns, Neko Secret Homecoming, and of course, Hentai vs Evil, which is the predecessor of today’s featured game, Anime vs Evil: Apocalypse. Hentai vs Evil, of course, never lived up to its name. You would control one of three curvaceous anime girls as you clear each of the three levels of enemies, freeing one of the other playable girls each time. Simply finish the three levels and… that’s it, you’re done.

The most graphic sexual content you would see is a panty-flash but the real kicker was there was no plot to hold it all together. It was strange since it had surprisingly dark tones, yet we’d never know why these three girls were so integral to saving the world, where everyone else had disappeared to and where that army of demons even came from. Thankfully, Anime vs Evil: Apocalypse is the next stage in the evolution of this series, taking that bit more care to refine each core component.

Anime vs Evil takes a step back with the adult content which was removed from the PS4 release of Hentai vs Evil anyway. We’ve still got a group of curvaceous girls with the option of skimpier outfits, but the emphasis this time is providing a more refined, presentable and professional experience. The game was released for PS4 and PS5 as a cross-buy title, on 15th May, 2024.

Story

You play as one of a group of survivors of the ongoing monster invasion, beginning at first with just Mia. The forces of evil have turned most of the population into ‘polygonal zombies’, a reference to the series’ early graphics engine. Mia and Rebecca explore the world looking for survivors to recruit as ‘friends’. When they happen upon a city, they see a plane crash into the monster-infested lands, and so the pair split up to try to find survivors, and while their efforts will bring success, they will also bring hordes of deadly new foes.

Gameplay

This is a third-person shooter with missions dotted around each of the four maps. As you play each stage, you’ll be gunning down hordes of zombies and other monsters trying to complete short missions. Completing each of the stage’s mandatory missions, which are highlighted in red rather than the optional white, you’ll gain parts of pass-codes to unlock the level’s exit, where you’ll find a caged-up girl to rescue and recruit as a new friend, alongside a boss fight against an aerial dragon.

Enemies re-spawn fairly often so there’s always an unlimited supply of opponents to fight. There are only two types of missions; you either need to take down a certain number of enemies within a time limit or gather floating toys around an area, also under a time limit. Purchasing weapons is permanent so you can always run to the nearest weapon shop once you start a stage and grab your grenade launcher, which you unlocked earlier, to decimate the early waves with ease.

You can play each of the four stages in either Story Mode, Survival Mode or the casual Free Mode. Story Mode has you completing the missions mentioned earlier to unlock new girls, while Survival Mode is a typical zombie shooter that has waves of enemies thrown at you while you try to hold them off for as long as you can. There are various difficulty levels you can choose if you want to add an extra challenge to the gameplay. Completing missions and slaying the tougher enemies results in money drops which you can grab to spend in shop menus to unlock new outfits, weapons and ammo upgrades.

Graphics/Sound

This new installment of the series has had its base assets converted to Unreal Engine 5 for its console release, making it look a bit different from its origins. Many enemies have been recycled from Hentai vs Evil though there is an added lick of paint present. In fact, you’ll find pretty much every character has been partially reskinned using a glossy texture pack which looks fresh and vibrant.

It is a surprisingly pretty game, with colourful, detailed environments and smooth character models which embrace the old visual style of an anime and more western-style cartoon fusion. The camera is actually very responsive and well-behaved, even when alternating between narrow, indoor environments and sprawling outdoor fields. The frame-rate was also impressive, and consistently smooth throughout. There’s also a photo mode if you’re so inclined.

We have the added bonus of voice acting this time which is a welcome edition. Unfortunately, this wears out its welcome with the general quality of this dialogue. Some scenes are okay but much of the voice work is inconsistent in its tone and clearly provided by an AI program, which becomes abundantly clear when an error in the subtitles is mimicked by the voice-over, meaning this error existed in the original script.

One clear example of this is instead of asking “Who are you?”, the line is read as “Who you are”, meaning someone clearly isn’t proof-reading. But seriously, if you don’t have the budget for professional voice actors, most drama students will happily work for credit only. Maybe something to keep in mind? Fortunately, the background music was enjoyable enough.

Replayability/Trophies

Anime vs Evil is a very short game, taking around 3 hours to finish but there are plenty of bits and pieces to keep you busy for a couple more hours, many of which will contribute to grabbing the game’s trophies. You’ll need to dabble with a bit of exploration to open a couple of locked trailers in the third stage which is done by beating their nearby side-missions, plus shoot down 50 balloons.

You can probably skip Free Mode unless you’re desperate to find some extra cash, though you can pretty much tie up any outstanding loose ends by playing around with Survival Mode. Here, you’ll need to survive 15 waves of enemies which is a piece of cake once you’ve bought the grenade launcher. You might as well use this opportunity to farm some cash from all your kills and buy the rest of the weapons available too. After that, the platinum is as good as yours.

Conclusion

Of course, the basics of that classic fan-service remain. Most characters have either tight-fitting swimsuits or bikinis to switch to, and all the girls can be augmented, allowing you to change their hair, the size of their breasts, thighs and overall height. You’ll unlock a new character in each of the first three stages which will then unlock the post-game stage with another four unlockable characters, including the three girls from Hentai vs Evil.

The final unlockable character resembles the protagonist from Succubus With Guns which was developed elsewhere. Surprisingly, Hara the succubus is the poster girl for the game’s artwork and loading screens, and yet she isn’t involved in the story at all, despite the fact that she could easily fit into the narrative, even as an antagonist if need be. She’s just there is an unlockable character once you beat the game which seems like something of a missed opportunity.

Hentai vs Evil was a game created from the most basic of assets, with no story or character-building to tie the three levels together or motivate the player. Sure, you had a trio of curvy, bikini-clad girls to keep your attention until the end, but the game never tried to be more than that. Anime vs Evil is an evolution of this. While it’s still very far from perfect, it looks and sounds better, it handles well and we even have some semblance of character-development, and for that, I can’t help but have a bit of respect for it.

There is still work to be done though. Visually, I was actually quite pleased with it, though the voice acting leaves a lot to be desired. The game is still too short to generate any sort of meaningful storyline, and that’s quite surprising for a game with a higher price-tag this time around. For a game you can pretty much finish in a single sitting, the asking price of around 20GBP/25USD is a bit of a jaw-dropper, and not in a good way. Nevertheless, it is a fun experience.