Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash is one of those games which I’ve been putting off reviewing for far too long. There are several reasons for this, but by far the most undesirable reason is what the game unintentionally represents: change. Peach Beach Splash is the first game in the Senran Kagura series released after Sony’s content restriction and censorship overhaul, a decision which would see many a great series either toned down to create something less recognisable, or disappear into the gaming graveyard.
Nevertheless, Peach Beach Splash is a game hit only by the first wave of these reforms, cutting some content here and there while the majority of the game still remains largely intact. It is, however, a sign of things to come, as the series would be targeted by growing waves of guidelines and restrictions to such a degree that the new game in the series, Senran Kagura 7even, simply wasn’t worth finishing and ended up trapped in development hell and seemingly cancelled.
Not counting a couple of spin-offs and non-canonical crossovers, Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash is (unintentionally) the last mainline game installment of the Senran Kagura series, with its future installments disappearing from concept discussion and the saga ending with another series of the hit anime TV show, albeit with some loose ends.
Introduction
Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash is a third-person shooter game in the Senran Kagura series, published by Marvelous and developed by Tamsoft. It was released for PlayStation 4 in 2017. Players take control of the shinobi students once again, this time in a more light-hearted water gun tournament in various game modes, including single-player shootouts and online multiplayer battles.
The game was created to bring elements from the various Senran Kagura games together, to establish a single world where all of it takes place. The plot was written as part of the series’ main storyline, as something future games in the series could potentially build upon. The huge roster of returning playable characters also includes Sōji, Yūyaki, and Leo from smartphone game Senran Kagura: New Wave G Burst, making them the first New Wave characters added to a main series game as playable characters.
Story
The game’s plot focuses on the Peach Beach Splash water-play tournament, which has been held by ninjas since ancient times, at least in some form or another. Now, the beautiful shinobi students reunite in a televised spectacle. In it, participants are not allowed to use their special ninja abilities, instead being given water guns to use. Shinobi from various groups have been invited to the tournament, and fight in teams representing their respective schools and factions.
While the broadcast is presented by Rin and Kiriya, both famed master shinobi sensei who are respected throughout all shinobi schools, the tournament itself is organised by a mysterious, shadowy benefactor who has promised the winning team anything they desire as their reward.
And so, the girls of Gessen Girls’ Academy, Hanzō National Academy including the newly-qualified Ayame, Hebijo Clandestine Girls’ Academy, Homura’s Crimson Squad, the Mikagura Shrine Maidens including Kagura and Naraku of ‘New Wave’, plus a few guest legendary shinobi, all participate for their chance to have their wish granted.
Gameplay
Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash is a third-person shooter in which players control over 30 iconic shinobi from the Senran Kagura series, using different types of water guns with different abilities; for example, the basic handgun consumes little water and shoots ricocheting water bullets, whilst the shower gun continuously sprays a short-range water mist. Battles are fought in different arenas, including beaches, water fronts and pirate ships.
The game includes several different modes: There is a single-player story mode called the Single Splash, in which the player battles rival girls and quirky, story-related bosses which require their weak spots located and targeted to win. In the Paradise Episodes mode, the player plays comical episodes focusing on individual character arcs.
Each water gun has two modes which the player can switch between; An example of this is the water balloon grenade launcher’s balloons can be set to either explode or bounce upon impact, and the sniper rifle can be set to either being powerful with a narrow lock-on range or half as powerful with a wider lock-on range. In addition to water gun moves, dashes, and jumps, players can also use short-range melee attacks which cause heavy damage and push the opponent back.
Players can ‘finish off’ opponents by activating a “Squirmy Finish”, in which they soak the opponent in water while aiming at their chests or hip areas, and delivering enough damage to either of these areas will result in the top or bottom half of their swimsuit being blasted off.
Characters can be customised through the use of equippable cards that come in three types: weapon, skill and companion cards. Skill cards give players various effects, such as the ability to restore health during battle, or lowering an opponent’s attack power. A maximum of six cards can be equipped at a time.
Companion cards are used to summon a character that fights alongside player-controlled characters, which can assist players with things such as cover-fire. A maximum of three companion cards can be equipped at any one time.
Graphics/Sound
The effort that’s gone into adding realistic details to each environment certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed. Touches of light, shade and plenty of texture make Peach Beach Splash the prettiest Senran Kagura game yet. Characters have also been adjusted for the new setting, with new animations and appropriately messy or tied back hairstyles to suit the theme.
What I didn’t like was the game’s somewhat unusual design of water effects. High-powered jets of water are delivered with a decent white glow of vapour, while standard ambient pools behave a little too rigidly, and almost all water in the game looks overly blue, almost like toxic pools of antifreeze.
The soundtrack continues the series musical tradition of a fun mix of light rock, J-pop and low-key Japanese orchestral pieces to suit every mood. The game is partially voiced with an all-Japanese dub, with the extended cast of American voice actors featured in the anime, once again, not reprising their roles here.
Replayability/Trophies
‘PBS’ offers other modes to keep players coming back for more. The V-Road Challenge is a tournament mode where the player picks a team of characters and plays through four cups as them, to win cards and in-game money. While most trophies in the Senran Kagura games are linked to full completion of all scenarios, missions and side-missions, Peach Beach Splash places a great deal of focus on collecting the huge range of collectable cards available.
The player acquires cards as rewards for clearing stages, and through an in-game store that sells ten-card packs. Cards have five different levels of Rarity: N, R, SR, SSR, and UR. There are over 800 illustrated cards to find, which in this gacha-like scenario can double or even triple your playtime to find them all, making for a surprisingly tough platinum journey.
The Multi-Splash online mode includes three types of multiplayer battles: Ranked Match, where players fight each other in two teams of five in randomly selected stages, with the goal of raising one’s Peach Points and ranking, thus enabling better rewards; Free Match, where a player hosts a match and can customise the rules; and Co-Op Survival, where players protect a tower from enemies. It is also possible to play the Co-Op Survival mode solo, with the other characters being AI-controlled.
In addition to the battle and story modes, the player can visit the characters’ locker room and set them in various poses, and customise their expressions, costumes and hair styles. Within the locker room, the player can access a water gun mode, where they can spray the girls, or control a pair of comedy hands used to touch the characters, with different reactions expressed depending on where they are being touched.
Conclusion
As with previous installments of the franchise, there’s another incredible chapter of this intricate story on show here, comprised of multiple arcs of equal importance. Even this light-hearted water-play scenario is a part of that saga, yet as a standalone game, it doesn’t highlight the strength, skill and abilities of these iconic characters, and a lot of fans will undoubtedly miss that.
Also tying into this change of gameplay is a change of opportunity for the hardcore fan-service lovers out there. Yes, soaking a downed girl will grant you a window to blast off her bikini top or bottom, yet previous games allowed you to expose both simultaneously in combat, while playing around with girls in the locker room highlights the real censorship on show, with features like wet bikini transparency and full-stripping removed.
Nevertheless, Peach Beach Splash crams a lot of content into what first appears to be a simple, spin-off shooter. Sure, the light-hearted water-gun tournament may feel like a distraction from all of that iconic shinobi violence, but that’s precisely the point of PBS. Through non-violent competition, the shinobi which will someday decide the fate of the world are able to delay the coming of the Yōma which grows as a result of their constant battles.
As discussed in the previous game in the series, the incredible Estival Versus, the lives of the young shinobi students are often short ones, and so grabbing a few more precious weeks of happiness together is priceless. There’s a lot of heartwarming depth behind the Senran Kagura series, enough that I certainly don’t want it to end, and it seems I’m not the only one.
With shinobi high school student seniors including Katsuragi, Ikaruga, Yumi, and Murakumo now approaching their final summer together and their imminent graduation, the girls begin to show their anxiety as to what comes next, and leaving behind the fellow classmates they’ve come to treasure. Friendships are put to the test, and this tournament serves as one more precious moment together.
Joys
- More gorgeous girls than ever before
- A heartwarming story underneath all that spectacle
- Fun, anarchic water-gunplay
Cons
- Starting to show signs of censorship
- Not quite the climactic ending we needed
- The gameplay style shift won’t please the ninja-brawler fans
