Kyouran Kyōdai » PSP

Black★Rock Shooter, (Reviewing) The Game

TheFuzzy — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:50:10 +0000

I finished the game (or at least the first and “good” ending) rather recently, and as a fanboy, I am pleased with how it’s turned out.

However, I’ll be reviewing this game strictly from a gamer’s point of view (except when the plot itself comes into play), so the score may be lower than you expect.

I’ll try to keep it as spoiler-free as possible. But first, a short outline! =D

The Outline

The game puts you in the shoes of the titular character, Black★Rock Shooter, who shoots her way through enemies to get to her nemesis, White Rock Shooter. But I’m sure you already know that.

The game is split into stages AKA levels, and each level is split into several missions, which use parts of the stage as needed (to advance the plot, or for a side quest). Whole stages will be later accessible through Free Hunting missions, though there won’t be any save points between you and the boss. But more on that later.

Once you enter a mission, you can run around in the stage towards your objective, and when you get in contact with a mob or boss, you enter battle.

In battle, you kill enemies by shooting them with your Rock Cannon. Enemies will either approach you (slowly or quickly, depending) to hit you in the face, or dance around and shoot you. Most of the attacks in the game have very clear tells, so you should be able to dodge them, or block them just in time.

You can’t just dodge-spam or Rambo it out though; you’ll raise your Overheat bar. As your body heats up, you shoot less bullets per button press, and when you OVERHEAT, you’re a sitting duck while your body cools down.

Alternatively, you can use active skills and items, which don’t heat up your gun at all. Instead, active skills have their own cool-down timers, and items are in limited quantity.

Passive skills also come into play, though you unlock them over time through the course of the story (and then some). You can choose to turn them on and off any time before a battle, but unless you’re willing to give yourself a challenge, don’t bother.

Now that I’ve pretty much addressed the bread and butter of the game (you can find the rest out for yourself), it’s time for

The Review

While repeatedly returning to the mission menu while taking on the story feels a little jarring, it does allow you to “go back in time” in the game, essentially allowing another full playthrough once you’ve finished the game.

Most expected the game to be a real-time hack & slash game, and while it avoided being the latter, it managed to retain the qualities of a former, borrowing some elements from STGs (shooting-games) like constant bullet-dodging (though not to danmaku levels). Well done, ImageEpoch.

The Overheat system in battle forces you to “ration” your actions and delay them to let your body cool down a little. That means instead of going in guns blazing, you’ll have to work out a strategy to, well, survive.

Enemies don’t all act the same either; over the course of the story, enemies get trickier to take down, and the bosses really take the cake. The button-spam events at the end of each boss are totally unnecessary, since you will never lose, and feel like an excuse to watch B★RS engage her enemies DBZ-style.

The game does try to get imaginative, ranging from saving your bike from being eaten by mooks to rescuing a target within a time limit. Sadly, though, the most they do to your “head from start to finish while killing everything in the way” routine is to change one or two factors (e.g. you’re better off avoiding enemies, you have to deal lots of damage while killing enemies within a time limit, etc).

Thankfully, little in the game is vague though (barring the language barrier), what with all your objectives clearly marked on the stage map and field.

The bike mini-game feels like a breath of fresh air, but after dying a couple of times (or more), you’ll feel thankful it only lasts for a single stage.

Grind…is nearly non-existent if you’re just aiming to complete the story. The stages are made such that you’ll be able to go through all the story missions in order without too much difficulty.

In fact, I’d say levelling is almost too easy. You might miss out on a few useful skills if you don’t manage to unlock them along the way, though unlocking them is a simple matter of killing enough of X in a certain stage (sometimes with weapon Y only).

If anything, ImageEpoch succeeded in creating a traditional JRPG, but without the level-grinding.

For a JRPG (and marketed as part of ImageEpoch’s line of “true JRPGs”), it is amazingly…short. It takes approximately 12 hours (or 2 days of guard duty) to complete the storyline, after which the post-story content begins to unlock.

While the post-story content continues to feature fully-voiced cutscenes (even some hilarious ones) and even goes so far as to reveal a “true” end to the game, it takes only 5-10 hours to finish all that. I’ve yet to complete this part though, but my estimate is from hearing about the end-game content from other chaps online who have already achieved 100% completion.

And by 100% completion, I mean getting every single achievement, unlocking every single gallery item, and bludgeoning that true last boss into submission.

Whether the game’s length (or lack thereof) is because of the writing or vice versa, the plot leaves a lot to be desired. Unexplained origins (other than B★RS’, at least), unjustified motives (except maybe due to insanity or pure boredom), and an unsatisfying ending which doesn’t even leave any room for a Sequel Hook (unless you count the need for a proper ending as one).

Like most PSP games, the textures in the game aren’t exactly crisp; even the star on B★RS’ back (which you’ll be looking at most of the time) looks a little blurred. Some parts really take the cake though, such as the forest stage, where the ground looks like splotches of differing shades of grey and green up close. Not to mention the fact that nearly every path in the forest looks the same.

Effects in the game are decent; they portray what they need to just fine, and nothing more. There is a constant bloom effect going on in-game though, probably to disguise the aliasing. Protip: it doesn’t help much, guys.

While the visuals aren’t much to admire, there is a plus point: loading times are blazing fast. If you’ve downloaded the game (legally or not) or used the data install option, nothing in the game takes longer than 3 seconds to load. The game runs pretty smoothly on my old PSP 1000, too.

The cutscenes in the game are well-animated, or at the very least, much better than God Eater’s stiff movement. The most important plot-heavy ones feature smooth, realistic movement, camera angles, and lip-syncing.

I have only one thing to say about the character and prop design: if you have a heavy metal or gun fetish, this game is for you. Huke definitely made his mark here.

While I’m happy they roped in Manabu Namiki for the music, ImageEpoch seemed to have forgotten something important. With all the skull, star and death metal themes in the game, where did all the rock go? Instead all we get is a lot of synth.

EDIT: Kudos to PAPAEDMUND for uploading the entire OST.

While the music doesn’t exactly live up to the expectations of the song that this game is based on (and it should IMHO), it does give a very “retro” feel to the game.

Which is actually kind of jarring, if you think about it.

Nonetheless though, the music ranges from the calm “safe zone” music to the fast-paced boss battle themes, and does sound good overall. If the game took a little longer than a couple of days to finish though, I think I’d actually be able to reminisce every time I hear the music outside the game.

The voice acting in this game is excellent, but that’s a given since it has an all-star cast. Given titular main character’s personality, Maaya doesn’t get as many chances to act out her role (at least, not as much as Miyuki’s role as Grey), but she makes up for it with her double role as WRS.

I will be honest: I cannot tell that they’re being spoken by the same voice actress.

I’m not going to talk about the limited edition content as part of this review, the main reason being that they don’t really contribute to the game itself. In any case though, tl;dr, here’s a quick summary:

Game-play: 7/10 – Decent and level-grind independent. The creative use of mini-games does liven up the gameplay a little more, though it does get a little repetitive after a while.

Visual: 7/10 – Graphics and effects are decent, though texture quality is low, and the use of bloom feels like an unneeded gimmick.

Aural: 7/10 – The good use of synth complements the game’s atmosphere, though it clashes with its death metal themes.

End-game Appeal: 5/10 – The game is way too short for a JRPG. Even the unlockables (which are there only to lengthen your play-time) aren’t all that hard to obtain.

Overall: 6.5/10

If I had anything else to say, it’d be that B★RS The Game was probably rushed. Greater emphasis was placed on the character design rather than the game itself, though the decent in-battle gameplay became its saving grace.

I am happy, though, that the gaming industry’s first attempt to turn a popular franchise into a game didn’t turn out to be a boring, turn-based dungeon adventure. To be honest, if it did, I wouldn’t have even bothered playing it, let alone reviewing it.

If you’re still considering getting the game, only get it if:

you love Black★Rock Shooter.
you’re bored and looking for a quick RPG to clear.
you’re into tech porn.

Otherwise, look elsewhere.

Here’s a Preview of the figma of B★RS’ Mecha Form

TheFuzzy — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 02:00:17 +0000

While the magazine scan doesn’t reveal anything about the terms and availability, the figma looks smexy. I had a feeling this was bound to show up sometime though, what with WRS’ lack of a fighting partner in action-figure form. Totally dig the new hairstyle, not to mention THE WINGS.

My guess is that it’ll probably be out near the end of August, that is, around the time the game’s released.

Source: Futaba Channel via 萌え豚NEWS

Also, kudos to xs27 for the heads up!

Hear The Protagonists’ In-game Voices in B★RS The Game

TheFuzzy — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:00:02 +0000

Neither of these videos actually have any real gameplay (save for a mini-game), but we’re getting there!

First up is the titular character, Black★Rock Shooter herself:

Maaya Sakamoto actually sounds more high-pitched and emotional than I expected. In fact, it doesn’t seem to fit the cold “air” she built up in B★RS’ deep voice at the end of every trailer (including this one, yes) and the “awakening” event. The difference is jarring enough to make me cringe a little. Eek.

Also, a Blacktrike dodging mini-game at the 20-second mark? Looks pretty…meh. I expected some drive-by shooting at least. =(

Second in line is the prototype, Grey:

While I didn’t know what to expect of Grey, Miyuki Sawashiro actually takes on her persona pretty well, coming across as a cold warrior, emotions dulled by the constant battles. Or so I think, since I can’t actually understand what she’s saying.

Also, if the B★RS x Grey ship wasn’t confirmed yet, consider it engraved in stone now. Pomf!

These videos were revealed over the past couple of weeks, and WRS’ character movie should be coming up next. Let’s hope the voice director doesn’t make Maaya screw up this time. >_<

Sources:

Presenting the OP of B★RS The Game

TheFuzzy — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 03:35:47 +0000

FUCK YES.

I know ufotable’s pretty talented, but I’ve only personally seen their work in God Eater Burst. This…this just takes it to a whole new level. d(^v^ d)

We see that there are multiple City Eaters at work here, and a total of 5 out of the 8 Apostles are revealed. The new faces consist of 3 guys (there goes that all-girl harem fantasy), and so far, only the details for the red one have been revealed.

His name is Azuma (アズマ), and he’s the 2nd Apostle. His outfit is very asymmetrical, and his left eye is covered by a metal “scar”. Herald of meridian calls it a “spine”. He also wields a blade, and appears to be able to perform fire-based attacks.

Here are some more screenshots released alongside Azuma’s reveal. So it’s mission-based…I expected as much from a PSP title.

Famitsu also launched a special page detailing all information they released before Azuma’s reveal. The game’s website got updated too, obviously.

If the OP is anything to go by though, it seems this’ll be one epic title, at least before the release of the PSVita. Gah, my patience draws thin.

Sources:

Famitsu
2channel (somewhere >_>)

Meet the First Apostle, Mii

TheFuzzy — Fri, 06 May 2011 10:00:22 +0000

Mii is described to be an “A-class alien” and is said to feed off of the blood of young women. She also speaks Spanish. (“Buenas tardes, konnichiwa!” Seriously.)

This scan originated from an issue (May?) of the Famitsu magazine. Unfortunately, this was the only piece of the article posted online, though I think a friend of mine is looking into buying an issue and scanning it, too.

Other than that, though, there have been other announcements/reveals as well.

Firstly, these are preview screengrabs of ufotable’s work on the game. Pretty well-done, as expected.

Secondly, the title of the game’s theme song will be “NO SCARED” by the band, ONE OK ROCK. Kind of reminds me of Tomoko’s “Don’t scary”, heh.

Thirdly, these new screenshots surfaced on HMV’s site (of all places). Here we see BRS taking on a CNRT, a mysterious (mini?) boss mob, and the battle results screen. Ooh, I can feel the grind already.

Stay tuned for more!

Sources:

2channel [1] [2]
JRPG.jp
HMV

B★RS THE GAME Regular Edition Receives a Charm-ing Upgrade

TheFuzzy — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 06:00:53 +0000

Source: Pixiv by 凪庵

ImageEpoch made a couple of interesting announcements a couple of days ago.

Firstly, the Regular Edition of the game will now be referred to as the First Edition (wow) and will receive a petite addition:

CHANxCO, WAI YOU DO DIS?!

What’s interesting to note that the WRS Charm is exclusive to the First Edition; it will not be bundled with the White Premium Edition (and it’s figma of awesome).

/RAEG

Back to the topic at hand…

Secondly, the game will be made fully-downloadable from PSN at 5,600 JPY, and 500 JPY from every purchase will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross to aid in their disaster relief efforts. PSP Go users, rejoice!

Remember, you can purchase the ~~Regular~~ First Edition at AmiAmi, or Amazon.jp. Additional official online retailers will be listed on the official shop guide. The retail price remains the same at 6,279 JPY.

Source: JRPG.jp News

B★RS Awakens & Unleashes WRS Trailer

TheFuzzy — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:10:10 +0000

Source: Pixiv by Nami

There was an event on the Black★Rock Shooter: The Game website yesterday involving entering a few key codes into the page.

The key codes could only be entered after 7PM, and after the right key codes were entered, B★RS would awaken in the capsule, only to go “Who are you?” before the new trailer was revealed.

The key codes, if you’re curious, were:

8313-4820-3684-6534-2257
9113-3274-1289-3235-1682
4124-1000-5000-6571-1888
3031-8888-1467-6593-8135
8251-6310-5401-3256-6147
8513-2455-9314-7123-6321

~~I’ve no idea how one would procure the codes, so my best guess is that it was through trial and error.~~ The codes were released by industry partners and company employees over Twitter through the course of the day. Don’t bother trying it out now; BRS has already permanently awakened, and using the keypad only displays an error message.

(Thanks for the heads up, cowboybibimbop!)

Ah, right, the trailer:

The fact that she’s one of the bosses you’ll be facing is further emphasised in this trailer, but “in the palace on the moon”?! Wow. I get the feeling there’s some reality-bending going on here.

The cast list is still the same as the first trailer, and it’s confirmed that Maaya Sakamoto will be voicing both WRS and B★RS. Stop bawling, you Kana Hanasawa fans. Maaya’s not exactly a 2nd-rate voice actress either. >_>

The trailer still doesn’t show any gameplay though, so…inb4 PV3? =3

Ah yes, the figma.

The WRS figma will be bundled with the limited edition of the game, now named the Black★Rock Shooter: The Game White Premium Box. The figma was also on display at this year’s Wonder Festival, which means more delicious snaps for us to admire.

And some official shots:

The figure is just…BAD-ASS AND SEXY. Forgive me if you’ve heard me say that for any of the previous B★RS figurines. I mean, I could tell she was bad-ass from the illustration, but seeing her in this 3D form is just…I dunno, epic? XD

Her mecha-like parts can be removed, and since she’s not shown in the trailer with them on, one can only imagine how epic the battle with her will be. Hopefully it won’t be too hard.

She’s also a skirt short from zettai ryouki, but I guess almost unzipped pants are fine, too. =3

The figma is an exclusive to the White Premium Box, so even if you just want to get your hands on this figure (and you call yourself a fan?), you’ll have to fork out quite a bit. If I recall, you can get it at Amazon for 8,826 JPY or AmiAmi for 8,560 JPY. Better get it quick though; the new trailer attracted tons more figma enthusiasts.

Yup, not regretting pre-ordering it darn early. Also, Grey and B★RS Game Version figmas WHERE?!

(Nendoroids too!)

Sources:

Black★Rock Shooter The Game – Preview Screenshots & Concept Art

TheFuzzy — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 07:30:16 +0000

Remember the scans from Famitsu in our last post? 4Gamer recently posted the screenshots from it, plus a few more, and added a little bit of background info to boot.

The beginning of the game appears to be taking place in San Francisco, where the last 12 humans are making their last stand.

Apparently these are soldiers from the PSS (Primary Support Service) force of the UEF (sound familiar?), and their job is to support B★RS. Ironically, thanks to their possession of highly advanced technology to counter any threat, they’ve become the last humans on Earth and are thus totally alone in their fight to save it. Not counting B★RS herself.

Also, I’m not sure how shooting like madmen makes you better than the rest of the world, but let’s just go along with this. >_>

The graphics look quite good, especially since we’re limited to PSP graphics here. You can see the third-person gameplay in action here, though I’d rather wait for an actual gameplay video before I start to judge it. The game will be in real-time, though, no doubt about it. =D

The UI’s pretty minimal, with only a health and overheat bar at the bottom and a reticle for aiming the gun.

Here’s a clean illustration and some in-game close-ups of the game’s titular hero. I’m still not sure what those wings/blades on her back do (equipment to provide speed?), though.

And here’s Nafe, the 5th Apostle. Her arm structure kind of reminds me of STRENGTH from the OVA, though they’re less like blocky hands and more like claws. If you’re a cosplayer looking for early reference pictures, I suppose these will the best so far. Good luck though. ^_^;

I’m not too entirely sure what this is, but 4Gamer says it’s apparently a mysterious power known as 「ネブレイド」. The best English translation I can think of is “Nevraid”, but if anyone else has better ideas, you’re welcome to voice it in the comments. =D

CNRT appears to be one of the many robots you’ll be fighting, though he doesn’t appear in any of the screenshots above.

Inb4 infiltrating the (flying) City Eater to kill the Apostles. *cough*

Calling the game loosely based on the (heavily-merchandised) OVA is an understatement. This is literally taking BRS and throwing her into a setting for a typical JRPG. I do sympathise with all the raeging fanboys on this one, but as much as I don’t really like it, I’m still a gamer, and the whole “3rd person shooter RPG” thing appeals to me. Besides, huke’s in on this too, and his character design so far doesn’t disappoint. And then there’s ufotable doing up the animated cutscenes.

Source: Pixiv by 想影真心

Though I guess the game would’ve been more widely accepted by aforementioned fanboys if it were a little more like this. Heh.

So, hyped up for the game? Or is it a failure?

Source: 4Gamer via 2channel

“Hatsune Miku Project DIVA 2nd” – Append Miku DLC

Fariz Asuka — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:35:57 +0000

Sega has recently announced a new costume model of the Hatsune Miku Append Module for both the 「Project DIVA 2nd」 PSP rhythm game and the 「Project DIVA Arcade」. For the PSP game itself, it should be available on August 31st at the Japanese Playstation Store – on the 3rd anniversary of Crypton’s 「Vocaloid 2 – CV01 Hatsune Miku」 software.. XD

Left: Miku Append for the PSP ; Right: Miku Append Module for the 「Project DIVA Arcade」.

*Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA- 2nd DLC:

* Module: Hatsune Miku Append
* Release Date: August 31st, 2010
* Price: 300 yen (tax included)
* Available at: Japanese Playstation Store

*Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA- Arcade Add-on:

* Module: Hatsune Miku Append
* Release Date: August 31st, 2010
* VP: 300 points
* A fee is required to play

Here are some screengrabs of Hatsune Miku Append in both the PSP game as well as the Arcade version as well.. Enjoy the pictures~

Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA- 2nd DLC:

Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA- Arcade Add-on:

I’m so gonna get this DLC for my Project DIVA 2nd game.. Would most probably be suited for the song, “Intense Song of Hatsune Miku”.. Here is the how one get Perfect for it in “EXTREME” mode…

“Intense Song of Hatsune Miku [Perfect - EXTREME]:

Source: Miku.Sega.Jp via Moetron

Project DIVA 2nd Super Collection Getto~

Fariz Asuka — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:15:46 +0000

After months of waiting, I finally got my hands on these wonderful collection.. Not just any standard collection; It’s the Project DIVA 2nd “Super” Collection which I painstakingly tried to get since most of the usual sites don’t offer such products.. It was thanks to my brother, “Fuzzy” for his ultra knowledge and our good friend, “Zh3us” for helping us get the stuff via AmiAmi..

If you are wondering how it got shipped here, below is what the box looks like~

If you are wondering why the box is freaking huge for such a loot, well “Zh3us” pre-ordered one more for one of our friends as well, the same whole collection as mine..

The whole collection consists of:

1 – “Super” Accesory Set and “Pouch” Set~

“Special” Accesory Set Containing:

1) Pouch,
2) Unique UMD case,
3) Cleaning cloth,
4) Special Project DIVA 2nd PSP cover,
5) PSP Strap, and
6) 4 decorative stickers (1 of each Vocaloid 2 characters, excluding Meiko and Kaito.)

“Pouch” Set Containing:

1) Monogram pouch, and
2) Another PSP strap.

2 – AmiAmi Special Goodies~

Containing:

1) Special DVD containing 2 full PV of the songs “こっち向いてBaby”　and “Yellow”,
2) Microfiber cloth printed with a Megurine Luka’s “Just be Friends” picture,
3) A card holder, and
4) A super nendo puchi Miku keychain.

To see how the items look like, we did a post 4 months back.. Total cost? SGD$283!! o.O

Well, forgot to add this one more stuff inside; the Black Rock Shooter’s “Rock Cannon” Metal Charm (below).. X3

Wait till Fuzzy comes back from Field Camp to post on the “Rock Cannon”.. Till then, here is the video that can be found in the DVD itself.. Enjoy~

“こっち向いてBaby” & “Yellow” PV – Project DIVA 2nd: