Neptunia X Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars Reviews
Despite mentioning quite a lot of issues with Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars in my review, I still enjoyed playing it. It’s not the best hack and slash gameplay around, but it was fun seeing the Neptunia characters and how they interacted with the Senran Kagura ones. Still, if you want a hack and slash game, Senran Kagura Burst Re:newal might be a better option.
Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is the hyper-specific and ultra-niche crossover game I never thought I'd get. It's a delight to see the Senran Kagura crew after so long, and it's a blast to see the Neptunia girls in what is easily the most fun and satisfying to play spinoff in the series. The lack of extra features and watered down story leave something to be desired, but if this is the first of many games, then it's a promising new direction for both series.
I enjoyed getting back in the saddle of playing a Senran Kagura game with a cast of Neptunia characters. The gameplay was simple enough to learn and it felt natural. Some other elements like the graphics and weird mouth flap choices were the biggest issues. The story not being too much else than traveling from place to place and defeating a boss at the end of a stage is fine for replayability.
Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is full of fanservice and anime girls with big boobs, but not much more. Insanely long visual novel talk segments, and the story is so silly there's not much motivation to keep playing.
For fans of the Neptunia and/or Senran Kagura series, there’s a fair bit to like about Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars. While I couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for the game’s story, others may get on better with it. And while the combat isn’t great, it is at least enjoyable for the most part, with some pretty challenging boss battles. Add in plenty of fan-service that some are sure to appreciate as well as post-game content, and you have a game that will keep those who gel with it entertained for many hours. Those unfamiliar with either property involved in this crossover, however, probably won’t find anything other than confusion and disappointment.
Even if Neptunia X Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars isn’t reinventing the wheel, it’s the type of experience that will speak to fans. The jokes are good, the setting offers a fair amount of new subject matter to explore and the gameplay is interesting enough to enjoy. What it lacks is some of the depth or sheer content you’d find in a similar game, which is somewhat disappointing. Still, fans of Neptunia will likely find themselves having fun seeing what trouble Neptune has gotten herself into.
If you like big-breasted anime females then Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars has got you covered. With lacklustre story, shallow hack-and-slash mechanics and ancient graphical presentation, there’s little here worth your time. If you’re a fan of action or RPG games that are anything more deep than a puddle, Ninja Wars ain’t gonna be the one, basically, especially if you don’t fancy balancing barely-glad animated women on peaches.
More than anything, though, this is a thoroughly charming, well-crafted game that those who enjoy hack and slash action RPGs will get a lot out of. It may be relatively brief, it may follow the Neptunia trend of heavily reusing environments and enemies with palette swaps — but while it lasts, you’ll have a great time with Neptunia x Senran Kagura.
25 hours and a platinum trophy later, Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars was a really fun game from start to finish. As a fan, I hope to see more of Senran Kagura in the future and would like to see both franchises collaborate again. The game’s combat kept me going through those Yomi Training challenges and the story was a blast. The side content is something that might not satisfy players who are eager for side-quests in a traditional RPG. Anyone remotely interested in Ninja Wars should at least check out what Neptunia and Senran Kagura are all about in their respective games. At the end of the game, I definitely wanted more to play through and I think those who pick this game up will feel that same way. There’s a lot of potential for a sequel with room for an even better game, a bigger ninja war!
Neptunia X Senran Kagura is flawed but meets all my expectations. The combat, while fun, is only so when there’s plenty of monsters in an area. It’s for that reason that I can’t help but wonder if a Musou title, much like the main Senran Kagura games, wouldn’t have been better. Then again, with Tamsoft as a developer, I suppose the vision was capturing that Oneechanbara fun. Due to odd choices, such as having skills and dodging tied to stamina, it severely hampers the fast action and undermines that goal.
While Neptunia X Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is one of the shorter spin-off titles, clocking in at around 12 hours to complete the main quest, I still had a lot of fun. The combat is easy to pick up, but has a enough depth to keep you coming back for more. The story and writing are very entertaining, and the soundtrack is pretty nice as well. I do think the mouth flaps during the visual novel sections are pretty rough, but that’s not really enough to keep this from being one of the better spin-off games in the franchise. If you’re a fan of Neptunia or Senran Kagura, this one is a no brainer at the $49.99 price tag. If you’re not a fan of either of those, this one would be good to pick up down the line once you’ve played some of the other games in the respected franchises.
Working with a clearly limited budget, Tamsoft has focused on delivering a tight action-combat system, while also relying on the fan service of both Senran Kagura and Hyperdimension Neptunia to see it through. It’s a good couple of hours of genuine fun, with the requisite bath scenes, humour and familiar characters to meet and fight. You can’t help but think that both properties could have grown to become more than this, but taking as it is, it’s still entertaining nonsense, with a heavy emphasis on the “entertaining”. I play enough serious games that require deep analysis, this kind of thing is my ideal break time between them.
Overall, Neptunia X Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is a pretty fun game. The combat largely takes after Senran Kagura with Neptunia themes and felt really smooth. The plot is fairly cliché, more than I was expecting for a collaboration spin-off, the side scenarios were pretty funny, and it was all in character. The illustrations are nice, the music is all great, and the stages don’t take too long to finish, so it doesn’t start to wear on you too bad. While the game is incredibly short, the post game content is a nice challenge. Fans of either Senran or Neptunia will be able to get a kick out of Neptunia X Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars.
No matter how you slice it, Neptunia x SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars is a great deal of fun, especially with its hilarious dialogue scenes and cheeky cast of characters. It could have been a lot more enjoyable with some sort of multiplayer component, though.
Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is a good action RPG when it comes to delivering fun, but is lacking in overall depth.
Other than the flashy combat there isn't really enough here to attract non-fans with something different from what's already out there. But fans will relish being able to play as the Senran Kagura characters after a long time even though there aren't a lot of them they are well realised.
It's curious to see how well the franchises fit in Neptunia vs. SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars, as originally they didn't have many elements in common, except for the emphasis on the girls' physical attributes. Even with differences in tone, and even in the aesthetics of the two universes, the final product is a fun action game and - of course - with a lot of fanservice. Despite the convoluted script that could delve a little deeper into the characters, it is a product suitable for fans, which is sustained by the combat action and the charisma.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Neptunia x Senran Kagura Ninja Wars maintains the cheeky charms of both franchise, bringing in the fun, safe jokes and jabs at the gaming industry. However, it taxes that charm with the gameplay choices made at the end of the game. There's enough here to bring in longtime fans, and even some crossover fans between the franchises, but not many others will rally to this mashup.
Neptunia X Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars will appeal to longtime fans of either series, but outside of that it's an average action-oriented JRPG plus visual novel that anyone can easily get the hang of. There's plenty of titillating fanservice to go around, even if Sony insists on at least some of it being censored for the Western release. It's a safe bet if you can't get enough of Neptunia and the rest of the Goddesses or Asuka and the other shinobi, but otherwise there are more traditional games that are probably a better use of your time.