Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls Reviews
A weak entry in the Danganronpa series. While the gameplay is a divergence from the franchise, a weak story and repetitive gameplay left me wondering why I played it. Maybe one to skip.
A disappointing spin-off from the excellent mainline games, and although the script is as sharp as ever the move into action game territory just does not work.
Slow pacing, boring mechanics, and a small cast of unlikeable characters makes this a tough experience to enjoy – even for fans
Ultra Despair Girls becomes a more enjoyable and more manageable experience on PS4.
Ultra Despair Girls is repetitive, clunky and worst yet, overly long. An animated film that gathered up all the cutscenes would have served as a better continuation of the world of Danganronpa. This one's for obsessives only; all others need not apply.
There is a better story here than there is a game. If you are looking for a twisted, original, horror themed tale, Danganronpa Another Episode has a great one to tell. It will keep you guessing throughout with visually stimulating environments and cutscenes. While the gameplay will be entertaining at first, it will quickly become just a means to get to the next story section.
Without being the TPS of the century,, Danganronpa Another Episode, is to be reserved (and will seduce) the fans of the series who passed by the game on Vita. They will benefit from it in better general graphic layouts. But if you have already completed it two years ago, go your way.
Review in French | Read full review
Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls offers an exciting and decidedly chilling story for fans who have followed the series since its inception, with callbacks to the original game and important revelations those in touch with the games won't want to miss. Unfortunately for newcomers or those who aren't as in tune with Danganronpa, there's not much here to convert anyone.
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is a mixed bag, with some interesting moments offset by monotonous gameplay and poor pacing.
For fans of the Danganronpa series who've never experienced Another Episode, I can't recommend it enough. The shooting gameplay may be stiff, but the world draped around it is more morose than much of series past. Yet despite these darker visuals, there's an even more lighthearted tone than ever before. Komaru and Toku are a delight, and have a witty banter between the two even while trying to survive a death game.
Ultra Despair Girls is a spin-off of the famous Danganronpa series. The game tries to mix a third person shooter with a visual novel: this remastered version for PS4 doesn't change the gameplay of the original one and the graphic improvements are not very remarkable.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Ultimately, Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls just didn't click for me the same way previous games did. Sure the narrative still has some strong moments, but it's punctuated with third-person shooter gameplay that doesn't enhance my engagement with the narrative the same way the first two visual novels did. If you're a series fan, there's a good, text-heavy, hands-off narrative to be explored here, but the gameplay sections really dragged it down for me.
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is a game I would recommend to only fans of the franchise, especially those that missed the 2015 PlayStation Vita version. This port is almost done at the bare minimum, with a partial upgrade of graphical elements, and a gameplay that doesn't work well on controller, but still is a decent story, if you have the patience to read through it.
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is not a bad title and you will definitely enjoy it. Unfortunately, a few flaws like weak negative characters, bosses built on the same principle or unnecessarily frequent challenges will spoil the experience a bit. Despite this, the gameplay is fun and the story engrosses you to the point where you'll simply take on the role of Komar and fight for your life tooth and nail. However, to avoid getting completely lost in the lore, we recommend playing the first episode first or at least watching the anime, which will illuminate the full beginnings that are referenced a lot here.
Review in Czech | Read full review
The Danganronpa series may have seemed a bit daunting in the past due to its RPG gameplay, but now Spike Chunsoft has created a solid gateway game with Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls. Featuring various bullet types from those that cause enemies to dance or those that knock them back, there is plenty of fun to be had here in this often very creepy game.
Ultra Despair Girls' loop of exploring dungeon-like areas, mowing down waves of Monokuma bots, and switching between the ranged combat of Komaru and melee barrages of Genocide Jack… means you've got a third person shooter unlike any other.
Following the pedigree of the first two titles, 'Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls' could be seen as a bit disappointing. It's markedly shorter than the mainline titles, and the story it tells, while good, is simply not as great as the first two 'Danganronpa' titles. While it's not the Game of the Year material of its series' herald, there is plenty to be enjoyed in 'Ultra Despair Girls' to be worth a purchase for any fan of the series.
Like it or not, Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is an essential part of the series canon, despite the vastly different take on the previous visual novel format. Whilst far from perfect gameplay-wise, and dragging on too much for its own good, many of the positive attributes Danganronpa is known for successfully transfer across to this entry, filling in the gaps left between the previous two releases. It is the plot that carries Ultra Despair Girls along, but had it not been for the entries before it, this may not have been received as favourably. Either way, this is still a must-play for Danganronpa fans.
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls might not be as polished as the previous mainline games, but within this handheld adventure is still the fabulous, quality story and tone fans expect from something slapped with Danganronpa on the case.
But for all the pacing and control issues, as well as frequently being treated as though I can’t solve my own puzzles in a game made for adults, it’s still a game I highly enjoyed.