Sakura Wars Reviews
Sakura Wars is a welcome, pleasant comeback, but a somewhat failed modernization.
Sega found a great way to bring Sakura Wars back into the world, and it deserves to stay. If you like anime, this one deserves to be on your radar.
After years of hibernation, Sakura Wars finally returns to the scene and doesn't shy away from some fundamental changes. We still spend most of our time getting to know the new members of the new Flower Division, deepening our relationship with them, or even getting up close and personal with them. At the heart of Sakura Wars remains the compelling story of the Flower Division's rebuilding and return to its former glory. The plot consistently succeeds in the balancing act between funny anime humor and serious tones - a fact that is underlined by the successful staging and visuals. Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks in terms of game mechanics, because the adventure as well as fight passages have to struggle with their monotony at regular intervals. Keyword fight: these say goodbye to their tactical roots and open the door for an action-oriented Musou approach. These battles know how to entertain over long distances, but are again and again slowed down by rough control and lack of variety. And yet: Sakura Wars knew how to lure me to the controller again and again with its charm and offers anime enthusiasts a sensitive story, which will captivate for a good 30 hours, if you can overlook some technical shortcomings.
Review in German | Read full review
Sakura Wars is an excellent reboot of the series and does right by the fans by subtly tieing in mentions of its predecessors without overburdening new players. The game is fueled by its strong narrative and passionate cast of characters who fight against-all-odds for what they believe in. Sure, some of the arcs don’t totally stick, and the romance can get a little messy, but it accomplishes the goal of giving fans a modernized Sakura Wars experience, without sacrificing what makes it unique.
Sakura Wars is a serviceable entry point for Western audiences but fails to deliver more than a modest take on what could have been a remarkable game.
Those who already enjoy the series or this style of action-RPG meets dating simulator will still have a fun experience and find a good game to play here. Despite the faults with pacing or mechanics I may have discovered along the way, it won’t be enough to scare away this existing audience.
Yes, it may seem like a manifestation of all the quintessential traits seen in many title’s within it’s genre’s nature, but that’s what makes Sakura Wars awesome. Sakura Wars separates itself from being just another typical dungeon crawler; it breaks the mold and creates something unique, fresh and memorable.
Sakura Wars has always been about the characters, interacting via L.I.P.S., and experiencing some insane, over-the-top anime antics. In that respect, the new Sakura Wars recaptures the spirit of the earlier entries and is a perfect bit of RPG comfort food to brighten your soul.
Sakura Wars is a welcome franchise reboot that I hope sees more titles released by SEGA in the future. The mech combat is fun, but could use some more depth. The majority of your time will be spent in the visual novel / dating simulation portions of the game, but the characters help to elevate the overall plot. Wonky camera angles hurt the presentation, but the overall visuals and music make this about as close to an interactive anime as you can get.
There were not a few of us who wanted to finally taste an adventure in the conditions of the legendary Sakura Taisen. However, the decision to replace the T-RPG battles with a more musou style has ended up darkening the expectations that we had for him.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Bringing a multi-faceted, choice-oriented, full-fat dating sim experience (with creepy warts and all); solid, enduring battle mechanics; lively voice acting; a formulaic-but-effective plotline and a flashy visual showcase, Sakura Wars puts on a stunning display for fans new and old. What’s more, the ease of accessibility should keep those initially on-the-fence engaged enough to see it through. There won’t be an industry-wide standing ovation waiting for Sakura Wars but it’s good enough to prompt a polite round of golf-clapping from even the most jaded pundit.
Acting as a soft-reboot for the Sakura Wars series of games, this PS4 title essentially plays out as an interactive novelization of an anime. It’s a game that feels like a half baked medley of ideas, swinging between a slice-of-life dating simulator, a simple hack’n’slash arena fighter and a visual novel. The result is something that’s disjointed and feels like three games awkwardly squeezed into one 20-hour title. With an archetypal anime story full of the usual tropes you’d expect holding everything together, a couple of stand-out moments in its narrative just aren’t enough to elevate this above disappointing mediocrity.
Sakura Wars is a title that not everyone will like. It's an interesting mix of genres, but very particular. If you're into visual novels and action on giant robots, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Flirting with girls has to be fun, too, by the way.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
SEGA’s Sakura Wars reboot marks a welcome return for a series that’s gotten criminally little exposure to western audiences since it first released nearly 25 years ago. While the game’s real-time, hack-and-slash approach to its combat left me wanting more, the superb writing and lovable cast of characters kept me glued to my controller right to the very end. And with multiple endings and romance options to unlock, I hope to do it all again very soon.
Sakura Wars is an undeniably quirky game, but its charming blend of stylish mech action and visual novel-style storytelling kept me completely invested in its adventure. Sure, the combat mechanics were a bit simple and some of the game’s lewder content felt a little cringey in places, but neither stopped me from having a blast whilst restoring the Imperial Combat Revue’s Flower Division to its former glory.
Sakura Wars represents a great starting point for newcomers, and veterans of the series are sure to enjoy the throwbacks to prior entries, even if the shift to musuo-style combat is a drastic departure from what they are used to.
Despite its shallow gameplay, Sakura Wars offers plenty of entertainment thanks to its delightful characters, stylish art design, and upbeat tone.
While Sakura Wars does have some issues with the repetitiveness required to see all of the content and the battle system not being as fluid as it could be, the majority of my experience has been great. The interactions with the characters particularly stand out and the game’s focus is definitely on that. The patch which came out around release alleviated some of the issues I experienced playing prerelease, but did not completely erase them. I still recommend it, but it still falls below expectations in some ways.
Sakura Wars is very entertaining game it can give us many hour of game. It is Action-RPG, but it is excessively easy and this break a little the experience. However, the remarkable plot, great characters and epic soundtrack do of this, a game you should play.
Review in Spanish | Read full review