Senran Kagura Burst Re: Newal Review

A remake of Senran Kagura: Burst using the mechanics of the later games seems like an easy recommendation. The original game’s story is my favorite second only to its direct sequel and Estival Versus has the best fighting mechanics among the spin-off games. Logically something good combined with something also good should create something good, but that can be hampered if the combined elements don’t come together right and Senran Kagura Burst Re: Newal is a good example.

I don’t understand why the decision was made to remake Burst in the first place. The game was barely 5 years old when it came out and I’m generally of the mind that a game should have a remake if the first one is archaic shite that badly needed the resources and technological advancements of the modern age or is simply a particularly old game that could use a makeover. Games like the first Resident Evil, first Persona and first KOF needed their remakes because, with the debatable exception of Resident Evil, they’re unbearable torture to play. The original Senran Kagura: Burst has some shortcomings, but is tightly designed, looks nice and its old-school fast-paced gameplay is still fun. Xseed’s historical screw-up was the worst thing about it and that didn’t even apply to its release in Japan.  All I really wanted was to have it on a cartridge.

The remake could have been a nice little distraction for Vita owners, but the developers couldn’t even get that right. Senran Kagura Burst’s remake is only available on the PC and PS4. With Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash there was a justified reason for this: as strong as the Vita is, it couldn’t handle a game that was half detailed water physics and matches typically had several different characters on the field at once. That’s fair enough.

Neither of those factors apply to  Burst Re: Newal, which can only mean that the reason the game isn’t on the Vita is because it uses the PS4 to its fullest potential by making games of the highest graphical fidelity on par with Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, Devil May Cry 5 and the PS4 Spider Man game. It’s a bit strange that it would go that route considering the original game was best suited for quick bursts of handheld play, but surely they wouldn’t completely ignore their one of their go-to handhelds for no reason.

Prepare for disappointment.

I guess it’s nice they made a new song, but rather than play the same videos in both stories, why not just use the originals?

I’ve essentially already reviewed the two main components of this game. My thoughts on the original game’s excellent duo of stories is in my review of it and my review of the spin-off games' combat are in those reviews. Burst Re: Newal is little more than the Burst stories re-told with Estival Versus' assets and Burst’s soundtrack. Ironically, that makes the original more enticing to play.

The original game is a unique and fulfilling experience to this day and no other Senran Kagura game replicates that experience because the first game has a lot of smaller details and content that later games got rid of, including this remake.

In Burst Re: Newal there’s no more variants of outfits for each character, no more animations for each character in the dressing room, no more walking around the ninja room for dialogue that changes as the story progresses, no more aerial ninpo, no more fancy, unique swimsuits under the clothes, no more unlockable artwork of the ninpo animal cut-ins, no more attacks like shuriken throwing, chemical tossing or the Hibari pinwheel and while there are several outfits (mostly from Estival Versus), a lot of the outfits and accessories from the original Burst are absent such as the cartoon animal suits and Ninto plushie. In fact, two of the original game’s outfits are DLC.

Since this is Estival Versus with a new coat of paint, the outfits, accessories, pictures and music are no longer immediately unlocked and instead are bought at the in-game store like in the spin-offs, which I never liked quite as much because it added a layer of grinding and all character outfits are interchangeable from the start, which negates the charm of the characters getting their rival’s clothes at the end of their stories to show their influence on each other in the original game. I also never liked the Versus games using underwear instead of swimsuits and being able to damage enemies into nudity never sat right with me either.

Where's the toast? Where's the head sets and the fox ears? Where's Yagyuu's other eyepatch?

Enemies and stages are recycled from Estival Versus. Though they did go through the effort of re-creating the delinquents for the early chapters, including a new yo yo-wielding enemy type, all the shinobi enemies are the same and the wooden training dummies are the completely different-looking ones from the versus games, meaning no more snake dummies, giant dummies, fancily-dressed Hebijo shinobi like the poison-spewing maid enemy and no more of those humorously out-of-place beefy-looking Hebijo shinobi that appeared in the Hebijo story.  Enemy variety in Burst Re: Newal outside of its re-use of Estival Versus' is scarce.

I have less a problem with its recycling of stages from Estival Versus in the cases where they were already based on the original game’s locations, but the developer’s insistence on re-using Estival Versus’ stages without any new ones leads to several moments of dissonance and inconsistency in the story that keeps finding new ways to disappoint me.  For example, characters are at the Hanzo school’s gate in the story, but then fight in the gigantic soccer field a ways away as opposed to the actual location in the original game that was recreated in Shinovi Versus.  The story also describes Hebijo’s training ground as a ruined wasteland, which it is in the original game’s stage, but this remake uses a stage full of greenery and flowing water.  It’s made even more jarring when the visual novel sequence and the game’s opening before it shows the original stage, making it look like the player is missing something.  What’s more, that creates one hell of a puzzler in the grand scheme of things.  The stage used is where Homura’s team trains after they become renegades in the later games.  If they are on the run from Hebijo later, why would they be using their old school’s training grounds?!

This problem with the developers not bothering to make something new pervades the whole experience.  In the mission at the beach in the Hanzo story of the original game, the entire context is that the characters are stuck in their swimsuits for the stage because they were locked out of the dressing room, making for a challenge where the character’s defense is at their lowest.  In the remake, not only are all the swimsuits for the most part completely different from what the visual novel sequence shows because they’re re-used from Estival Versus, but they have all their clothes in the mission when you play it, completely invalidating the conflict.

For another example, it’s stated that the Hebijo rooms look similar as a way to confuse the navigation of intruders.  True, in the original that was probably a means of justifying not having to make more rooms to fight in, but that game made it plausible by having the rooms be simple cubes with a door on each wall, like such mazes are in real life.  In Estival Versus, it’s obviously just the same room with the only difference being different items strewn about and there is both an entrance and stairs you can visibly see, which is not exactly a typical maze quality.

Asuka’s raid on Hebijo is also far less effective in the remake.  Instead of fighting swarms of enemies for several minutes as you slowly make your way up Hebijo academy’s outdoor area and eventually get inside for a climactic smackdown, Asuka just fights a whole lot of enemies in a room and it’s barely any more challenging than the other mob fights in the game, partially because of the lack of the first game’s enemies.  I have to wonder why some of the enemies that are included in the remake are even present when I thought the wolf shinobi and bear shinobi were either a part of Gessen or trained in the wilderness.  I could be thinking too much into that.

As much as the game is largely an unapologetic rehash, there are changes, improvements and extras here and there.  The story is ripped straight from Senran Kagura: Burst, but XSEED put some effort in to make some small adjustments to the translation.  In my review of the original I complained about how the translation could be inaccurate at times and it seems XSEED saw that themselves because the small instances where something a character said seemed off or unclear were rewritten to flow better for the remake.  They didn’t change too much though, meaning all the effective parts of the story are still effective while the previously-awkward lines blend in with that, but at the same time there are still instances where the inaccuracies are the result of XSEED taking liberties. I appreciate that XSEED went the extra mile when they didn't need to, but most of my translation complaints from the other games still stand.

The story is now told in a marginally different way by having characters converse by standing across from each other on the maps as opposed to next to each other in front of 2D backdrops like the other games, but they’re largely static and go through the same animations as in the Vita games so I don’t know why they bothered. The only thing it allows is some new camera angles for dramatic effect that the original game got across without the need of them.  If they were going to take so much advantage of the stronger systems, why not make some cutscenes that look like the fully animated ones in Senran Kagura 2, a game on a weaker system?

Even though it’s far better to be able to talk with characters freely I’ll give credit that there is still some of the changing atmosphere as the story progresses like the original game, as the expressions of characters in the menu-framing ninja room change to fit their current in-story mindset, but it's nowhere near as effective.

The graphics are obviously objectively better than the original, but the original Burst already had a distinctive visual style with rounder and slightly more superdeformed character designs that not even Senran Kagura 2 replicated.  That combined with the stereoscopic 3D to emphasize the super attacks and transformation sequences gave it a special visual flair that pops out from its humbler 2D visuals.  Burst Re: Newal doesn’t have that kind of distinctive flair because of it being largely re-used assets from Estival Versus with some upgrades, which were already largely re-used from Shinovi Versus. Some of the character’s animations are re-worked and smoother, such as their dashing animations, and their transformation sequences are a great replication of the originals with some of the same poses and no ninja scrolls. Hit effects are flashier, what little water there is makes outfits wet and there’s some subtly better lighting in places.  Estival Versus was a good looking game and that carries over, but there isn’t a whole lot to set it apart, which is why its choice of system is so jarring.

This game could absolutely be done on the Vita. If Estival Versus could, this game could. If the reason Burst Re: Newal wasn’t on the Vita is because the developers needed to use the PS4’s power, they failed.  The PS4 and PC can both do far better than this.  I would give this game a pass in its visuals if it were a game made with the Vita in mind, like the Persona dancing games, or a port, like Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls, but for a game made on a system with the likes of Kingdom Hearts 3, it doesn't compare.  It’s not ugly, but if they weren’t going to use its power to make something that couldn’t be done on the Vita or PS3, why have it only on the PS4 and PC?  No matter how disappointing the rest of the game is, that’s the biggest slap in the face of all.

I will give this remake some praise in its improvements to the gameplay. One of the new additions is called Burst mode, a powered up state with a second gauge that can be used even in the civilian clothes.  It ups a character’s attack a bit, but more importantly it lets them do infinite aerial raves and does a 360 degree attack when you deactivate it (or when you activate it in frantic mode).  Since you can deactivate it manually rather than wait for the gauge to go down, it adds more combo potential.  Finishing one of the other elite shinobi off with it also shows off a special finisher effect.  It’s fun to use and flows with the combat nicely, making it another step up in the established gameplay.

Even nicer is how Re: Newal completely revamped the bosses.  What used to be simple battles against other playable characters are turned into what I consider actual bosses that pose diverse challenges.  The remake makes them closer to the human-sized bosses in Senran Kagura 2, where attacks are telegraphed, but now the telegraphing has a visual effect to show where their attack will hit so that the player can react appropriately to dodge or parry.

Since multiplayer is not present, Burst Re: Newal doesn’t restrict what the other characters can do as enemies quite as much.  This is especially prominent in Mirai’s case.  In previous games, fighting Mirai, even in the original, could be a pain because all she could really do is spam her shots at you without letting the player get close.  In this remake, her shots have specific trajectories that can be dodged, she has a 360-degree spread shot for the player to know when to back off and they brought back her sky lazer attack as a throwback to the original game.  It’s a lot like Devil May Cry at times and that’s always a plus in my book.

I like the original being designed around not blocking, but blocking is used to good effect here.

The developers took advantage of transforming to add to these fights too.  In previous games the opponent transforming isn’t much more than a second, stronger chance with their hidden ninpo unlocked and not much changes.  In this game it’s more like the fight moves to its second phase as they get a few new attacks on top of the powerful ones they had already used up to that point, escalating the challenge.

Major props are also deserved for each story’s endgame.  In a moment of almost shocking effort, Re: Newal remakes the final battle in the Hanzo story into an awesome multi-phase fight with new music tracks.  It uses all the moves from the original game, but in a way that takes advantage of the fully 3D plane and throws in some of the moves from Senran Kagura 2 for a bit of consistency.  It’s easily the highlight of this remake for me and I got whiplash from seeing something that wasn’t recycled after hours of seeing the same re-used assets.

The same goes for the final bosses in the Hebijo story.  Each one gets their own slightly different arena and fights differently from their normal counterparts, especially the last one.  In the original, the final fight in the Hebijo story was just another one to cover its bases, but Burst Re: Newal gives it an upgrade to make it feel climactic.

The boss fights were lacking in previous games other than Senran Kagura 2, but this one captured that Senran Kagura 2 feeling and gets a major thumb up from me for it.  At the same time, however, it leaves me wishing that effort was put into the rest of the game.

In what seems to be an attempt to replicate the Yagura hunting in Estival Versus, Burst Re: Newal adds some goodies to each stage as well.  Hidden in breakable objects and youma-possessed shinobi throughout the game are “top secret files”, which are best compared to the kinds of files you find the Resident Evil Chronicles games.  They’re bits of text with tidbits on the world of Senran Kagura that add some background to the story.  There are some interesting nuggets in them, like some elaborations on aspects like the police covering up for shinobi matters and Yagyuu's ultimate attack, but there’s most of it doesn't contribute to much you don't already know.  The glossary in the original 3DS version contributed more to the world building.

These top secret files also retroactively introduce the youma, but only going by the spin-off games, putting it completely at odds with the Hanzo story's sequel, Senran Kagura 2. In addition to this version disregarding the very best game in the franchise, I liked it better when the first youma was a surprise in the original version and the story built on the mystery from there.

Since it’s long since been implemented after the original, there’s DLC with brand new stories focusing on characters from the spin-off games and covering what they were up to before their debuts.  The only one I played was Yumi’s, which is about her dealing with Kurokage’s death.  Part of that story shows Ryoubi and Ryouna as Gessen students and their subsequent departure, as mentioned in Shinovi Versus, which is a good pre-established subject to explore.

The first DLC story since 2 to have its own artwork.

Yes I did type that Yumi deals with Kurokage’s death.  The Hanzo story in Shinovi Versus, the one where Kurokage was still alive, is obviously the canon one and that’s reinforced with Shinovi Masters showing that story’s conclusion in a flashback, but now he’s somehow dead before all those events where he was obviously alive.  No, reanimation jutsu never comes into play, as far as I can tell.  I can only assume it’s either non-canon, which sort of invalidates it as an exploration of Yumi’s past, or it's a story in the main timeline and thus different from the spin-off's timeline.

Just like Estival Versus the pricing on DLC is pretty bad, with a large number of outfits and accessories costing 2 or 3 dollars each whereas Senran Kagura 2 threw a pile of content on you for only 5 dollars.  Burst Re: Newal doesn’t even have all the DLC from Estival Versus included even though it has almost all of the outfits and accessories that were on that game’s cartridge.  If it’s already made, why not include it?

That goes for the extra characters too.  I don’t think they’re that different from how they were in Estival Versus so if they’re going to be in a game they have no business in, why not just include them to match the dollar value of Estival Versus?  In fact, why even bother with making them DLC?  There’s no multiplayer in the game (and in the PS4’s case, none on the system, the piece of crap), so why would anyone even want those characters?  It’s superfluous.

With Yumi and Miyabi there’s an extra story included, but even with a passable story length of 10 missions I find it hard to justify the 6 dollar price tag when the character is already in Estival Versus with nominal differences and especially when you once again remember that Senran Kagura 2’s DLC had even more content than what they offer for less.  Having costumes that were already included in the original Senran Kagura: Burst as DLC is just plain insulting on top of that.  If you’re going to remake a game, most or all the content of the original game should be a given!  It’s as if Senran Kagura 2 is the only game where DLC was done right.

Things like this make it difficult for me to recommend Senran Kagura Burst Re: Newal very highly.  It improves on the original and Estival Versus in some significant ways, but aspects of its existence clashes with other aspects.

As I mentioned earlier in this review, the original game is still fun because of its features and details that later games did away with, making it a unique experience you can’t find in the other games.  On top of that, it and subsequent games were made with handhelds in mind by having quick pick up and play design and long story sequences you could read on the go.  Inversely, the remake is mostly just Estival Versus with a coat of paint, meaning if you’ve played that, you’ve basically played Burst Re: Newal already.  That would be an issue even if it were on the Vita, which it isn’t, yet it doesn’t take advantage of that at all and could have/should have been on the Vita or even the PS3.  Instead you need a computer forged in the obsidian mines of Droknar, powered by a nuclear fusion reactor and blessed with angel light to make it run well enough and the PS4 is just plain trash.

The gameplay is still adequate and the story is still one of Yukinori Kitajima’s master works that absolutely everyone should experience, but I would recommend the original more.  It’s cheaper, on one of the best game systems available, is justifiably rated T and is a better starting point for this beloved franchise.  Burst Re: Newal still passably does its job and if you haven’t played any Senran Kagura game you won't notice how much of a rehash it is, but even then the dissonance in the story and gameplay is noticeable.  For what it is it’s fine as an alternate investment and making dioramas is still fun, but you won’t lose sleep if you just stick with the original instead.  If you’ve played all the games up to this point, there’s not a lot new to offer here.  I give Senran Kagura Burst Re: Newal a 6 out of 10.

I only got it because it came with the soundtrack to complete my collection, really.  That’s good in any Senran Kagura game.