Hakuoki: Warriors of
the Shinsensgumi Review
When Hakuoki
~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ came out last year, for many it made for an
excellent introduction to the otome game genre and for me it was an excellent VN
all around (as you can see from this review). The characters were all likable and interesting, the artwork was
great, and the stories for each route were good reads. So when I heard that
another Hakuoki game had been licensed for English release, naturally I was
excited as it promised gameplay in the style of Dynasty Warriors and two
different story modes: one a retelling of the original game’s story and the
other a completely new one with two new characters. After its release date of
February 14, 2013, I began playing my copy and…it’s been a long time since I’ve
been so disappointed by a spin off to a game I enjoyed.
Pros: Uses scenes
from the anime in the main story mode well, Chizuru is voiced
Cons: Only
“Shinsensgumi Memorial” can be considered a real story mode, in Memorial only
Hijikata’s story is handled well, gameplay is monotonous, audio lags at points,
the camera while adjustable is still an annoyance.
WTF?!: I got through this crappy game I preordered and all I
got from it was this stupid bandana…
This
would be where I would give you guys a summary of the game’s story, but in this
case there’s really no point to it. While it boasts having two story modes,
Warriors of the Shinsengumi has about the same story as the first game
regardless of which story mode you pick: Shinsengumi Memorial, which is
basically an abridged collection of the routes from the first game except now
you play as whichever hero you choose, or Shinsengumi Chronicle, which is
supposed to be (that being the key phrase) an entirely new story for each hero
set in an alternate universe where you can apparently change things from the
original story. This arrangement sounds good at first, in fact it was what got
me excited for this game as sounded like I’d get to see new stories for the
characters I’d grown attached in the original game and this time play as them.
The problem is for the most part Warriors of the Shinsengumi fails to deliver
in both modes.
Since
it was the story mode I was most looking forward to, let’s start with
Shinsengumi Chronicle. Despite how it’s advertised, the story doesn’t differ
all that much from the original; you can’t change the outcome of the revolution
that produces the Meiji era (at least not visibly unless you know Japanese
history really well) and to be honest this story mode is just plain confusing
because it barely is a story mode. The
scenes that occur at the beginning of each chapter/level are incredibly short
with the only context to why they’re occurring being a short summary of events
just beforehand that doesn’t change regardless of who you play as. There are a
couple scenes in between the start and end of the chapter/level, but the lines
of dialogue in those you could literally count on your fingers. These short
scenes really hurt this mode’s story in two ways, first it makes whatever new
story additions that there are ineffective to just plain unnoticeable, and
second it makes the story confusing. For
a good example for both, this mode introduces two new villain characters to
essentially be stage bosses, Takamori Saigo (who wields a heavy machine gun)
and Kogoro Katsura (who wields a sword). These two are actually significant
historical figures in Japanese history, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing
that and assuming they were just two characters made up for this game because
there isn’t even an attempt to give these two any character depth as they have
maybe twenty lines of spoken dialogue in the entire game and no explanation of
who they are or why they’re important because that nifty little glossary from
the original game that helped to give players context to the historical side of
the story is now gone. Even as throwaway villains these two are badly written
in as there were several points where I assumed these characters were dead
after a boss fight with them, considering the brief dialogue, but later they
appear again alive and well for another boss fight with no explanation
whatsoever as to why. Another example for how confusing this story mode is
would be how Chizuru is barely in this (which is odd considering who the final
boss is); I even thought the alternate universe aspect was she didn’t exist in
this continuity until in Hijikata’s story she popped up near the end for a
couple seconds and then just disappeared never to be mentioned again and in
Heisuke’s story she’s hinted at and never even mentioned by name.
As for
the Shinsengumi Memorial story mode, that one actually is more like a story
mode with longer scenes and the story is actually coherent. Now while it’s
supposed to be an abridged take on each route, only Hijikata’s route is handled
well in that aspect (which I admit makes sense since the anime follows his
route). Sadly the other routes feel chopped up rather than properly condensed
like Hijikata’s. For example, Saito’s completely ignores his motivation for
becoming a swordsman, Sanosuke’s edits out the parting of ways between him and
Shinpachi, and Kazama’s alliance with Chizuru and Heisuke and subsequently the
subplot concerning him and Sen is also not there. This sadly reduces the other
stories in this mode to almost a chore to complete and really has you wondering
why you’re not just playing the original game instead.
Concerning
the gameplay, I have to say Warriors of the Shinsengumi fails on this front too,
falling into the pit of monotony. Combat is basically button mashing of the
square and triangle buttons, occasionally using a charge attack, and unleashing
a special attack which you can unleash after your sakura meter charges enough,
all while either moving to the next goal/boss or fulfilling the “kill x number
of enemies” goal. Part of what makes
this so boring is how easy this is (I actually recommend playing normal or hard
since I’m pretty sure you could beat easy mode with your feet at the controls),
but the real killer is how you don’t
feel much difference between playing each character (with one exception) as
they’re almost all swordsmen whose weapons look about the same. Sure they each
swing their sword differently and there are differences in their special
attacks, but since you spend most of the time button mashing, it largely feels
the same. The only time I felt like I was having fun was when I played as Sanosuke since he uses a spear, and
in that case I’m sure it’s only because it felt like a breath of fresh air
after playing as swordsmen several times in a row. Another problem is the camera during the gameplay can be annoying, especially during a boss fight since it can make incoming enemies hard to see. It can be adjusted, but since you practically have to stop and do it to get the right angle so you can see your enemies, it really interrupts the flow of the gameplay. I will admit the item fusion
where the items you pick up can be fused into stat boosting equipment in
between chapters is interesting, but it’s sadly underused as the equipment doesn’t
appear on your characters in battle nor can you create any unique weapons for
your character to use in battle.
In the
area of presentation, this is where Warriors of the Shinsengumi scores some
points in its favor. It takes advantage of using the designs from the anime
series to actually integrate short scenes from it into the Memorial story mode
at certain points and it’s done really well, especially in the beginning where
it’s used to make a good summary of the original game’s beginning. The only
problem with this is I think that the original game’s character designs looked
better than the anime’s, but that’s only a minor one. In the area of sound, the
voice acting’s good, in fact Chizuru is voiced now and her VA turns in a good
performance. Sadly, the music is forgettable and the game is plagued by the
sound lagging at certain points, be it the sound skipping (BGM or voice acting)
from time to time or the voice acting not starting for a while when a character
is supposed to speak.
In Conclusion:
Hakuoki:
Warriors of the Shinsengumi is a weak follow up to its predecessor, failing to
deliver a good new narrative for the series and even at properly abridging most
of the routes and also failing to deliver on the gameplay front. I would not recommend
this game to anyone, not for fans of the original game unless they’re really desperate
for more Hakuoki related material (might want to just buy the anime if you
haven’t already) and certainly not for anyone wanting to give this series a
shot because the better version is already out. If you want to support the
release of future otome games in English (and have already bought the original
Hakuoki), I recommend just saving your money for the upcoming Sweet Fuse: At
Your Side.
Final Score: 3/10 Terrible
Author Recommendation: Avoid It
