The song selection in Senran Kagura: Bon Appétit, while diverse in musical styles, lacks in quantity. There are only ten songs available to play through, one for each playable shinobi (and an eleventh for Daidoji that you can play along to without needing to purchase the DLC). Each melody follows a distinctly Japanese flair, ranging from contemporary drama themes to a traditional wedding march to vocal pop songs. The latter are my favorite tracks but sadly there are only three available to play through. Daidoji’s image song remains my favorite track from the original selection, if only because of the tempo and the sheer difficulty when playing on Hard Mode. For those looking to hunt down that elusive platinum trophy will have to deal with a fair bit of repetition as some trophies will necessitate playing over two hundred songs (meaning twenty per track) in order to get those gold trophies.
Despite the innuendo and bared skin throughout most of Bon Appétit‘s presentation, it plays as a traditional rhythm game at heart. Notes stream from one side of the screen to the other and players need to time the notes along with the upbeat of the song. One of the basic tenets of rhythm games is ignored as Bon Appétit offers two tracks for notes but doesn’t discern between keeping directional arrows to one line and face buttons on the other. As great amounts of life and hometown fill the screen, it can be quite annoying to be distracted for a moment and accidentally hit a down arrow instead of an X, despite the two sharing a similar color scheme.
Songs, or rather dishes in Bon Appétit, are broken up into three movements, each ending with your dish being judged by Hanzo himself. By out performing your opponent in the rhythm sections and overtaking them in a tug-of-war, Hanzo may find your entree to be superior to your opponents. If he does, a beam of light shoots out from his face to blast off your opponent’s clothing. Senran Kagura‘s gotten quite a reputation for its stripping mechanics, so it had to be thrown in some how. Ultimately it doesn’t matter how your first two segments do when it comes to beating a song, as all that matters is having a better performance once the song is finally finished.
Keeping up a combo streak will grant players access to Ninja Arts as a pinwheel gauge fills on the left side of the screen. Once it’s filled, tapping either of the shoulder buttons will activate yet another heart-shaped gauge that fills on the right side. With both segments filled, a heart note will be added somewhere onto the note track. If you hit it just right, it will activate a special that zooms in your opponent’s life and hometown for a short time. If you’re able to win all three segments, thus stripping your opponent down to their lingerie and then activating your special, you’ll get a Perfect Victory. These Perfect Victories end in an ultimate humiliation for your opponent, turning them into a sort of human parfait. .
Judgment is quite lax as far as scoring goes, so don’t fear too much if you have to wait an extra beat or two to hit a note as it will typically register as a Fine (the equivalent of a Good in other rhythm titles) without breaking the combo. Typically as long as you don’t hit the wrong note entirely, the game will be forgiving and keep a combo going for much longer than some of the similar title such as the Project Diva series. This can be quite helpful, as the characters will tend to perform quite a few distracting acts that would certainly be banned in a proper kitchen.
With a limited song selection and over-the-top fan service, Bon Appétit might best be appreciated as an accompaniment for those that previously enjoyed Shinovi Versus. While this Senran Kagura title might not be a great rhythm game, it can certainly act as a playground for fans to spend more time with their favorite shinobi girl.
[Editor’s Note: Senran Kagura: Bon Appétit was reviewed as a digital-only PlayStation Vita title. Review code was provided to us by the publisher.]
