Trigger Happy Havoc: DanganRonpa review (PS Vita)

Format:Playstation Vita

Age Rating:M/16

Players:1

School is hell. While those years spent studying, learning or sitting exams are often implied by our elders to be our finest years, it doesn’t take long to realize how wrong that is. The high stress environment of course, would be tenfold if you added in… oh, I don’t know…MURDER!

Well, that’s exactly what Naegi Makoto, the protagonist of DanganRonpa, has to deal with. Accepted into a school called Hope’s Peak where only the exceptionally talented are allowed admittance, Naegi is soon knocked unconscious. Upon waking up and meeting his classmates, fourteen “Ultimate Talents” ranging from a Swimmer to a Gang Leader, he soon discovers that he has been trapped inside the school. The only way out, according to the robotic and psychotic headmaster Monokuma, is by killing another student and to get away with it. No pressure then.

Oh the despair…

DanganRonpa,  is very similar to many other popular series. Namely, I would say it mostly resembles a mix between Ace Attorney, Virtue’s Last Reward and Battle Royale. Much like Phoenix Wright, half of the game is spent clicking your way through dialogue in a visual novel style and the other half is spent in “Class Trials”. The story is very rich and quite dark, with a number of great twists and memorable moments. This is a game that isn’t afraid to go the distance and most of it is very well thought through, especially the cases themselves.

And it’s all bolstered by a incredible cast of characters, who are all uniquely designed and identifiable. Obviously, all of that would mean jack if they were blandly written husks devoid of personality. But thankfully, they’re just as interesting as they look. Each murder becomes emotionally wrenching, as not only are you emotionally invested in the character that just died, but you know that someone else in the school is guilty. And when they’re found guilty, they die too.

It’s a pretty funny game too, with Monokuma being the main source of the games dark sense of humor. The script, overall, is pretty excellent and the translation is almost perfect. A few changes have been made here and there from the original japanese, but most of them make sense. Most of them.

Of course, all of this will likely mean nothing to you if you hate visual novel games like this; DanganRonpa is a game that is extremely text heavy throughout. It’ll take roughly an hour to get to the first trial of the game so if you prefer to be thrown into the action and have your reflexes tested, then this game might not be for you. But if you enjoy a game that stimulates your brain with exceptionally written dialogue, a narrative as complex as it is interesting and will make you laugh out loud more than once, then DanganRonpa will cater to your mildly specific tastes.

OBJECTION! THESE TRIALS ARE FAR BETTER THAN MINE!

Which leads me on to the second half of the game, the Class Trials. These almost work in the same way to the ones found in the Ace Attorney games, but it puts an interesting spin on things. In the aforementioned Lawyer ’em up, you basically get as much time as you want to cross examine testimonies. But here you have to compete with several hurdles including conflicting opinions, rhythm based one on one debates and anagram puzzles, to name a few. Throughout all of this, you are limited not only by a health meter, but you are also timed, so you better act fast.

During the games “Non Stop Discussions”, not only do you have to find a contradiction hidden within the statements, but you also need to aim a cross-hair over the false accusation and fire your evidence bullets at it. While this may sound a little abstract for some tastes, it’s a lot simpler in practice. It adds a neat little twist what would normally be very static sequences and while there is certainly nothing wrong with the Ace Attorney approach it’s nice to see something different from time to time and it works really well here.

The trial segments are spiced up in other ways too, with some places even including a Rhythm style game where you try to outpace your opponent in an argument. Without certain special skills earned in the earlier parts of the game, these parts can get especially tough too, especially later on where new elements are added in to not only give you an edge, but to assist your opponent too.

This new approach might not appeal to some. And true, it can be fiddly at times, but the game eases you in with a number of helpful tutorials, so you shouldn’t feel too overwhelmed.

“How’s it look?” “Like Death…”

Much like the character design, the rest of the game fairs well in the aesthetic department. The choice to make the characters blood bright neon pink is striking and adds some style to proceedings, and the executions for the the characters range from gruesome to bizarre to just downright horrifying. All of the cut scenes in the game, including the executions, are done with the characters in a 2D cut out style, which might seem out of place and silly to some, and it can be jarring in places, especially considering how it even happens outside of cut scenes, but it doesn’t detract too much from the final presentation.

The music is fantastic too! It has it’s own unique style, that perfectly matches the games own and helps to establish the desired mood. While not all the songs are great, they’re still worth a look and the rest of the soundtrack more than makes up for it. At the very least, the tunes are memorable. After a few hours with the game, i’m sure you’ll find a favorite.

Perhaps the only bugbear I have with the games presentation is the English Dubbed voices. Some of the voices don’t suit the characters and some questionable decisions have been made. But luckily, the game gives you the option to switch between the Japanese and English voices so if you have an issue with the English voices like I did, then you can just switch them off. Simple!

Goodbye Despair!

It also helps that the game has a lot of extra content, including a death free “School Mode” which’ll have you coming back for more each time you finish it. While there are no multiple endings (well, there is a bad ending, but it’s in there as a joke mainly), you get the chance to socialise with your fellow students at certain points in the game, which nets you skills for use in the trials. So repeated playthroughs are a must for 100% completion.

There is also a plethora of exclusive art, which is a real treat to look at, since the art in this game is exceptional.

The game in general, is just a lot of fun, especially if you enjoy a well written story with great characters, and a unique twist on genre game play. It uses the vita’s features decently too, although it’s nothing groundbreaking in that regard. The game allows you to use the touchscreen during class trials at certain points but that’s mostly it. Considering this game’s origins as a PSP title, it isn’t surprising. Plus, the implementation of too many gimmicks might have spoiled the pleasantly devious and demented stew that DanganRonpa provides.

So remember, before you going complaining about your own educational woes, think about poor Makoto Naegi and his school life of mutual killing. And then maybe buy this game.
Because it’s awesome.

4 out of 5