A fair warning: If you haven't finished the first two Danganronpa games and want to play Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, then I suggest that you stop reading after this paragraph and go play those two games first. I'll try to keep this review spoiler-free but there will be mentions about events and characters from the earlier Danganronpa games that I can't avoid spelling out. 

Spike Chunsoft's newest title in the Danganronpa franchise is a side story, taking place between the events of the first two games. Exclusively developed for the PlayStation Vita, Ultra Despair Girls isn't another murder mystery game, but instead it's a third person shooter in the vein of the Resident Evil games, minus the tank controls.

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is set in Towa City, an isolated city on an island far from the mainland. Komaru Naegi, the younger sister of the protagonist from Trigger Happy Havoc, is a high school girl that lives alone in an apartment for one and a half years under mysterious circumstances. Her “peace” is short lived when a four foot tall mechanical teddy bear barges into her room with intentions to kill. Narrowly escaping from her ursine assassin, Komaru runs into a representative of the Future Foundation, an organization dedicated to restore the world back to normal from “The Tragedy.” The representative gives Komaru a hacking gun, a megaphone modified to destroy these robots (hereby referred to as Monokuma) using radio signals that mess with their programming, among other uses. As Komaru makes her escape, she notices that not even Towa City is immune from the aftereffects of “The Tragedy” and must survive as she looks for escape. However, escape is futile as Komaru becomes a marked target for a sadistic group of children who call themselves “The Warriors of Hope” and she is dropped right in the middle of Towa City as prey for the Monokuma menace.

While Ultra Despair Girls is primarily a third person shooter, a good chunk of the game has a visual novel narrative not unlike the other games in the franchise. Lots of death, uncertainty, dark spaces and even limited resources are in place and unlike the other Danganronpa games, you can't afford to take it easy. Especially when a gang of Monokuma bots are prowling the streets! Your hacking gun will come in handy as you fend off Monokumas with truth bullets. These bullets have many different uses, for instance: Break (your standard ammo), Dance (lulls them into a dance, keeping them distracted) and Move, which can power up machines to open doors and the like. There are more bullets to collect as the story goes on, so there's a lot more planning involved than just shooting at bears. You'll also have to deal with Puzzles in the form of Monokuman arcade machine rooms. Here you'll have to “Move” the machine to take a look at the adjacent room's layout and figure out a way to evade or destroy all of the Monokumas in a specific way. Although not mandatory, dispatching them according to the objective will net you a better score at the end of each chapter.

You won't be alone during the game, as you'll encounter various characters, both good and bad. There is one character will stick with you for the remainder of your adventure—Toko Fukawa, a young woman in a dark dress with an even darker split personality who fights by your side with her custom-made scissors. Toko acts as this game's invincible burst mode: when she becomes “Genocide Jack,” she inexplicably kills anything that stands in her way in a speedy and gruesome fashion. While this is happening, you're invulnerable and you can dispatch multiple foes with the increased speed. The more enemies you destroy, the higher your Fever meter builds and you can unleash powerful and stylish one-hit kill moves on your mobs. However, the effect is only temporary as “Genocide Jack” can only be triggered by a battery-powered tazer's electric shock. Battery power is limited, so it's best to use “Genocide Jack” under critical circumstances. Toko also helps out when you lose all of your life and fall into “Despair Mode.” If you have battery power, one of the charges can be sacrificed to open a larger window of survival when Toko protects you from the killing blow via a quick time event. Fail this and it's game over.

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is a visually impressive game compared to most Vita titles and is compatible with the PlayStation TV, which lets you play in an actual television. The soundtrack is just as groovy as the other Danganronpa games and the voice work is top-notch. My only beef with this game is that the flow could be a lot better. There's a lot of visual novel conversations and animated cutscenes interspersed with the action which slows the pacing. Thankfully, events can be skipped if you're playing through earlier chapters if you're a completionist. 

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls isn't for children or for the faint of heart. It features casual depictions of murder, terror, children committing violence and pink blood. The challenge is more cerebral than mechanical, with the hardest mode still being manageable to clear if you're not careless. This game is for the fans who want to learn more about the ongoing Danaganronpa saga, since it fills in the gap left between Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair. Just make sure to finish those other two games first before starting this one.

Hint: Aim for the bears-eye! Shooting the big red eye on Monokuma will destroy it instantly, netting you a powerful bonus shot for your next target.

by Ray n.