These systems are so good that I began to resent just how overly chatty the game gets, especially with how often it will repeat the same information over and over again. Also – as with any crime game – it’s frustrating when you have a theory of your own that you can’t articulate with the game’s limited systems. Danganonpa is admittedly a hard game to guess at, with cases surprising me with eleventh hour twists, but I’d still like the opportunity to present my version of the evidence. Unfortunately this shortcoming is one nearly every detective game suffers from, but if anyone can push the genre forward its likely going to be the guys at Spike Chunsoft.
Presentation:
Even by Visual Novel standards, Danganronpa is positively bursting with audiovisual content. There’s an astounding amount of art that illustrates every beat of the story with a unique flair – sometimes to the games detriment. With this much animation and still art, some of it definitely suffers in terms of quality, making for some ugly cutscenes or character art. Arguably this works in Danganronpa’s favour – it’s always had an almost ugly aesthetic to match its ugly themes, and it’s undeniably a starkly unique and recognizable style. It didn’t always do it for me, but these characters just wouldn’t work rendered in any other way – showing the ugliest sides of them whenever the narrative requires it.
The story isn’t entirely voiced but this doesn’t surprise me. I’m floored by just how much of the thousands upon thousands of lines are actually spoken. I played with the English dub, as I’m wont to do with these games, and it’s (mostly) a really great one. There’s a lot of humour that wouldn’t work if you listened in a language you didn’t understand, and the delivery of some of the best lines elevate V3 to a new level of comedy. One character is in the running for the foulest-mouth in a video game, and constantly had me in stitches. There are definitely some duds – the Monokubs especially – but for the most part it’s a wicked dub.
The score is likewise awesome, with some real earworms you’ll be humming as you mull over the latest murder.
Conclusion:
Danganronpa V3 is another fantastic addition to a series I still can’t quite believe exists. The first one took me by surprise, but perhaps what’s most surprising is that the third iteration is still finding ways to surprise me. If you haven’t given this series a go I highly recommend you rectify that, and if you’re already waist deep in the spiralling mysteries of Danganronpa you probably didn’t even read this review – you’re too busy playing this wacky Japanese masterpiece.
‘Solving’ crimes is an illusion whose façade is wearing thin by now, but being along for the ride instead of in charge of it isn’t such a bad compromise when the results are this unique and enjoyable.
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