I’m not much of an anime fan, nor am I much a fan of anime style games. I don’t know what it is, despite the visuals of these games really appealing to me I often find the absurdly over the top nature doesn’t click with me. But, on an almost entirely unrelated note, I love the PS Vita. A hugely underrated console that houses some incredible games and great ways to play old classic PS1 and PSP games. A friend of mine a few years back suggested that, as such a huge fan of the Vita, I should give its best three games a shot. A bold statement I thought, thinking I had already played the best the Vita had to offer. He suggested Persona 4 Golden (which I did buy but yet to play, for shame), and two other games I had never heard of…and I’m so happy he suggested them, or I would never have been introduced to the insanity of Danganronpa.
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc was originally released in Japan for the PSP but by the time it got a worldwide release the PS Vita was in full swing and the PSP was a distant memory. So, publisher NIS America ported it to the Vita instead of releasing it on an old platform.
The game can best be described as a mix between Battle Royale/Hunger Games and Phoenix Wright. Where 15 high school students of Hope’s Peak Academy, the best in their respective fields, are trapped in a deadly game for their very survival; wherein they must murder one another, and get away with it, in order to return to the outside world. As the ‘Ultimate Lucky Student’ Makoto Naegi, you must solve the mysteries behind the murders of your fellow classmates in order to live to see another day and work out the identity of the mastermind behind this killing game. To do this you will collect evidence from the crime scene, accounts from your surviving classmates, and present this in a courtroom style trial where the killer must be brought forward.
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc was originally released in Japan for the PSP but by the time it got a worldwide release the PS Vita was in full swing and the PSP was a distant memory. So, publisher NIS America ported it to the Vita instead of releasing it on an old platform.
The game can best be described as a mix between Battle Royale/Hunger Games and Phoenix Wright. Where 15 high school students of Hope’s Peak Academy, the best in their respective fields, are trapped in a deadly game for their very survival; wherein they must murder one another, and get away with it, in order to return to the outside world. As the ‘Ultimate Lucky Student’ Makoto Naegi, you must solve the mysteries behind the murders of your fellow classmates in order to live to see another day and work out the identity of the mastermind behind this killing game. To do this you will collect evidence from the crime scene, accounts from your surviving classmates, and present this in a courtroom style trial where the killer must be brought forward.
It’s a great premise for a game and it certainly achieves its lofty goals. The story is full of twists and turns to keep you on your toes and analysing every last detail. The dialogue is often beautifully written, and the characters extremely well rounded and fleshed out individuals. You will spend a lot of time getting to know these characters over your 30 or so hours that you spend within the confines of Hope’s Peak. Each character is an ‘Ultimate’ in something, whether it be Aoi Asahina the ‘Ultimate Swimmer’, Byakuya Togami the ‘Ultimate Affluent Progeny’, or Junko Enoshima the ‘Ultimate Fashionista’. So, they all bring their own unique personalities to the table and their own angle on the events unfolding around them. Some characters are around longer than others before they get bumped off one by one, but the real fun comes in trying to work out which one of your classmates has killed the other. Despite how well written these characters are, this side of things is where the whole anime excessiveness really shines through as some of the characters are so over the top stupid that it really starts to grate if you’re around them too long. Characters like Yasuhiro Hagakure and Hifumi Yamada are both great examples of characters that whilst are certainly interesting, prove to be little more than massive headache’s because of their bafoonish attitudes.
Once you’ve scoured the school for evidence, collected in the form of ‘Truth Bullets’, you are taken into a courtroom where you debate amongst each other to come to a unanimous conclusion as to who the killer amongst you is, and how they did it. Each case is never straightforward either, there’s always accounts and evidence that seems to contradict the correct outcome, but it’s your job to work out what evidence is correct and what is false and why.
But if you are going to play Danganronpa, be prepared to do a whole lot of reading! The majority of the gameplay is reading conversational text as voice acting is kept to a pretty minimal level. Key lines of dialogue will often have a voice over attributed to them, but for the most part you’ll only hear repeated phrases over and over again from your classmates. Whilst this can certainly be a negative for some, I feel it’s an overwhelming positive for the game as a whole as it forces you to take in what people are saying, so that you can use that information later on in class trials. The plot is also far from straightforward so reading all this information can certainly help you make heads or tails of the while thing rather than listening to confusing exposition dialogue.
When you’re not reading, you’re exploring Hope’s Peak as a 3D environment and either socialising with your classmates or investigating a murder most foul. The more you socialise the more perks you’ll unlock for class trials with each classmate holding at least one special ability you can unlock by spending time with them. Some are harder to achieve than others, requiring you to provide them with gifts, or spend large amounts of time with them, but these are the ones really worth going for. The skills can steady your aim during class trials, give you extra hit points during a trial, and more.
Trials are time based affairs where you must participate in various mini-games in order to present the evidence you have to support or rebuke what someone has said. Nonstop Debate is the mode you'll most frequently come into contact with. Here you have various truth bullets at your disposal and must fire the correct one at a weak point in someone's statement. Sometimes you may even have to absorb one classmates weak point as a bullet to use against another classmate in order to draw out lies or contradictions. You then also have Hangman's Gambit where you must shoot the correct letters to create a key word. Bullet Time Battles are rhythm games where you must keep the beat to shoot down statements, all whilst keeping an eye on your bullet count and reload when necessary. You then have the Closing Argument where you must present all the evidence given into a cohesive timeline using comic strips, once the strips are aligned correctly you will be able to describe how the murder took place and how the killer attempted to hide the evidence. All the mini games are well handled, though the Closing Argument can sometimes be a little unclear with its pictures, and the Hangman's Gambit is often incredibly easy.
Once you’ve scoured the school for evidence, collected in the form of ‘Truth Bullets’, you are taken into a courtroom where you debate amongst each other to come to a unanimous conclusion as to who the killer amongst you is, and how they did it. Each case is never straightforward either, there’s always accounts and evidence that seems to contradict the correct outcome, but it’s your job to work out what evidence is correct and what is false and why.
But if you are going to play Danganronpa, be prepared to do a whole lot of reading! The majority of the gameplay is reading conversational text as voice acting is kept to a pretty minimal level. Key lines of dialogue will often have a voice over attributed to them, but for the most part you’ll only hear repeated phrases over and over again from your classmates. Whilst this can certainly be a negative for some, I feel it’s an overwhelming positive for the game as a whole as it forces you to take in what people are saying, so that you can use that information later on in class trials. The plot is also far from straightforward so reading all this information can certainly help you make heads or tails of the while thing rather than listening to confusing exposition dialogue.
When you’re not reading, you’re exploring Hope’s Peak as a 3D environment and either socialising with your classmates or investigating a murder most foul. The more you socialise the more perks you’ll unlock for class trials with each classmate holding at least one special ability you can unlock by spending time with them. Some are harder to achieve than others, requiring you to provide them with gifts, or spend large amounts of time with them, but these are the ones really worth going for. The skills can steady your aim during class trials, give you extra hit points during a trial, and more.
Trials are time based affairs where you must participate in various mini-games in order to present the evidence you have to support or rebuke what someone has said. Nonstop Debate is the mode you'll most frequently come into contact with. Here you have various truth bullets at your disposal and must fire the correct one at a weak point in someone's statement. Sometimes you may even have to absorb one classmates weak point as a bullet to use against another classmate in order to draw out lies or contradictions. You then also have Hangman's Gambit where you must shoot the correct letters to create a key word. Bullet Time Battles are rhythm games where you must keep the beat to shoot down statements, all whilst keeping an eye on your bullet count and reload when necessary. You then have the Closing Argument where you must present all the evidence given into a cohesive timeline using comic strips, once the strips are aligned correctly you will be able to describe how the murder took place and how the killer attempted to hide the evidence. All the mini games are well handled, though the Closing Argument can sometimes be a little unclear with its pictures, and the Hangman's Gambit is often incredibly easy.
I’m also a sucker for a good soundtrack and Trigger Happy Havoc has one of the greatest soundtracks I’ve ever heard, period. It’s filled with incredible songs that I regularly listen to outside of the game, I even bought the soundtracks on CD because I love them so much! The Danganronpa theme in of itself is a total tune that I happily rock along to on the bus or whilst I’m doing stuff around the house.
To compliment this great soundtrack the game’s anime inspired visuals are gorgeous to look at. Character models are beautifully drawn, and the 3D environments are richly detailed. The game also features a handful of CG sequences where 3D and 2D animation are blended together with eye popping results. It’s a true feast for the eyes and ears!
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is the kind of game that you can sort of tell if you’re going to like or not by the description of the gameplay. I enjoy text-based adventure games so lots of reading is fine with me; but it’s not for everybody. However, much like I had my reservations about the style of game Danganronpa is, I implore you to give it a chance if you happen across it. The story and characters are so well written, plus the game’s incredible visual style, and superb soundtrack are all worth checking out even if you have your reservations about spending the majority of your game time reading text.
To compliment this great soundtrack the game’s anime inspired visuals are gorgeous to look at. Character models are beautifully drawn, and the 3D environments are richly detailed. The game also features a handful of CG sequences where 3D and 2D animation are blended together with eye popping results. It’s a true feast for the eyes and ears!
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is the kind of game that you can sort of tell if you’re going to like or not by the description of the gameplay. I enjoy text-based adventure games so lots of reading is fine with me; but it’s not for everybody. However, much like I had my reservations about the style of game Danganronpa is, I implore you to give it a chance if you happen across it. The story and characters are so well written, plus the game’s incredible visual style, and superb soundtrack are all worth checking out even if you have your reservations about spending the majority of your game time reading text.
STORY: 8/10
GAMEPLAY: 8/10
PRESENTATION: 8/10
LIFESPAN: 8/10
SCORE: 8/10
Having played it on both PS4 and Vita, I would without a doubt recommend the PS Vita version the most as the game works best in a digestible manner where you can play for half an hour or so, pause it and put it away for a while before picking it back up to carry on. The PC and PS4 versions lack that ability, so in my eyes are inferior versions, despite having no other factors that make them lower quality versions. But whatever version you can get your hands on, I cannot recommend it enough.