Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls takes place between the two earlier Danganronpa titles and helps to give fans a real feel for the mayhem that spread throughout the city after the events of Trigger Happy Havoc. Unlike the other games in the series though, Ultra Despair Girls is a shooter, not a mystery.

Ultra Despair Girls's visuals are a step up from the other two as well. Where the other games stuck with 2D sprites in 3D environments a lot in order to give an interactive graphic novel feel, Ultra Despair Girls lets you explore the 3D world a lot more. Don't worry though, if you felt like the static images with dialogue windows was a big part of the series' charm, then you will be happy to hear that they are not gone - they just aren't as prominent as in the other games. This game also splices in the occasional anime clip for the extra dramatic scenes that require just a bit more emotion than can be conveyed by those cardboard cutout characters.

Ultra Despair Girls also features a good bit of voiceovers. While not all of the dialogue is voiced, what is sounds good. Away from the story-progressing segments and while in the nitty-gritty of surviving, the background music stays low key and your main characters don't really say much, which is good, because I found myself keeping an ear out for the next Monokuma attack.

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls puts you in control of young Komaru Naegi (the younger sister of the first game's protagonist). She has been held captive since before the events of Trigger Happy Havoc, but all that ends when the city gets overrun by the black and white robotic bears known as Monokumas. Komaru is saved by a group called Future Foundation and its leader, but before she can get to safety, she ends up captured, once again, by five elementary school students who want to remake the world into a paradise for kids. When they think that Komaru is too old to fit in with their plans, they send her out and put a hit on her.

It is then that she meets the game's other main character, Toko Fukawa. Toko was one of the survivors from the first game, and her strange personality will become a vital part to surviving the mayhem that has taken over the city. Players of Trigger Happy Havoc will recall that Toko has a split personality; her other is a serial killer known as Genocide Jill, and Toko has started to learn some control over the more violent person living in her head.

While Toko is a force to be reckoned with while she is in her killer mood, the player can't spend too much time controlling this character. Instead, Komaru has access to a megaphone-style gun that Future Foundation gave her. This acts as your primary weapon for most of the game, and it can do a bit more than simply take out enemies.

This weapon, called a Hacking Gun, translates Komaru's voice into various Truth Bullets (a concept taken from the other Danganronpa titles). Her first, and primary, command is "Break." This damages the enemy robots and can sometimes cause a bit more havoc if fired just right. Other attacks include the ability to burn, make your target dance, or even take control of your target in order to get them to attack other enemies. The Hacking Gun also features a non-offensive option that lets you activate buttons, machines and even robotic cars. While this is used primarily to interact with your surroundings, the ability to turn on some machines will help you get out of some tough situations, especially if there are several Monokumas near an unpowered robotic car.

When you find yourself surrounded or with little ammo, it is time to switch to Genocide Jill. The shooter-heavy game switches to a hack-n-slash experience as you slice through the enemies with Jill's razor sharp scissors. If you do enough damage, you can activate one of Genocide Jill's more powerful attacks, but this is rarely necessary as she will tear through the immediate enemies pretty quickly. While Jill is an impressive ally, she comes with a shelf life since she will revert back to the meek Toko if you spend too much time as Jill.

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls also adds some personalization aspects to the action genre by letting you upgrade both the Hacking Gun and Jill's melee attacks. As you take out Monokumas, you will earn experience, until you eventually level up and earn points that you can put towards both characters' skill sets. You can also spend money dropped by enemies to add even more enhancements to your arsenal.

Even though Ultra Despair Girls is a very combat-heavy game, it delves into puzzles occasionally. These primarily come in the form of rooms that you need to get past, but you have to be aware of where the enemies are and what they are doing. These rooms are preceded by an arcade game that acts as a surveillance camera into the next room. The game then challenges you to get past the room with some set conditions. These can be anything from getting through without being seen or killing all of the enemies with a certain number of attacks (often one or none).

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls features three difficulty settings that put the game on a sliding scale between adventure game to survival horror. On the lower end of the scale, your character won't have much trouble between the cutscenes and you will get to experience the game's somewhat twisted storyline a little faster. The second setting makes the enemies a little tougher and lessens the amount of ammo you will pick up. Personally, I found this to be just the right balance between the two ends of the spectrum. As you would expect from the most difficult setting, you will want to walk softly, and maybe even avoid enemies at times. It will take you longer to get through the game, but for those that really like to up the challenge, this highest setting might be what you are looking for.

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls does a good job of balancing out the two combat styles and giving the player enough flexibility to get out of pretty much any situation it throws at you. Since most of your time will be spent behind the Hacking Gun, that is the weapon that will change the most. In the beginning, you get a feel for just how powerful it can be, but those capabilities are quickly stripped and you will find yourself recovering bits of that power as you make your way through the ranks of your enemies.

The good news is Genocide Jill only gets stronger as the game progresses, and given how over-powered she feels when you start the game, that's impressive. Of course, because of that same fact, limiting the time she is playable really is the best way to keep the player from just running through everything that moves. This meant that I tended to keep Jill in reserve and only threw her into the fray when I was surrounded, or the Monokumas were too close to effectively aim with the Hacking Gun.

Ultra Despair Girls is a good addition to the series that also helps to break it out of the genre that Danganronpa is typically known for. Fans of the crazy story and unusual characters will find this game a nice change of pace from the other two in the series, plus it provides a lot of insight into the events that lead up to Goodbye Despair. That being said, given that the main character starts off extremely isolated from the world around her, a player who knows nothing about the Danganronpa world can jump in with very few missing plot points since the game explains what the player needs to know to Komaru anyway.