Senran Kagura Estival Versus is a brawler game featuring your favorite ninja girls from the
Senran Kagura universe. Players take control of the girls in their journey to figure out exactly what's going on in the world. Can you fight your way through hordes of enemies and figure out what's really going on, or will you be taken down and sent back to the ninja academy?
Progressing through the story is done by completing the missions the game throws at you with whichever girl the game makes you use for a mission. Some missions allow you to select your own character as well. Players will be given the parameters of the mission and are expected to accomplish the mission objective. Hordes of enemy ninjas will try to stop you, so you'll have to get through them. To the bottom left, players will see their Health bar and Ninja Art bar. The top blue bar is your Health and the bottom yellow bar is your Ninja Art bar. You move your character with the Left Analog Stick, while the Right Stick controls the camera. (Square) and (Triangle) serve as your attack buttons. By using them in conjunction, players can use combos to tear through their enemies and players can check the Tech List to understand each character's combos. Players are able to block with the (R1) button and perform a quick dash using the (Circle) button. Holding (Circle) allows the player to run and the (X) button allows you to jump. In addition, if you time your guard right as the enemy attacks, you’ll parry their attack and can follow up with more attacks. You're packing quite a bit of firepower, so taking down the mindless masses should be simple, right?
Estival Versus wouldn't be a Senran Kagura game without the costumes breaking. As characters take damage in fights, their costume steadily loses durability until they eventually break. Players will get a small cutscene of the areas of the costume breaking until eventually, the girls are left in their underwear. On the bright side, the girls will do more damage the less clothes they have left, but they also take more damage, so be careful how you manage your costume. You can also completely tear off the costume at any time by holding (R1) and pressing (Triangle).
If you're a fashion enthusiast, you'll have a blast in the Dressing Room. Players are able to customize any girl's costume using this mode. You can also change which character you use. The clothes customization is pretty in depth, so players will have a good chance to show off the girls in their cutest outfits. You can change their normal outfit, their hairstyle, and even add various accessories to their outfits. You can also change the lingerie they're wearing, but some girls don't seem too happy about that based on their reactions. Once you change their outfits to you're liking, you can set the girls in various poses showing off their new outfits. It's pretty fun being a modeling agent, sometimes.
It's nice to hone your skills against the computer, but there's nothing sweeter than inflicting the agony of defeat on another player. Estival Versus allows you to do just that with its Shinobi Dojo Mode. This allows you to take the battle worldwide and battle other players online. You can create your own battle session or join another session and test your skills against your rivals. Train hard and show everyone you're the best shinobi around, or else you might end up embarrassed on your butt.