The Senran Kagura franchise has always been known for its fan-service laden imagery paired with hack and slash gameplay, so when you want to make a spin-off, what do you do? Why make a cooking rhythm game with the same level of fan-service of course!

The game has a story to explain its madness. Well actually it doesn’t. Right from the get go it says the game is now a rhythm, because it felt like it. With the introduction out of the way, you can play a straight arcade game version without story bits, or play as a chosen character and learn why they have participated in this cooking battle. Or you can just do free mode, to practice and get better at the songs you will be tapping those directional and face buttons to. While the game has three different difficulty settings, the difficulty varies wildly for every song encountered, which makes for an uneven sense of balance. It’s recommended to play on Easy at first, as that mode provides a much more gradual scaling of difficulty.

The way the rounds play out is that each round has three sets, and you need to at least win the third round to win the match. Sometimes you will be tasked with holding a button down, and often will still need to press other buttons, or you will mash a button a bunch. Other times you need to simultaneously press two buttons at once, which can be hard with the Vita’s small buttons. Although if you do well enough, you can activate a mode which boosts your score more, but will end the minute you screw up. Getting a perfect on the other two rounds also will inexplicably make your opponents clothes explode off their bodies. And this is where the fan-service kicks in.

An opponent’s total defeat will grant the player with a special ‘dessert’ humiliation scene, where they are practically naked and dressed up like a banana split or something. Of course bare chests are censored like they were Japanese version, with no additional censorship. It is a console game after all. There are a few tiny story bits that take place every so many matches, but they can barely be called a story. It’s more of an excuse to make some suggestive innuendo or other cheesy jokes.

There are a number of different costumes and accessories to make your characters look different, even with players being able to change the girl’s panties. Not that you see them in gameplay, unless it was the opponent. Or you want to fail on purpose. While the rhythm game is fun, the music selection is somewhat lacking. It’s nothing special, but it manages to get the job done. Voice acting is in Japanese audio only, so once again those waiting for a dub will be disappointed. Character selection along with the music selection, is also small. If you want more, prepare to fork over more money for the DLC containing those tracks and characters. Makes the base game seem bare, but maybe that’s why it’s only 15 bucks. Despite the game’s flaws, it’s worth a try for Senran Kagura fans who obviously don’t mind the copious fan-service.

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