12 years later Sakura Taisen V, the attacking squadron of the empire is only the shadow of itself. It must be said that since the destruction of all threats to humanity, there was no longer any reason to exist, and therefore to be funded. In a sorry state, the imperial theater in which the elite soldiers of the Japanese Empire continue to hide, dressed up as a musical troupe, will however be given a facelift. Indeed, the dashing and ambitious Seijuro Kamiyama has just been appointed battalion commander. Does this mean that supernatural forces are once again at the gates of our world?
Comic trooper
The twenty-minute demo that was presented to us on the TGS stand was in any case very representative of what the final game will be, at least if we trust its progress, extremely faithful to the saga. The first part put us in the shoes of Seijuro when he has just arrived at the imperial theater. There he is greeted by young Sakura, who happens to be a childhood friend whom he never imagined would one day join the imperial military elite. We reassure you: neither does she. This already promises beautiful moving passages where, faced with the distress of the young woman, convinced that she is good for nothing, we will have to choose the right conversation options to reassure her about her fighting skills. Very happy to find her "big brother", Sakura makes us quickly visit the theater, in an exploration phase revealing a very beautiful engine cel-shading
The hero and his set animations come straight from the years 2002 will then become familiar with the place, until having met at least two new recruits, with whom it will be necessary to discuss by choosing, there again, the right answers thanks to the famous LIPS system (Live & Interactive Picture System) which will require you to make your choice in near real time. Because unlike a vulgar Mass effect, where directing the discussion brilliantly only allows you to mix your body fluids with other creatures, here it is a question of attracting the sympathy or love of young girls to make them more playful and effective in combat! It will even be possible to be confronted with different styles of LIPS, in particular the Analog LIPS, which will grant the power with which you will direct the stick to choose your answer with the tone of the latter. Giving more or less impact to your words can satisfy or annoy your interlocutor, like when you yell to ask the time for a person with a heart for example.
Steam robots and soft beat’em
Once the adventure part is over, take action. Unlike previous parts of the saga, the other part of the game is no longer a turn-based strategy fight! This Shin Sakura Taisen is a sword fighting action game in which you will have to destroy all the enemies present to unlock a semi-invisible wall and move on to the next area, all commented on by annoyed NPCs, friends or enemies. To say that we were disappointed with this part of the game is an understatement. Certainly, the hero's steam robot enjoys a certain dynamism and the blows follow each other with grace and charisma. But very quickly, we realize that there is no option to lock the enemies; there are only two hits, strong and weak. Combat environments are flat, closed, designed in rooms with bottlenecks, and offer nothing but sliding on specific walls. The game also sells us the "dramatization" of its confrontations, with the intervention of allied or enemy NPCs during the combat, but Dynasty Warriors
But to be completely frank, we dreamed of a mixture between Devil may cry and one Titanfall 2 Japanese style, and we end up with a lazy Dynasty Warriors Gundam. Which in 2019 poses a lot of problems. Difficult to defend it with the argument of "a Japanese game" when you see that a few months ago, other studios in the archipelago delivered Devil may cry 5 or Astral chain. Scheduled for a release on December 12 in Japan, it remains only Shin Sakura Taisen to seduce us with his scenario designed by Jirô Ishii (428 Shibuya Scramble) and his characters created by Tite Kubo (Bleach). Because if the adventure part of the game can still pretend not to suffer too much from a technological delay, it is however not possible to release a "showcase" game with such an austere achievement in its action phases. A risky bet for SEGA to play only the affect card on a large multimedia project like this.
