Senren Banka

Senren*Banka is a very popular erotic visual novel game that I had a fun time playing through. I had heard about this game before I played it and while this does of course have some XXX scenes for you. What really grabbed my attention about this game was the fact that it had a lot of supernatural elements going on which is something I always like when a visual novel includes them.

Going Home

The main protagonist in the game is called, Arichi Masaomi. During this summer he is having to go back to his home town. His home town is a rather strange place in that it is a tourist hot spot, but it has a kind of traditional Japanese style to it. He really did not want to go back home for the summer, but before long he is brought into a strange story with many twists and turns.

The Sword In the Stone

The premise of Senren*Banka gave me major Sword in the Stone vibes (well apart from the sex of course) in that one-day Masaomi is hanging out with his friends when they decide to go and check out the mysterious Murasamemaru which is a magical sword that is stuck in a stone. Masaomi manages to pull this thing out and his whole life changes. You see his home town is full of ghosts and now because of what he has done more ghosts are going to appear and things are going to get strange, weird and out of control and he needs to stop it.

I really like the idea of the story here. There are many girls in the game that you can romance and that is always something visual novel games have. However, one thing that is a little odd in this game is that Masaomi has a very strong and powerful relationship with a character called, Murasame (who is more than I am letting on!) so the other relationships he has kind of feel out of place.

Choosing The Right Option

The gameplay of Senren*Banka is what you would expect from a visual novel style game. You take part in many conversations and at certain points, you are given options and this is what can make the story go in one direction or another. It is actually done very well and while the main focus of the game is Masaomi, you can also check out what other characters are doing in scenes that do not center around him. I thought this was a really cool touch.

The game looks great. The characters are all done in a very high-quality kind of way and I like how unique each one of them looks. The game also mixes things up as well. First of all, are the hentai style scenes which are nice and hot as you would expect. However, the game also has these funny chibi-style scenes which also add a lot of personality to the game. My only criticism of the style of the game is that while they look great, you see the same backgrounds over and over again.

Pros:

• I liked most of the characters
• There is a fair bit of depth to most of the characters
• The game looks very nice
• Plenty of hot hentai scenes to discover
• I liked the supernatural aspects of the story

Cons:

• You do see the same backgrounds over and over again
• Some of the romantic choices felt a bit out of place and forced