Un perfecto juego anime de 7. Y lo digo en el mejor de los sentidos.
No es muy largo, el juego hace porque le cojas cariño al cast, las protas son estereotipos andantes que no puedes evitar animar, sucumbiendo a sus dramones telenoveleros... Tiene situaciones cómicas ecchi tanto a favor como en contra del prota, por lo que no es un "juego harem" para chicos sin más. Muy entretenidas sus fases de movimiento andando por uno de los entornos currados con más mimo, pese a su presupuesto (es un juego de nicho, no un Assassins Creed).

Es confort food para tu backlog y me ha gustado por ello.

Technically the game shouldn't have been much, but I just loved every moment. The story was simple but the character were so likeable and engaging that I was just completely invested. The animation was so well done, a bit too much at times, but overall it made the scenes so much better and more fun to watch.

Gameplay wasn't much really, barebones at best with a turn your brain-off mentality. However the dating sim part definitely makes up for it, at least for someone like me that likes romance and also just loves these characters.

Overall it was a really nice chill experience, and it makes me wanna try out the old ones. Maybe sega will release them again one day.

I’ve never played a Sakura Wars game before, so I didn’t know what to expect besides mech fighting.

Turns out, despite being a mech game, the mechs aren’t really a focus? It’s more of a Slice of Life/Harem Visual Novel with simple hack-and-slash mech combat thrown in.

That’s not to say it’s completely bad, it’s just different than what it was advertised as.

The story starts pretty decent, but around the midpoint it kinda forgets it has a main plot for a little bit and just focuses on character driven plot lines. This wouldn’t be a problem in a longer game, but Sakura Wars is about 15-20 hours long, and this part just makes the main plot lose momentum.

Characters are for the most part well written, but after a certain point almost every interaction with your party members is ‘comedic misunderstanding’, where the protag is accused of being a horny pervert over the most random things.

Combat is super simple and doesn’t evolve or change in any way, except for one party member getting an upgrade. All the characters play differently though, but you can’t choose your party for most of the few combat sections this game has. Combat is also paired with awkward platforming.

If you need a quick mech fix, I’d recommend playing this for at least one playthrough.

Although the main cast all fall into pretty standard anime tropes (the childhood friend, the hotheaded tomboy, the cool beauty, etc.) they're all really likeable and bounce off of each other really well in the scenes that aren't just them and the MC. Despite this, the main story is just okay. The smaller character events are super enjoyable and watching the Flower Division grow from basically nothing into a real team is great, but the actual plot falls pretty flat in places. The new real-time gameplay is fine ,but it kind of just feels like a stunted Musou with more of a focus on platforming. It gets the job done since it's only like 25% of the game, but it really isn't anything special. The best part of the game is that you can play Koi-Koi with basically every named character in a mode called Koi-Koi Wars, and once you unlock this there's an option on the title screen that goes straight to it, circumventing the main game entirely. This game coming out also led to Bandai making a whole line of HG Sakura Wars model kits that are pretty sick, so I can't hate on it that much. I enjoyed my time with it, but even if my PS4 was still functional I wouldn't have much of a desire to revisit it to see the other character endings or something like that. I have no idea what this game goes for nowadays but if you find it for like $30 or your regional equivalent of half price, it's worth checking out.

Esse jogo tem seus problemas, mas a maior qualidade dele não está sendo apreciada como deveria.

Shin Sakura Taisei não tem muito mérito em nenhum de seus aspectos. A história funciona mas é repleta de clichês, o combate é simplista demais (combos limitados, repetição de cenários, sem upgrades nem nada do tipo) e ao todo, bem comum. Os personagens são tropes bem manjadas, tem certo desenvolvimento (menos a Hatsuho por algum motivo) e tem mais deathbait que Chaos;Child (sério por que fizeram tantos momentos assim).

Em suma, esse jogo se resume a isso. Ele funciona.

O que eu não contava era que ele seria carismático PRA CARALHO!

Esse jogo emula o feeling de animes dos anos 2000 muito bem. Tipo, surrealmente bem. Os dois últimos capítulos foram um ótimo climax porque o jogo se aceita como simplista e isso faz com que a direção tenha sucesso em brincar com suas emoções em certas partes. o jogo é aconchegante e isso já me faz apreciar a experiência.

Sakura Wars (2019) serves as a soft reboot with the theme of passing the torch to a new generation. Honestly, I found this game to be rather average, with characters that felt somewhat clichéd compared to the charm of the previous series (which I've only experienced through comics, to be fair). The action felt lackluster and somewhat like an afterthought, and there was quite a bit of filler content that dragged on, making it a bit challenging to finish. However, I must acknowledge that the game possesses charm and is rich in details, particularly in its 3D character designs, environments, music, scene direction, and other trivial elements that demonstrate the developers' love for the franchise. Looking towards the future, I hope this series doesn't end with just this game.

P.S.: I was particularly bothered by the variety in character design here. It reminded me of Ao no Kiseki when they used character designs by Katsumi Enami from the previous series alongside new designs by Falcom's in-house artists, which felt somewhat jarring. A similar situation occurred here, with Tite Kubo handling the main cast while other characters had distinct designs, diverging from Kubo's artistic style. Additionally, the bromide system still evokes nostalgia with Kōsuke Fujishima's designs.

My Score: 7/10

As a preface, my experience with the Sakura Wars series consists of playing the 5th game, watching the anime series, OVAs and Movie and doing some lore research many years ago. The reboot of the series has left me with mixed feelings.

I didn't find the main story particularly interesting not to mention being very predictable. I was never really hooked at any point. The major focus on the world games and the competitive nature of the various Combat branches left me perplexed. I thought it went against the spirit of the Combat troops from the previous games so I didn't think this Olympic style competition fit well.

The story does have loose ends that weren't resolved by the end of the game. As a side note, there is an anime that takes place after the game, but doesn't really resolve these loose points either.

The characters were pretty decent especially the main heroines and Kamiyama as the main lead. The latter is very expressive and his various dialogue responses are hilarious. The heroines receive a decent amount of development although others are a bit lacking.

The supporting characters of the various Combat branches were underdeveloped as a whole.

Gameplay-wise, I didn't mind the shift from tactical SRPG battles to an action based one since I didn't think the previous system was amazing or anything. The problem is that this new musou style combat system isn't all that interesting either. Combat doesn't have a lot of depth and there's very little enemy and level variety. Things get old pretty fast. Worse, the combat isn't even 60 fps. There isn't any notable RPG mechanics either and nothing really carries between battles or chapters except for collectible Bromide cards.

The slice of life sim mechanics are pretty nice and is the highlight of the game. Many events (not all) are voiced and there's a lot of dialogue choices.

The graphics look pretty decent at times. The environments of Tokyo in particularly looked quite nice, but sadly, pretty small in size so there's not much to explore.

Overall, I thought the slice of life sim stuff were pretty fun, but once it got into the overarching story events, the game loses a lot of interest for me.

For me the game is a 7 out of 10. I enjoyed it all in all, but felt that the story needlessly regressed into apocalyptic, end-of-the-world nonsense in the last couple of chapters, which ultimately let the game down. This was the first Sakura Wars I've completed (I played some of So Long, My Love on the Wii years ago), so maybe that sort of thing is par the course for the series, but for me it was unexpected and not in a good way. Some of the melodrama felt quite forced too and failed to convince. The game was clearly at its best when it was being light-hearted, focusing on the comical banter with the affable cast of characters and just generally embracing its more laid back, visual novel-esque core.

The big pros for me were the exemplary music, soaking in the cosy setting/atmosphere and especially interacting with the main and supporting cast. Hatsuho is the best girl! Koi Koi was surprisingly fun to play too, once I knew what I was doing.

If there's ever a new one, I'm there. But I hope the necessary improvements are made.

It's a decent game I guess as someone who's never played Sakura Wars before. It's this weird mix of action and visual novels, but honestly there is way more VN than actual game content here.

Actual gameplay feels basically like PSO2 in the sense that it's a dumbed down action game, but at least in PSO2 you could customize and add on to your combos. This game is a "what you see is what you get".

Graphics look great and the dev team used Hedgehog Engine 2 pretty well here. Story was...alright. Passably entertaining is what I would put. But it has this annoying system of affinity and literally every choice affects something so it ends up like a weird Japanese Telltale game.

All of the characters follow some VN harem archetype. The childhood friend, the bookworm, the tomboy, the bijin, etc. It's very milquetoast in execution.

Overall a very average game and one that I don't think is worth another playthrough after your first unless you really wanna see the different endings, but at that point I'd say just pop a save before the big decision point and whatnot.

Sakura Wars provides insight to a question posed by Metal Gear Solid in 1998: Can love bloom, even on a battlefield?

It's funny to think that many of the tropes that Sakura Wars leans so hard on are the ones that I usually don't care for at all, including (but not limited to) romantic comedies, dating simulators, and harems. However, when Sega brings a franchise back from the dead, one from the Sega Saturn era no less, I figure that it's at least worth a shot. (Gotta support those oddball niche IPs, lest we get the same AAA drivel until the end of time.)

Sakura Wars' gameplay is a lopsided balancing act between two different styles. On the lighter end, we have the more climactic hack-n-slash action with steampunk mechs. On the heavier end, we have the slow burn of exploring locales, collecting bromides, moving the plot along, experiencing side-stories, and building up relationships with all the girls in a hybrid of adventure/dating sim gameplay. Odd as it may sound, this dichotomy between genres and its imbalance works in Sakura Wars' favor, albeit not in the way I think the devs intended.

The adventure segments quickly became the selling point of the game for me. Kamiyama is the captain of the Imperial Combat Revue's "Flower Division". The Flower Division puts on theatre performances in order to soothe the hearts and minds of Tokyo's citizens, and dons mech armor to fight off demons and protect said citizens. It's your job to build trust with all the lovely ladies, support their theatrical endeavors, and lead them to victory. There's an inherent charm to the setting of "1940's steampunk Japan". Art direction aside, I think what really brings it all together is a phenomenal soundtrack done by Kohei Tanaka, known for composing the music for the likes of Gravity Rush and One Piece. Whether it be talking to your childhood sweetheart, taking a peaceful stroll through downtown Tokyo, or triumphing in battle, Kohei Tanaka's compositions fuse a sense of grandeur with melodies that refuse to leave my head. The game may be a bit addicted to its own theme song, but to a degree, I think it's earned that right.

Choosing specific answers in response to certain prompts under a time limit is certainly nothing new for video games, and definitely not new for Sakura Wars either. However (and this is probably just me), the fact that you're also running a theatre troupe recontextualizes these choices in my mind. It's almost like an improv production, where I'm constantly attempting to stay in character and choose what I feel is the "correct" thing to say in a given situation. I'm sure this isn't the intended mindset for the game; after all, there's an option in the menu to disable the protagonist's voice, leaning towards that "self-insert" role that the main character usually takes in plots like these. On that note though, I'm glad that the game lets you deliberately avoid/engage with the more "pervy" events. It's a relief to have control over a more undesirable aspect like that.

The mech-action gameplay that takes place (usually) at the end of each chapter is simply good. I wish they were better, but they're enjoyable as a vehicle for the story, and a nice burst of dopamine to break up the slow burn of reading text. The major flaw these stages hold lies in having no real gameplay progression. Aside from a couple story-related upgrades to a certain character, everyone's movesets will remain exactly the same for the whole game. Those movesets aren't the most in-depth either. Just your basic light attacks, heavy attacks, and dodge. There is a "morale" meter in each stage that will increase/decrease depending on what's happening, giving an attack/defense boost for every bar filled, up to 10 bars. Again though, it feels mostly negligible. If I could change the battle system in any one way, it would be to tie character movesets to their level of trust with Kamiyama. In this case, I'd also tie Kamiyama's moveset to his "captain rank" you get on the party status screen.

Characters can perform a unique special attack once they've picked up enough blue crystals. If you've built enough trust outside of battle with a character, you can also use a unique team attack with them, providing a temporary invincibility/attack bonus (you can also use your special attack during this for massive damage). Doing shit like this makes it pathetically easy to obliterate any boss fights, including the final one. There's no difficulty select, which is an extremely jarring absence for any kind of action game. Mix it all up with point-A-to-B level structure, and you get action gameplay that leaves next to no impression on me. This is exacerbated by the "battle bot" simulator you unlock mid-episode 3. It lets you replay story missions with any character you desire, and get ranked for each individual character+stage combo. I truly pity you if you wish to 100% this game.

The story is, for lack of a better phrase, "anime as fuck". It partakes in a lot of typical shounen tropes. There are moments where, for example, the villain comes onscreen, and you can tell he's the fucking villain 10 hours before you actually reach the point where it's formally revealed that he's the villain. It uses a lot of these tropes for the sake of comedy or building excitement though, so it didn't particularly bother me in the long run. It's doled out in an episodic format, with "intermissions" that let you check your team status and save your game before continuing, making for good stopping points so you can pace yourself. Episode 4 is probably the most contrived of the bunch, but it reels between both sides of absolute stupidity. On one end, I can't stand how stupid some aspects of it are, and on the other, I'm laughing along with the raw absurdity that the plot throws at you.

Flaws aside, I'm glad to say that Sakura Wars on PS4 provides an unforgettable experience, at the very least. I'll definitely look into playing the originals as soon as I acquire a Sega Saturn. For now, I await the Flower Division's next big performance with bated breath. Flower Division...TO VICTORY!

Also, Hatsuho best girl. I will not elaborate further or argue on this point.