As someone who loved the Black Rock Shooter OVA and TV Anime back when they were brand new a decade ago, I hadn't checked out just about anything else related to this series until the past couple years. The Game was my final pit stop after checking out just about everything else.
A quick thing to note: Black Rock Shooter as a series operates in an interesting way. If you were wary of starting this game due to having not seen the anime, the one thing you need to know is that quite literally every Black Rock Shooter adaption is 100% original, and the only things they share for the most part are the characters (You should always expect to see Black Rock Shooter at the bare minimum in every adaption, this game aside, Dead Master is also a common character). I still recommend checking out the original OVA if you can though, less than 50 minutes and it's a classic IMO.
To sum up my experience? It's about 10 hours long in total which isn't too bad. The story is kinda lacking unfortunately, I wanted to be invested in it but I really couldn't. That said, when the game goes full anime, it's genuinely so cool. The gameplay itself is very interesting, in that it's a turn based system and you can't willy-nilly throw your gun or dodge out due to overheating. So there's some strategy to this system, though the real time stopping the second you open your items and Skills being able to be used whenever as long as they're charged up enough puts a bit of a damper on this for early/weaker opponents. The harder enemies and bosses more than make up for that however.
One Stage has you using the bike, and it's okay? You just time pushing left and right to slash enemies on the road. It's honestly nothing to write home about. Graphically it looks pretty alright for a PSP game, and the soundtrack is pretty good. Areas are mostly nothing to write home about, until the last two stages. No spoilers, but it was cool.
Difficulty-wise, it's not really too challenging. I got three Game Overs in total, and with one exception, it was more or less me being careless. The game practically showers you in health items, so the final boss fight ended up unironically being one of the easiest in the game.
Overall, it's a pretty good game. Nothing outstanding, and if you ask me there's still some better Black Rock Shooter media out there more worth your while, but if ya wanna play a short RPG with interesting gameplay that gives you some super cool anime like moments here and there, this one might be your next favorite.
P.S., that opening anime movie with "No Scared" by ONE OK ROCK? Audiovisual equivalent to sex. It's genuinely so cool.
A quick thing to note: Black Rock Shooter as a series operates in an interesting way. If you were wary of starting this game due to having not seen the anime, the one thing you need to know is that quite literally every Black Rock Shooter adaption is 100% original, and the only things they share for the most part are the characters (You should always expect to see Black Rock Shooter at the bare minimum in every adaption, this game aside, Dead Master is also a common character). I still recommend checking out the original OVA if you can though, less than 50 minutes and it's a classic IMO.
To sum up my experience? It's about 10 hours long in total which isn't too bad. The story is kinda lacking unfortunately, I wanted to be invested in it but I really couldn't. That said, when the game goes full anime, it's genuinely so cool. The gameplay itself is very interesting, in that it's a turn based system and you can't willy-nilly throw your gun or dodge out due to overheating. So there's some strategy to this system, though the real time stopping the second you open your items and Skills being able to be used whenever as long as they're charged up enough puts a bit of a damper on this for early/weaker opponents. The harder enemies and bosses more than make up for that however.
One Stage has you using the bike, and it's okay? You just time pushing left and right to slash enemies on the road. It's honestly nothing to write home about. Graphically it looks pretty alright for a PSP game, and the soundtrack is pretty good. Areas are mostly nothing to write home about, until the last two stages. No spoilers, but it was cool.
Difficulty-wise, it's not really too challenging. I got three Game Overs in total, and with one exception, it was more or less me being careless. The game practically showers you in health items, so the final boss fight ended up unironically being one of the easiest in the game.
Overall, it's a pretty good game. Nothing outstanding, and if you ask me there's still some better Black Rock Shooter media out there more worth your while, but if ya wanna play a short RPG with interesting gameplay that gives you some super cool anime like moments here and there, this one might be your next favorite.
P.S., that opening anime movie with "No Scared" by ONE OK ROCK? Audiovisual equivalent to sex. It's genuinely so cool.