After being confirmed for an american release only a couple months ago, Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus has been announced for released on the PS Vita for EU and Australia by Marvelous Europe. The game will be released only in a digital format meaning it will be available on the PSN Store on day 1 for people to buy.  This might be disappointing for people who love hard copies of the game with collection edition boxes however people should be happy that this game is getting a western release as not many companies are willing to take risks with releasing niche Japanese titles.

Following the surprisingly well-received Senran Kagura Burst on the 3DS, the Vita now has a chance to be in the spotlight and get a taste of the action.

Recently, we were able to get a chance to play through the English version of the game while it’s still being localised and tested for its European debut. Taking the series in a slightly different direction compared to the original 3DS game, Shinovi versus has your ninja girls fighting in 3D arena stages, rather than a 2D side-scrolling beat-em-up as before.

With a large range of characters to choose from (approx 20), gamers can decide the characters they wish to play. Characters from the Hanzo and Hebijo Academies return, along with several new shinobi making their first appearance in this title.

Playing through the game, I thought the game play is similar to the Dynasty warrior series where you have a single character and battle through story mode and missions to fight through hordes of enemies.  During the fights you can use the shinobi’s special attacks such as costume transformation, special attacks and lots of combos which is an enjoyable game play experience.  At certain points when your characters sustain damage, they will then lose part of their clothes as their life drops. If you played the 3DS game, it’s to be expected, but you may want to check who’s watching you when in public places. Even with the game being a 3D brawler/beat-em-up with quite few enemies on screen at once, the frame rate generally held up pretty well, which would be good news for anyone who had problems with occasional frame rate drops on the 3DS.

Other than the single player mode, there’s also online multiplayer if you want to have a go at fighting against some if your friends or other Senran Kagura players.

As always, quite a bit of attention was paid to the character models and animation , which makes for some very eye catching scenes. With the Vita’s touchscreen and motion control ability, players can also control the camera of the game after the battle has finished to interact with their character as well as interact with the special cut-scenes in the game.

Even though I didn’t play that long, I know I will be interested in trying out the game on launch day.  I recommend any Senran Kagura or Dynasty Warrior fans to look out for this game when it launches later this year.