This article was originally published in Italian on MyReviews.it in 2016.
A few weeks ago, I wrote on these very pages about Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus and its arrival on Steam after debuting on Sony’s shiny handheld. On that occasion, I pointed out how the title deserved (modest) praise despite the infamy that has long surrounded the series’ name—often labeled “barely decent” due to its over-the-top content and endless sexual innuendo. Today, we’re once again talking about a Tamsoft game—one that’s arguably even more controversial than the one starring the scantily clad ninja. I’m referring, of course, to Onechanbara Z2: Chaos, a title that made waves months ago on PlayStation 4 and has now landed on Steam. Excited yet?
The name Onechanbara comes from the fusion of two Japanese words: “Onechan” (little sister) and “Chanbara” (sword fighting). The series has reached Western shores over the years under various titles, though its identity has remained unmistakable. In Z2: Chaos, the heroines are two pairs of sisters in sexy outfits (OBVIOUSLY customizable), facing off against hordes of demons and a cartoonishly evil villainess with a rather questionable hairstyle. It might be easy to dismiss the whole thing as pure trash, perhaps waving the banner of feminism and condemning the production with words like “misogyny,” but it’s important to note that Tamsoft’s games have always been fueled by an extremely high level of fan service—the same element that, in Japan, justifies spending the usual 7,000 yen on a new release. It’s not just about revealing costumes and absurdly skimpy outfits, though. There’s plenty of over-the-top fun, thanks to the banter between the four protagonists—two pairs of rivals brought together by circumstance. If the West hadn’t produced movies like Expendabelles, one might even start to worry. Thankfully, certain products aimed at a mature audience—one that knows how to have fun while turning off a few brain cells—exist in Western cinema too.
With that said, the game plays as a hack-and-slash in the vein of Devil May Cry and Bayonetta, though with far more modest ambitions. Onechanbara Z2: Chaos never aims to shake up the genre, yet it holds its own once the action starts, offering a decent selection of moves for each protagonist (which can be expanded simply by spending the orbs collected throughout the levels) and a surprisingly competent in-game camera direction. Slow motion, quick time events, gory humor—the game doesn’t skimp on anything and, to its credit, seems perfectly aware of its own structural limits, mostly dictated by its blatantly low-budget production (nowhere near, for instance, the latest Senran Kagura entry on PlayStation 4, to stay within Tamsoft’s catalog). Beyond the reigning voyeurism and outrageous tone, the adventure of these “four accidental strippers” often descends into chaos—button-mashing chaos, to be exact—throwing all notions of technical hack-and-slash gameplay out the window. You barely have time to master the heroines’ movesets (you can switch between them on the battlefield at any moment) before you’re already at the end of a level, for a total playtime that rarely exceeds three hours.
As with the titles born from Hideki Kamiya’s creativity and the combined efforts of Capcom and SEGA, the goal here isn’t so much reaching the finish line as it is how you get there—chaining combo counters and mastering precision timing if you want to achieve high rankings after each battle. Once you dive into the secondary modes, such as “Mission,” it becomes clear that Tamsoft’s gameplay framework is potentially more engaging than it first appears, though it’s still light-years away from what the more prominent genre competitors have achieved. The levels are extremely short and almost entirely devoid of complexity—and I don’t just mean visually. There’s not a single environmental puzzle, no vertical exploration whatsoever. It feels as if the world of Onechanbara Z2: Chaos was designed after the straight corridors of Tamsoft’s office building, whether you’re in a remote meadow or dashing across American highways in search of demons to slice apart. Naturally, with such foundations, the specter of repetition hovers ominously over any demanding player, who would have certainly appreciated the inclusion of some optional goals, collectibles, or integrated challenges to spice up the core experience. The only real incentive to perform better lies in unlocking accessories and outfits to dress up the heroines, as well as a gallery mode where you can admire the game’s most trivial assets in all their glory.
Surprisingly, the soundtrack is quite good, with some standout J-POP tracks underscoring key moments—most notably “Ichiban wa me,” which roughly translates to “I’m number one.” On the technical front, however, there’s little to report. Beyond the practically unusable keyboard and mouse support (though really, who would approach this kind of game without a controller?), the visuals are roughly identical to the PlayStation 4 version. The only available graphic settings concern resolution—just like in Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus.
Onechanbara Z2: Chaos arrives on Steam in a version that’s virtually identical to the one released on PlayStation 4. It’s not the game everyone was waiting for, but with its strong personality and heavy dose of sensuality, it’s sure to satisfy fans willing to overlook its technical shortcomings.
