Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc review by our new game reviewer, Archie Dait.
“I was hooked from beginning to end”
I remember my first few weeks at high school: the nerves and anticipation which comes with finding your way around a new school, being on time for class, checking out the lunch menu and murdering your friends. Wait … what? … Welcome to Hope’s Peak Academy! And just so you know, this is not your average school. Far from it. In fact, to enroll at this celebrated school you must qualify as a current high school student who is the very best in their field of interest or talent. In other words you must be the ‘ultimate’ student in what you do. However, there is something very strange going on at this government-funded school, and we find ourselves trapped with no escape in a nightmarish world worse than double maths! Played through the eyes of our protagonist, Makoto Naegi, we must survive through this visual-novel game in which the headmaster of the school, Monokuma, generously allows for just one person to escape through graduating. And how does one graduate? Getting good grades? Sitting a final exam? Nope! In order to graduate, you must kill another student and not get caught! If a murder takes place, you are given some time to collect clues which will help you solve the mystery of who the killer was in order to send them down, because if you don’t figure out who the killer was, everyone but the killer will face a cruel and unusual execution. Sounds simple enough? Well then, let the game BEAR-gin!
As you can expect with a visual novel, much of the game is reading text as we listen to what Makoto is saying and feeling, and how he reacts to other characters. These bits of text come in easy-to-digest chunks along with some spoken dialogue from the characters themselves (a rotation of exasperated tones to short phrases) which keeps the whole thing moving along at a good pace. The text runs either automatically or by hitting the L button allows you control when to move forward by pressing X. If you’re a fast reader like me you’ll feel like you’re wearing out the X button quite a bit. Reading the dialogue from other characters was pretty enjoyable as they felt well thought out and distinguishing of who they were. At times, however, I did feel that were just a few too many tangents from other characters which did slow the story down in places, especially when you feel like you’ve made a breakthrough in the investigation stages and want to pursue the next clue or trial. But I think the key thing to keeping the story alive through text is Makoto’s character himself which I found easy to relate to. Makoto describes himself as a totally average student, not the best or worst in his class, and with no exceptional skill in which he exceeds in. And yet, he is now a student at Hope’s Peak Academy as the ‘Ultimate Lucky Student’ after being picked in a lottery draw for the place. His reactions to what he learns, what he is feeling and what he says feels completely believable and therefore keeps you gripped throughout the game.
“it’s truly in the trial scenes in which the gameplay becomes really engaging.”
I thought the use of point-and-click during the exploration and investigation scenes was pretty effective; sometimes coming back to an object I interacted with previously rewarded me with a coin so I was sure to be as thorough as I could. But it’s truly in the trial scenes in which the gameplay becomes really engaging. The clues collected in the investigation become both your weapon and shield in a battle of logic. During the trial you find yourself going through several phases in which you use your clues in a variety of different ways to ultimately solve the case, such as ‘firing’ at weak points in other student’s statements allowing you to contradict them. This interesting battle system not only keeps you gripped as the trial progresses, but also makes good use of the Vita’s features including the rear touch screen to knock away pesky white noise (unless set to the lower difficulty).
I was hooked from beginning to end with this game! I clocked just under twenty five hours of the game. Once completed several extras, including a new mode, opens up where you can explore and fill in the gaps which you may have had! While I was playing this game I couldn’t help but compare it to Shin Megami Tensei Persona 4 which I had completed right before embarking on this journey. I can acknowledge the similarities, but make no mistake, the two are quite different. Whereas Persona 4 did a great job of introducing characters you absolutely love and want to look out for, Danganronpa shoves you in a room full of interesting characters you want to watch out for! And at the same time I couldn’t help but feel disappointed every time a character was found guilty, because I felt betrayed by them. I was impressed at how well the story progressed, characters developed, and how with each trial you went through moments of doubt and conviction which intensified the whole experience! This was also one of the most stylish games I’ve played to date in terms of design; I was especially fascinated by the gruesome execution scene which takes place after a trial. These scenes not only reminded you of the horror you and the other students continue to face, but also left you feeling heartbroken and deceived when another character left the story.
Overall thoughts:
I would definitely say that this is a well thought out game, with compelling characters and so many twists and turns to the story you will be guessing right to very end.
