Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is a murder-mystery visual novel game, developed and published by Spike Chunsoft. It's available on the Vita, so by extension, Playstation TV. I've always been fond of the Phoenix Wright series, and after hearing that Phoenix Wright and Danganronpa were similar, I had to check it out. Is the case worth solving?
Story: In a visual novel the story is easily one of, if not THE the most important things, as it is essentially the whole game. Thankfully, the story in Danganronpa is pretty good. The main concept is as follows (as spoiler free as possible of course): A high-school known as Hope's Peak Academy serves as a private school for the best and brightest of every field. Everything from computer programmers, hall monitors, to delinquents are represented. Our main protagonist, Makoto Naegi, was selected for this school through luck of the draw, and has been named the 'Ultimate Lucky Student'. As he enters the school grounds, however, he blacks out. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a classroom, and all the windows are completely sealed up with thick steel walls. He then meets the other students, which I would go into detail about, but there's 18 of them. You'd be reading this all day. I will say my favorites though. Asahina, Celeste, and Taka were all characters I really liked throughout the game, and there wasn't a single one I found unlikable.
Anyway, back to the story. Once he meets up with all the other students, they are approached by what seems to be a living teddy bear, named Monokuma. Monokuma explains they are all trapped there, and the only way out is to kill someone and get away with the crime. Eventually, people start killing each other, and it's up to you to find evidence and bring 'Whodunnit' to light. The characters seem to be stereotypes, the rebel, the writer, peppy sports fan, etc, but they are taken to such extremes that they feel really unique in their own way. What would the "Ultimate" Idol do to keep her fame? I love each character, but, some get more development than others. Well, this IS a murder-mystery, people die when they are killed. One touch I really loved was how as time advanced, the characters began to lose hope in really subtle ways. The descriptions for the same items change as time moves along, such a nice little touch. In between major story sections, the developer is clearly just speaking to you through Monokuma, and it adds so much personality.
The story was a real joy to experience, the writing can be hilarious one moment, and then depressing the next. However, as time goes along, it becomes somewhat less interesting. When there are less people left, it's too easy to tell who committed the crimes, and they are easier and easier to see through. The ending was also not too satisfying. That said, it ended before outstaying it's welcome, in fact I just wanted more. As much of a joy it was, the last few sections of the game put a bit of a damper on it. Also, don't watch the anime, the game is way better. I give the story 8/10
Gameplay: The gameplay is split between two sections, exploration, and Class Trials. When a murder happens, you explore the environment for clues and evidence to find the identity of the killer. The Class Trials are where it all comes together... Or doesn't, in some cases. In the trials, you use all the evidence you've collected and confront the killer. In the trials, there are a variety of minigames. This ranges from Hangman, Rhythm games, and Phoenix Wright style gameplay. You do this using your "Truth Bullets" (Evidence, testimonies, etc) and blast away contradictions in court! You have a set amount of Truth Bullets, and certain parts of other characters dialogue is highlighted. You then manually aim at the text on-screen, then shoot it with your Truth Bullets. Although, oftentimes the highlighted portions will be unrelated to the case, or you may not be using the correct evidence. It's all really fun and satisfying to pull off. Of course, you must pay attention, as you have a time limit, as well as limited tries before you fail. But, the difficulty on the Normal ("Kind") difficulty wasn't too hard until the end.
It was really fun, although, the rhythm sections in the last couple cases were pretty obnoxious. Also, there was some really weird "solutions" to some cases in the Truth Bullet sections. For example, the Bullet to take down someones contradiction was "That doesn't make any sense". That's not information or evidence, yet that's the key to the whole case. It was really aggravating. If it weren't for the last few cases, I would have given the gameplay a higher score, but I can't. However, it was still tons of fun the whole way through, and it's very good for a visual novel. 7.5/10
Graphics: The art style of Danganronpa is sort of a 'love it or hate it' sort of affair. Personally, I like the quirky designs for the characters. Everyone looks like a stereotype taken to the extreme, which is perfect for their characters. That said, it is a really weird art style some may not like at all. Walking around Hope's Peak Academy, it's all done in CG, which looks pretty good on the Vita. All characters are done in 2D, so you don't have to worry about horrible CG monsters where characters used to be. Just like the whole game, the Class Trials are the best animation-wise. Everything just blends so well, it's hard to describe. When the camera is just rotating around the court, I just get so pumped. That said, the mix of 3D and 2D may be a turn off for some, but I thought it looked really stylish. However, some of the CG stills look really weird. I really liked the way it looked, but I could easily someone hating the style of it. But for me, it gets 8/10
Sound: This game does support dual-audio, meaning you can have the Japanese or the English audio. I played the game in the Japanese audio, and it was really great. I took a listen to some of a case in the English version, and the Japanese version is way better, although the English is serviceable if you want to hear it in English. The music is really good, and there were quite a few standout tracks. I also really appreciated the fact that I could listen to all of the music in-game through the "Sound Gallery", so I had an easy time finding the songs I liked. Some of those songs are, Beautiful Death, Beautiful Morning, and all the songs in the Class Trials. Yeah, every single one. There are so many good songs in this game, it makes up for the mediocre English voice acting. I give sound 8/10
Overall: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is such an enjoyable experience. The mystery is suspenseful, the characters are lovable, and it's just fun to play. The English dub is disappointing, and a few trials lack impact, but that wasn't much of a damper for me. I give Danganronpa 7.8/10