Disclaimer: This review originally posted on tegangibby.com I’m a huge fan of the Danganronpa series. The murder-mystery series is the only thing for which I own a Playstation Vita. Of course I was excited for another trip back into the blood-stained hallways of Hope’s Peak Academy. The only problem: this game has nothing to do with Hope’s Peak. In fact, it’s a third person shooter/puzzler starring Danganronpa 1’s protagonist’s sister, as well as another character from the first game. The game takes place in Towa City, a city owned by the Towa Corporation, one of the larger companies in the world of Danganronpa. You play as Komaru Naegi, sister to Makoto Naegi, protagonist of the previous game. Komaru has been locked in her apartment alone for a year and a half, and is interrupted by the attack of the iconic black and white bear of the series in the form of a Monokuma robot. After fleeing through a burning building she discovers a character from the first game who gives her a megaphone-shaped gun that allows her to attack these robots. Later Komaru is accompanied by another character from the first game attempting to escape or save the city, currently overrun by bloodthirsty children and their vicious murderbots. As far as gameplay is concerned, it’s a puzzle game masquerading as a third-person shooter. Sure, you’ll blow up a ton of robots, but the real meat of the game comes from the "Monoku-man" arcade machines. There you are required to destroy all the enemies at once, sneak through, or other objectives. During these your “Truth Bullets”, which allow you to destroy/control/knock over/etc these robots, are limited to a certain specific selection depending on the puzzle. It’s a fun mechanic, but the game has some issues: the real meat of the game comes from the "Monoku-man" arcade machines. There you are required to destroy all the enemies at once, sneak through, or other objectives. To be fair, it’s a relatively rare occurrence, so it won’t impact the average player too much. However, aside from the occasional glitch, the puzzles are generally well-designed, forcing you to think and pay attention to your surroundings. The controls are fairly smooth, although a lack of aim assist and sensitivity settings on a Vita puzzle-shooter is ridiculous. The combat can be a bit monotonous, but generally you’ll power through the waves of enemies and be back to normal gameplay quickly. For your own sanity, I’d really advise playing this on a Playstation TV with a DualShock controller, as it really benefits from the added precision of full analog sticks. Although nowhere near as gripping as Danganronpa 2, the story is great. I’m hesitant to say much in order to avoid spoiling anything, but let’s just say the game doesn’t hesitate to do cruel things to the characters just because most of the enemies are children. There aren’t really many plot twists compared to the other games - most of the “twists” you can see a mile away - but all in all it’s a relatively fun romp through a great world. Just to wrap up, I should mention a few things. Although NIS America promised to release the game with dual audio, if you want it you will be required to download the Japanese audio as free DLC on release. As a result, I was unable to test the Japanese audio. Strangely enough, they also forgot to dub a couple of Monokuma lines in cutscenes. This makes for some really weird moments where you’ll hear the Japanese Monokuma voice right next to the English one, almost certainly an oversight, and hopefully one that can be corrected. I also encountered a couple of other minor glitches but nothing game breaking. Overall, Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is a good way to revisit the world and characters you know and love. If you haven’t played the other games in the series all the way from start to end, don’t touch this game; it spoils a bunch of plot points in the other games in the first 10-15 minutes. Otherwise, go ahead and give it a shot!