My first review of a PS4 game in a long time. School Girl/Zombie Hunter (which I'll write as School Girl Zombie Hunter, that's how it's shown in the PS4 UI) is an Onechanbara spin-off released several years ago and to this day it's the most recent game in the franchise, at least in the sense that Onee Chanbara Origin is just a remake of the first two games but not really a new game...anyway, let's begin!

Story: Even if you have never played an Onechanbara game before you can still understand the story in School Girl Zombie Hunter, it really is an Onechanbara spin-off, the game takes place in the Onechanbara universe but it has a new cast of characters, characters that don't appear in the other games, so, even if this is your first game in the franchise (it almost was my first Onechanbara game to be honest) you won't be confused. Like the other games in the franchise, School Girl Zombie Hunter is, in simple terms, a game about zombies, there are 5 girls in a school full of zombies and apparently zombies appeared and started attacking all of a sudden, now those only 5 girls (in the school at least) have to survive and escape. The story isn't groudbreaking and it's not something extremely deep or emotional, I assume (I haven't played it) that The Last of Us 1 is an example of another story about zombies with great writing, School Girl Zombie Hunter isn't trying to be much more than it is however, in the end, the story works for the game and it's well implemented at least. It's another story about zombies but it works and the characters carry the story, they make you want to see more of the game...the 5 girls, Sayuri, Risa, Mayaya, Enami and Rei have more development than one might think and they do growth and develop as characters, they aren't one dimensional characters (unlike characters in other Japanese games), they are a little more complex than one might expect (especially Mayaya and Rei) and as I said, they develop as characters. I would say that compared to other games developed by Tamsoft (Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed, Drive Girls, Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers...) they put some effort in the story and characters for this game. Anyway, it's not an amazing story but I can tell that they put more effort in the story and characters compared to other games, a story about 5 high school girls fighting zombies may sound ridiculous on paper but the game actually takes itself seriously for the most part, only in the cutscenes after the sub missions there is some banter between the girls and with more comedic interactions but other than those scenes after the side missions School Girl Zombie Hunter is a serious game...and I appreciate that. Unlike Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers, which is a 7/10 at best and if one wants to be generous, the story in School Girl Zombie Hunter is a solid 7/10, almost an 8/10, it has a basic story that works and good characters.

Graphics: School Girl Zombie Hunter was developed with Unreal Engine 4, the result is a game that's definitely in the middle when it comes to graphics, it looks better than other PS4 games (including Onechanbara Z2: Chaos) but at the same time, The Order: 1886 and Blue Reflection (for example) look better. The 3D models look nice and the environments look good enough at least, the graphics look great at times and it looks nice, that's for sure, but it's not impressive or very beautiful. Unlike other Japanese games and even other games developed by Tamsoft (most Senran Kagura games for example) School Girl Zombie Hunter has an art style that looks like a mix of ''anime'' and realism and, like a lot of Final Fantasy games, it looks partially stylized and partially realistic...I admit that not everyone will like the art style of School Girl Zombie Hunter but personally, I really like how the characters look and in my opinion School Girl Zombie Hunter has good graphics, I really like how the game looks. Like Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers, the game runs at 60fps, unfortunately, it's not a consistent framerate and it has frame drops, the performance issues affect the experience to be honest...at least the game doesn't look bad. Definitely an 8/10.

Sound: It's not an amazing soundtrack but I like the music in School Girl Zombie Hunter. For the most part the music is memorable, in my opinion, the soundtrack is at least on par with the soundtrack of Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers or even a little better, I really like the song ''U-R The Enemy'' and that intimidating song with the electric guitar sounds like something from a Senran Kagura game. The composers were Akihi Motoyama, Mutsumi Ishimura and Yuki Mori, I would say that they did a good job. Something I don't like about School Girl Zombie Hunter is the fact that it only has Japanese voices...even though it was released after Onechanbara Z2: Chaos and that game does have English voices, School Girl Zombie Hunter doesn't have an English dub.. Aksys Games has published Japanese games with English voices....Castle of Shikigami III has English voices (and only English voices, you can't play it with Japanese voices for some reason), Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky has English voices, why not School Girl Zombie Hunter?...oh well, at least it has better voice acting than other Japanese games I think, Mayaya almost sounds annoying but somehow she's not annoying, the other characters have fitting voices and the acting is great, maybe. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I prefer English dubs, and the fact that School Girl Zombie Hunter only has Japanese voices, unlike other games published by Aksys Games and even other games in the franchise, is something I don't like, it's an aspect that deserves to be criticized to be honest.

Addictive: It's a third person shooter with 5 playable characters, in School Girl Zombie Hunter each girl can use any weapon but there is a unique skill for each girl, so, the 5 playable characters don't play the same and each girl differs from the rest of the cast unlike something like Rayman Origins. Sayuri can revive the other characters for example and as you can imagine, you unlock more weapons as you progress through the game. I really like third person shooters, if you are a fan of the genre like me you can have a blast with School Girl Zombie Hunter even if the game only has 5 playable characters, that said, there are things that bring the experience down. As I said, the game doesn't have a consistent framerate of 60fps, it has performance issues that can be annoying and affect the experience at times, there are a few glitches and bugs (if you use a melee attack to hit an enemy, the enemy can remain in the air and not hit the ground for example)...and unlike other games developed by Tamsoft, it barely has unlockable content or extras, the only thing it offers is customization (more outfits to unlock including more underwear)...customization is fine but I've played a lot of games developed by Tamsoft and I know very well that they can offer more than this. Profiles, a jukebox or something that lets you listen to the music of the game, a gallery with images...those things would be nice but no, School Girl Zombie Hunter doesn't offer much when it comes to things to unlock. The lack of unlockable content combined with the performance issues or bad framerate at times, the glitches and technical issues...those are things that bring the experience down, if it wasn't for those aspects, School Girl Zombie Hunter could be a 9/10 or something like that but no, in the end, it's a game with some flaws and it could have been amazing. We are talking about a game with lag or frame drops during the cutscenes, so, it's like Mary Skelter 2 in that sense...a game with frame drops in the cutscenes...wow. You have to love third person shooters to consider School Girl Zombie Hunter a very fun game and yeah, I can see why some people consider School Girl Zombie Hunter a mediocre game or even a bad game, I really like the game, in my opinion it's a very fun game, I like to play as all the characters, there are different weapons to use and the gameplay works well for the most part, but not everyone will like the game because of its flaws...not to mention the fanservice.

Depth: Including the sub missions, there are 50 missions in total, if you want to complete every mission the game should take you at least 6 hours, 8-9 at most and if you want to do everything and try to get the platnum, at least 17 hours or more. As I said, the game barely has things to unlock, the unlockable content is just to customize the characters, unless one wants to count the missions on Hard as unlockable content. If you beat the game on Normal difficulty, you don't unlock all those missions on Hard, you have to play the game on Hard and unlock the missions on that difficulty little by little. Even then, there isn't much to unlock and it has less things to do than other games, even other games developed by Tamsoft. A 7/10 at best is fine, maybe a 6/10 at least.

Difficulty: I lost a lot throughout the game and I was playing the game on Normal, I imagine that the game is even more difficult on Hard, the objectives are the same regardless of the difficulty but the enemies should be even stronger on Hard.

If you don't have a problem with fanservice and are a fan of third person shooters I highly recommend School Girl Zombie Hunter, I really like the game despite its flaws and even if you have never played an Onechanbara game before this game is a good entry point thanks to its different cast of characters. It's a game rated M by the ESRB, PEGI 16 in Europe and 17+ in Japan, it definitely deseves those age ratings, so, keep that in mind. The fanservice is probably the main reason why some people won't be interested in School Girl Zombie Hunter but if you like fanservice or at least don't have a problem with it, this game can be very fun...just make sure to get this game cheap.