I don't usually review games that can be described as ''controversial'', somehow, but I'd say that this game fits that word well, so far, no one has written a review of a Danganronpa game here on Vizzed, and Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is a controversial game, more or less, yes, as usual, it's a review of a game with fan service, as far as I know, the Danganronpa games started to have some fan service from Danganronpa 2 until today, that includes this game, however, Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls isn't just violence and fan service...the game can be controversial and it contains content that not everyone might approve, in fact, I know of at least 1 person who openly said that Danganronpa Another Episode ''really isn't something that should be available publicly'', so that...might be more or less the level of touchy content we are dealing with here, now, stating something like ''this game shouldn't be available publicly'' is something I'd ''understand'', not agree with, but at least ''understand'' if we were talking about, I don't know, Red Dead Redemption II, or Grand Theft Auto V, or Agony, or whatever, I wouldn't agree with that statement, because, no matter the game, I can't, in good faith, promote the idea that a specific game shouldn't exist or that it shouldn't be something that people can buy, yes, Danganronpa Another Episode is another game rated M, and it deserves the M rating, but...it's not a game that I'd put on the same level as the previous games I mentioned, and you know what? The rating boards agree with me, in America, including Brazil, it has the same age rating as the games I just mentioned, but in the rest of the world (except South Korea), those games have a higher age rating, Danganronpa Another Episode got a 16 rating in Europe, both USK and PEGI, so...yeah. Anyway, the game is violent, it contains fan service, and there is frequent swearing and some f-bombs, there are more f-bombs in Death end re;Quest though...let's begin.

Story: Before I continue, I'll say that I haven't played the other Danganronpa games, I don't plan to play the other games, but even so, I got Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, partially because it should be the Danganronpa with the most gameplay, the other games are more a visual novel than a traditional game, as far as I know. Even if you have never played the other games, you can still appreciate the story of Danganronpa Another Episode, and I like the story a lot. The main character is Komaru Naegi, a normal high school girl who has been imprisoned for a long time, she has been imprisoned for a year and a half, then, one day when she was having breakfast, a robot goes into the place where she was imprisoned, she escapes but there are more robots like the one that almost kills her, she gets rescued by Future Foundation, an organization that got intel regarding people imprisoned in Towa City, however, the moment Future Foundation arrived was also the moment when the chaos started, Komaru Naegu obtains a Hacking Gun, a weapon that she will need to fight against the rampaging robots, the Monokumas. Komaru Naegi gets captured and soon after that, she meets with the characters behind the chaos, the Warriors of Hope, kids who want to kill all adults in Towa City, they talk about building ''a paradise of children, for children, by children'', the Monokumas are killing adults, and only adults because they are under control of the Warriors of Hope, but also, there are kids with Monokuma masks throughout the city, they'll often help Komaru by giving her a new type of ammo for her Hacking Gun, so, which side are they on? The story is very interesting at times, and I have to give credit where credit is due, I don't always play games with a story that can really associated with reality, in other words, I don't always play a story that contains realistic themes and things like that, games with a story very detached from reality are often games more right up my alley, Mario, Sonic, Ristar, the Neptunia games, the Klonoa series, the Nights of Azure games...basically games with cartoony graphics or an anime art style, and of course, a story detached from reality, certainly some games more than others, but still, fantasy themes and things like that are more right up my alley, as I said, even so, I love the story, I though about giving this category at least a 9, but in the end, I decided to give it a 10. There are a few twists I didn't saw coming, and some aspects about the game and story made me think ''they really went there, that's amazing'', the members of the Warriors of Hope had terrible childhoods, the dialogue and story clearly reference what those kids have been through, and at times, I actually felt sympathy for them...a little. Komaru Naegi is a relatable character to some extent, she's just a normal student suddenly in a situation where robots are killing Demons (adults in the context of this game) and she is trying to survive while the members of the Warriors of Hope try to hunt her down and kill her, according to them, it's just a game they are playing...who can kill more demons than the other members. I was almost going to cry or shed some tears at least once, the game can be sad and oppressive, and it's amazing, I can keep going, but if you really don't know the details about the story, this game is an amazing experience, despite being a dark game with an oppressive atmosphere and dealing with dark and mature themes, I think I like the story more than I though, the fact that the game has an anime art style helps, I rarely get games with photorealistic graphics after all. Anyway, the game has a phenomenal story in my opinion, it's a dark and violent game, and it deals with realistic and touchy themes, but the anime art style, not to mention the way they handled those themes, makes me appreciate the story and themes presented in this game, after all, this game also made me laugh a lot of times, even if some people might say that I shouldn't have laughed during certain scenes...there is dark humor in the game...and I like that, not to mention, a lot of sexual references in the dialogue...as I said, the game made me laugh a lot of times.

Graphics: Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls looks...okay for a PS4 game, I think...there really is no way around this, even if we consider that this game was originally a PS Vita exclusive, that doesn't make the graphics look better or worse, even for a PS Vita game (this isn't the PS Vita version but whatever), these graphics aren't good enough...as always, the 2D art looks really nice, and the interface looks cool, actually...but the rest of the graphics look okay or worse, the 3D models for the characters look nice more or less, at least I'll admit that, but the textures and environments look okay or worse...when you see objects shaped like octagons and pixelated textures, you really wonder how much of the PS4's power is being used, and not just the PS4, the PS Vita, there are many PS Vita games that look better than Danganronpa Another Episode...even Dark Rose Valkyrie looks better than this game. So, yeah, the game gets only a 6 for the 3D models, the 2D art, the menus/interface, and maybe a few textures, if it wasn't for those things, I'd have given this category a 5 or less...the game contains a lot of cinematic cutscenes, which look nice, and also animated cutscenes, the animated cutscenes look amazing, as always, but of course...those things weren't considered for this category. Fortunately, what the game lacks in graphics makes up for it with great performance, Danganronpa Another Episode runs at 60 frames per second and it never suffers from slowdown, I take framerate over graphics any day, and Danganronpa Another episode runs perfectly, considering that the game was originally developed for PS Vita, it could not have been otherwise.

Sound: For the most part, Danganronpa Another Episode has music that goes from ''okay'' to ''good'' only a few themes are really enjoyable to listen to, ''Wonderful Dead 005'' for example is one of my favorite themes in the game, and it's music that I would actually describe as ''very good'', certainly I would only describe a few themes as ''very good'', I'd say that the best and most memorable themes are, again ''Wonderful Dead 005'', ''DSO Distrust'', ''Progressive'', ''The Warriors of Hope'', and...that's pretty much everything, the rest of the soundtrack, for the most part, isn't particularly great or memorable, and at times, the music serves its purpose and it's there. What steals the show here is the voice acting and sound effects, Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls has an excellent English dub, and it might be one of the best English dubs I've ever heard, the voice acting sounds very convincing and realistic, Komaru Naegi is voiced by Cherami Leigh, and she did a phenomenal job, and that's without mentioning the rest of the cast, Monaca is voiced by Cristina Valenzuela, Nagisa is voiced by Erica Mendez...it's a fantastic cast, and as I said, the voice acting is very realistic and convincing, I could say that some moments are a little...powerful...Kotoko Utsugi is voiced by Erica Lindbeck, and yes, she did an amazing job. The sound effects are also fitting and complement not just the game, but also the experience, at times the use of sound effects during cutscenes is funny or makes you laugh, the use of cartoony sound effects works for the game and because of that, you might laugh during certain moments even if the moment wasn't meant to be that funny or involves the suffering of a character, as I said, there is dark humor, and the sound effects are related to said dark humor...

Addictive: A third person shooter without a cover system, Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is really fun to play even though the gameplay is often interrupted by the story/narrative, like in other third person shooters, you hold the L2 button to aim and press R2 to shoot. There are different types of ammo with different uses and varying levels of effectiveness, Break is basically a normal shot, Dance is a bullet that makes the Monokumas dance, making them vulnerable for a while, Move is a bullet ineffective against the Monokumas, but it can be used to operate or...move certain machines, Detect is actually some kind of scanner that can be used to...detect hidden images (something made with invisible yellow paint, for example) and find things that normally can't be seen, I can keep going. The Hacking Gun is often used to solve puzzles, there are many rooms with an arcade machine where almost always the game tasks you with destroying all the Monokumas at the same time, and yes, you have to use the different types of ammo in order to do exactly that, it's true that those sections might not be as fun as the rest of the gameplay where you use the Hacking Gun to shoot the Monokumas one after the other, but those sections are a nice touch nonetheless. Every once in a while, you'll also have to solve a riddle or challenge, the kids with helmets (Monokuma kids) often have a challenge for Komaru Naegi, unlike the sections with the arcade machine where you don't have to destroy the Monokumas at the same time or in a single explosion in order to proceed, for the most part, you have to solve the riddles that the kids throw at you in order to proceed. A few challenges can be very difficult, and in my opinion, those sections are at times the least fun part of the game, but of course, they are a nice touch and offer an interesting change of pace. When it comes to gameplay, I definitely think that the use of the Hacking gun to destroy all those Monokumas is the best part, not counting the parts with the arcade machine of course.

Depth: The game is longer than other third person shooters, and that's something I kind of like, I'm mainly giving this category an 8 because of the huge amount of unlockable content, even after you beat the game, Danganronpa Another Episode isn't like a game developed by Gust in the sense that you don't get access to the unlockable content just because you finished the game, instead, the game grants you the ability to buy the extra content using Monocoins, the virtual currency of the game...perhaps no one (including me) had enough money to buy everything when they finished the game for the first time, which means one thing: If you want to buy the rest of the extra content, keep playing the game.

Difficulty: I played the game on Komaru Mode (normal difficulty) and usually, the game was (and is) easy, at times, very easy, unless you are playing the game on Despair Mode, the highest difficulty level perhaps, the game shouldn't be a big challenge, If I remember well (I finished the game this Tuesday, actually, 2 days before my birthday), I lost exactly 6 times throughout the game, so...that should be an indication of how easy this game is, as I said, a few challenges/riddles can be very difficult, and I haven't played the game on Despair Mode, which should be harder than Komaru Mode...this category mainly gets a 6 for the challenges those kids present to you, and maybe, Despair Mode.

I can recommend this game even if you have never played a Danganronpa game before, Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is a great and interesting third person shooter. It's better than other games of the genre, such as The Order: 1886 and Uncharted in a few areas, and maybe worse than those games in others, overall, the game is usually very fun to play and if you don't have a problem with mature themes and dark humor, I can easily recommend this game, and of course, despite the content and themes, the game is completely uncensored on all platforms, I'm totally convinced that NIS America wouldn't be able to publish the game completely uncensored nowadays, the PS4 version is intact, just like the PS Vita version, and I wouldn't have bought the game if that wasn't the case. Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls might be my last PS4 game, and I don't regret playing it.