Kill la Kill - IF - Nintendo Switch Game | Anime Fighting Action | Play at Home or On the Go

When it comes to this type of game - anime characters running around in a 3D arena with a homing dash, projectile, and simple, flashy, one-button melee combos, there is a wide variety of options. DBZ Budokai, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm, whatever the One Piece game is called, My Hero Academia One's Justice... there's even that one Touhou Burst Battle game that plays somewhat similarly. So why pick this one, based on Kill la Kill, which, while popular in its own right, had nowhere near the mainstream impact of those other (forget about Touhou for a moment) franchises?I wish I could say "for the story," but unfortunately the game's story is... rather generic. It's a "what-if" scenario (as the title implies) rather than a mere retelling of the anime, and they got the original scenario writer involved, so I was excited, but all-in-all the story mode is just "OK." The soundtrack from the anime returns alongside catchy new compositions, the graphics are in the trademark ArcSys "it's 3D but it somehow looks anime" style, and honestly the presentation is good all-around. Satsuki's new form is cool. The last boss was cool. But... I think I got my hopes up for a spinoff-series-worthy story and got a bonus episode instead.But I gave the game four stars, didn't I? That's entirely because of the gameplay. It's fun, it feels solid, it feels *deliberate,* and while at low level you can definitely just kinda throw your character at someone and hope to win, I felt like I was putting more conscious thought into my actions and approaches than I do in most similar games. There are clear counters to various actions, movement feels solid, the combo system has surprising depth considering each character only has a few attacks outside of their auto-combo string, and they've been surprisingly quick to patch out glitches and infinite combos so far. The super moves are pretty cool, and the fact that you get bonus damage for going in the order of "men, dou, kote" for Sanageyama's super (Y, X, A on the Switch, I believe?) that prompts you to press buttons for additional attacks is a nice little easter egg. The gameplay doesn't always translate well to the multi-target fights in story mode, and was clearly designed with 1 vs 1 fights in mind, but in my opinion it holds up to any other arena brawler in every category except for roster size. One star off for mild frustrations with single-player autotargeting, the touch-of-death combos I had to deal with, and the "meh" story, but I'd recommend the game to Kill la Kill fans who enjoy this style of game. If this price happens to drop, I'd easily recommend it to people who enjoy Kill la Kill OR this style of game.