Senko no Ronde 2 Review
by Omar (@siegarettes)
- Senko no Ronde 2
- Developer- G. Rev, Chara-Ani
- Publisher- Degica
- PC, PS4
Senko no Ronde 2 is a game for a very, very specific audience If you’re not someone whose activation phrases are “Virtual-On”, “bullet hell”, “Psychic Force”, or “arena fighter” you’re probably someone who is going to be bewildered by the chaos you witness. For those with an affinity towards ANY of those, Senko no Ronde will feel like a revelation. It joins the ranks of the few competitive shoot-em-ups, alongside Change Air Blade, Twinkle Star Sprites and its various anime girl imitators like Genso Rondo and Acceleration of Suguri.
But what the hell is Senko no Ronde? In the simplest terms, it’s an arena style fighting game where you operate Rounders, the game’s term for mechs, in the style of Virtual-On or Gundam Versus, while firing scrolling shooter boss style bullet patterns. This boss style combat extends to the super moves, which attach massive mechanical “shells” to each mech and turns them into a full size, screen dominating BOSS that forces opponents to navigate through several seconds of bullet hell.
The actual control of the game is simple, with most special techniques performed by button combinations, and only two universal command moves for each character. There’s plenty of nuance within those simple commands, and a definite learning curve to understanding their full functions. The bullet hell aspects seem intimidating at first, but I found that between the chain dashes, shields, and bullet cancel attacks the bullet patterns became much more manageable than in most shooters.
The biggest adjustment comes from moving away from the habit to fight at close range. Senko no Ronde 2 is a projectile based game, and controlling the match involves zoning out your opponents and forcing them against the ring boundaries and into traps. This leads into another eccentricity–lock on. Like other fighters, Senko no Ronde has you constantly facing towards your opponent, which also means all your bullets aim towards them by default. Most Rounders can easily step out of the way of these shots, and combined with versatile dashing mechanics this means it’s rare to be able to directly shoot an opponent. You’ll have to anticipate their movement, and use your main weapon alongside a more limited secondary fire to force them onto a trajectory that can be intercepted with your bullets. Each shot can also be altered in various ways, and powerful burst shots can be used in exchange for meter to cause even larger damage.
Meter is also used to deploy your shield, and when drained causes the Rounder to overheat, leaving it unable to block or transform into its BOSS form. On the other hand, getting hit while shielding also drops energy which can be collected by the opponent to charge their meter. Alongside special assists and BOSS stock, it puts a heavy emphasis on managing resources, and creates a back and forth dynamic where the balance of power is constantly shifting.
You might try to block a burst of enemy fire, but doing so could give the enemy more meter, allowing them to earn another burst and continue the pressure. If you find yourself in a bad spot, do you burn a BOSS stock and try to even out the fight with your powerful weapons? Or do you avoid it because you know it’s a bad matchup and being destroyed in BOSS form will leave you with no meter and reward them with a huge amount? You could use your last stock to continue pressure and prevent them from entering BOSS mode, but are you confident you can take them down next round knowing they’ll receive an extra stock for losing the round?
Fights in Senko no Ronde are full of these gambits. Reading and intercepting your opponent’s intentions becomes crucial to controlling the pace. The back and forth of these resources kept me from feeling complacent in victory, or that I didn’t have the tools to come back from a loss. It’s not unlike the feeling of a good Street Fighter match, or when I earned a clutch victory from a difficult shooter boss.
This was less true when I found myself playing against the CPU. Some encounters in story mode can put up a decent fight, but during arcade mode the action felt tedious. Even on hard mode the CPU fails to take advantage of their resources, and lacks the predictive ability to to avoid some basic attacks. I won many battles by activating BOSS mode the keeping a laser held in place while they became confused and wandered into it.
It’s only when playing against others that the different strengths of the characters become clear. One Rounder that used shuriken style projectiles and smoke bombs gave me trouble, but fell apart under some sustained fire. Playing against a friend made that same Rounder much more unpredictable. The smoke bombs allowed them to quickly maneuver into my blindspots and away from my bursts, then close in for melee attacks after I’d fired off in a panic. Closing distance became a guessing game of where they’d appear next, and a bad gamble would mean yet another combo eaten. It kept me from becoming complacent and relying on the same strategies for victory.
On a side note, the online system is about what you expect from a release of this size. Quick match doesn’t seem to have many players, and while it’s easy to get into ranked matches, there’s no options to filter them. Bad connections are exasperated, while stronger ones are about as close to local as you can hope. I played a good session of online games with a friend in the UK, and there was a noticeable lag, though it remained consistent for the majority of our matches. Thankfully Senko no Ronde 2 isn’t a game as reliant on precise inputs as other fighters, so general strategy and good predictions won matches most of the time, though in clutch moments its effects were definitely felt.
Even with these obstacles, the feeling of playing matches of Senko no Ronde with another person was exhilarating. Between the combat dynamics, varied roster and panicked chases through fields of bullets, Senko no Ronde 2 definitely earns namesake of the dance in its title. It pulls and pushes its participants through the gravity of its bullet patterns, and its threat of violence. Each player vies for the opportunity to lead, and acquiesces when they take the wrong step. Here bullets are communication, and curtains of fire become loud, sometimes brash statements. And even when I found myself swept up by my partner’s lead, it’s was difficult to feel upset by it. After all, a good dance always deserves another.