Onechanbara: Z2 Chaos Review (PS4)

  Blood, boobs, and beasts. Onechanbara: Z2 Chaos let's you take control of four girls who need to be mostly naked in order to soak up the blood of their enemies to gain power, eventually transforming into demons when enough gore is splashed onto their exposed flesh. Two of them are vampires or something and bite the other two protagonists, allowing them to change into super powered half naked/half cat people with only the tiniest bit of what I think is fur covering their labia. The young ladies travel the globe slaughtering a cornucopia of monstrosities including zombies, mudmen, army zombies, living statues, jumping Chinese vampires, cop zombies, and sand raccoons. They end up in a castle, then some green haired woman shows up and they kill her. Yep, the story is absurd and makes no sense, and I could care less because the game is mindless, gratuitous arcade fun.

  On the surface Onechanbara isn't dissimilar to other hack n' slash, over-the-top action games like Bayonetta or Devil May Cry: you run through levels until your progress is gated, then destroy all the enemies in the arena to move forward. The genre staples are all accounted for: aerial juggles, ridiculously long combo strings, super moves, multiple weapons and sub-weapons, and QTE “hype moments” to take down huge bosses. Onechanbara offers some unusual options on top, though. You have access to the four girls at (almost) any time and can switch between them at will. Any character you have sitting out will slowly regain their health not unlike a tag team fighting game. Conversely, you can press the touch pad button to call your allies to fight alongside you with the AI handling their attacks. This creates a risk/reward scenario where you have to juggle keeping the girls' health stocked or adding their damage to the fray.

  Other unique mechanics include blood pooling up on your weapon with every successful strike, which isn't just cosmetic. The more blood buildup the slower your attacks execute. You can switch to a secondary weapon or press LB to clean the blade (or chainsaw). Blood (and tits and ass) is definitely the theme here, as you have a gauge that fills as you are splattered in enemy viscera; once the gauge is filled you enter Rage Mode, improving your attack speed and damage but continually draining your health. If all of these gauges and systems sound complicated that's because they are. Keeping track of the HUD elements is a nightmare, and that's on top of learning each girl's unique skill/weapon set and what special moves/combos each of them are capable of performing. Fortunately the minutia is only really required for high level, higher difficulty play, and just having an understanding of the basics and button mashing your way through the game is a perfectly acceptable option for Normal mode. If you want to continue past that, the depth is certainly there for the dedicated. And Godspeed... you'll be busy for a long time.

  Button mashing through the game is a fucking blast. I found it more enjoyable than it's contemporaries thanks to the almost nonstop assault on the senses. Most of the fat has been trimmed in Onechanbara; there's not much in the way of puzzle solving or exploration and the minute to minute action is on scale with the craziest sections of Bayonetta that has garnered that series so much praise. The difference here is Onechanbara feels completely authentic. It's a budget game that knows it's a budget game and uses that to it's advantage. In between missions you're treated to comic panels to fill out the “story”. These include sound effects like “Bun!” and lines of dialogue including: “Hey, funbags! Wake up, bitch!” and “Quit twiddlin' yer tits!”. It's upfront and honest about it's sleaziness, whereas Bayonetta's “T&A... but also Grrrl power!” vibe I found cheesy and cringeworthy.

  Onechanbara: Z2 Chaos is exploitative, repetitive, and borderline inscrutable. It's also peerless when it comes to shutting off your brain and bisecting zombies with a chainsaw-wielding girl of questionable age dressed only in what amounts to dental floss. You can also unlock a piece of toast and place it as an accessory on the girl's body. It's dumb fun and will probably be my goto for mindless, bloody action for a long time to come.