Since my original review was lost in the ether, my second review of Haikyu!! Tsunage! Itadaki no Keshiki!! will be considerably shorter. The original review centred around the philosophical debate over when impressions are formed of a game and if not the actual gameplay; how this then affects the gameplay. Bandai Namco did everything to make Haikyu fans want to play this game. The promotion was exceptional highlighting both the game’s adventure and volleyball modes whilst pushing the limited edition where the highlight (from a sales point of view) was the Famicom-esque JRPG Haikyu Quest.
If the first impressions weren’t the actual gameplay then what then would be the first impressions (the franchise and the marketing) only accelerate the expectations which only make the impressions formed from the gameplay (irregardless over whether secondary or primary) more difficult to aspire to. Whilst Amazon reviews aren’t inherently trustworthy in evaluating a game’s objective qualities (case-in-point Sony fanboys bitter over Monster Hunter), a second week sales drop of -84% implies more credibly that the word-of-mouth is terrible. Although this isn’t to say Haikyu is an actual terrible game.
Not being a terrible game isn’t the highest compliment however and Bandai Namco do little to deserve such compliments. First-of-all the spin-off game Haikyu Quest (review here) panders to fan service with minimal effort. Clearly more effort needs to be applied to a full retail release as opposed to a pre-order novelty but Bamco still administer similar shortcuts. Whilst I can’t credibly critique the adventure parts (apart from the inability to fast-forward or the distinct lack of actual speech) due to language barrier issues, I can however with the volleyball element which to many (me included) is the crux of the game.
The game begins with the choice of just Shoyo Hinata or Tobio Kageyama (my favourite character Koshi Sugawara is unlockable later on) and follows the anime with Hinata and Kageyama beginning as rivals (you have to play as both so who you don’t choose you then have to play as after) before Kageyama joins Karasuno High and the two team against other high schools or three-on-three practice matches with (and against!) your team-mates. On paper this sounds fine although in practice the volleyball part isn’t acually a sports game but disappointingly a card game with a sports theme.
Whilst my impressions aren’t as negative as other players (“I hate this game. Sell immediately” springs to mind), there is still the feel of being cheated by the publisher. And whilst as stated earlier it isn’t a terrible game (I have had some fun back-and-forth battles); the interruptions in the matches to ‘further’ the story, the lack of fast-forwarding of the actual story and the distinct absence of full speech, and no 3D to speak of nor are there exceptional graphics when animating the volleyball sequences add up to what essentially is just an average card game and one that I’d struggle to even recommend to fans.
4/10
Review by Bri Bri. For more information on Haikyu!! Tsunage! Itadaki no Keshiki!! go to http://haikyu.bngames.net/ or http://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/software/bhqj/index.html
