Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is a frustrating game. On one hand, the premise is incredibly unique. Fifteen Japanese high school students arrive at Hope's Peak Academy, a high school for the best of the best. Each of them were chosen for being the "Ultimate" at what they do, whether it's being a popstar, baseball player, swimmer, gang leader (um, what?), etc, with the exception of the main character, Makoto, who got to attend the school just by winning a lottery. When they arrive at the school, they pass out and wake up to find the school bolted up, and are told by a talking teddy bear named Monokuma that they're trapped in the school, and the only way any of them can leave is if they murder another student and manage to get away with the crime. It's part Ace Attorney and part Battle Royale, and it's one of the most unique premises I've ever seen in a game.

Since the characters were all admitted to the school for being the best at what they do, they wind up coming pre-built with personalities - the fashionista talks about the difference between her real-life appearance and magazine covers, the straight-A student is a stickler for rules, the fanfic writer is morbidly obese and has trouble getting along with the women (okay, I can't exactly explain how a fanfic writer managed to get into this school), and while the characters do lean a little too hard on the quirky side, overall they're easy to like, which is good, because it makes it all the more impactful when they start getting murdered, at which point you get to look at your remaining friends and try to figure out which one of them finally snapped.

The gameplay is fairly straightforward. During the part where nobody's been killed, you're treated to a Persona-like system where you get to choose which characters to hang out with, which lets you get to know characters better, as well as give you different bonuses during the game's trials. When a murder does occur, you have to investigate the crime scene, collect evidence, and try to piece together what happened. Once everything has been collected, you're thrown into the trials in an Ace Attorney-like system where you contradict everyone's claims using the evidence you've found.

Unfortunately, while the trials are the most thrilling part of the game, they're filled with one of the strangest design choices I think I've seen in games. There are several "minigames" in the trials, including hangman, where you have to shoot down letters in order to form a word that will answer a character's question, and a rhythm game in order to calm down a student who's become irate. Not only that, but evidence is collected as "truth bullets" that have to be manually aimed and fired at the statements they contradict, which tend to fly around the screen, adding frustration to what should be a logic puzzle, not a skill challenge. These minigames aren't fun, and do nothing but delay the next section of dialogue that advances the story. If you play Danganronpa, I recommend you play the game on easy difficulty and make these as painless as possible.

While the story itself is entertaining throughout, there are times that seem like the game's writers were forcing drama for its own sake. The third case is a convoluted mess, yet the killer still winds up being obvious from the outset, and in the fourth case, it seems like half the cast would have had to be on drugs to justify their behavior. It picks up toward the end, thankfully, though the ending is so out-there bonkers that I can't decide if it's more hilarious or just desperate.

But when the story hits, it knocks the ball out of the park. I still cringe every time I hear Monokuma's cheerful announcement when the cast discovers a dead body. I actually teared up at the end of the second case, which is something few video games have been able to do throughout my life. And somehow, the game still has enough energy to make me laugh when it's appropriate. Despite its flaws, I love the hell out of Danganronpa, though when it comes down to it, I'd sooner recommend the Ace Attorney and Zero Escape series, as well as fellow Japanese horror game Corpse Party. If you're like me, though, you just can't get enough of this style of game, and I'll be singing it's praises for a long time.