Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

This interactive mystery is endearing, but there’s more story than gameplay

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
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Publisher: NIS America
Reviewed On: Playstation Vita
Cert: 16
Available On: Playstation Vita

The interactive mystery novel genre hasn't been exactly embraced by Western gamers. Sure, there are exceptions such as Ace Attorney , but compared with the Japanese market, Europeans have not been won over. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is sparkly, colourful and weird, but not very interactive. You play an average teen who somehow gets enrolled in a prestigious boarding school for the gifted. But moments after entering the building, you and the other new students are imprisoned by a mysterious, malevolent being. The other students include a promising baseball player, a psychic popstar and a shy young novelist. There are shades of Oldboy, The Shining and Alice in Wonderland , and puzzles to be solved a la Cluedo . (There are minor mysteries about the environment as well as the overall story arc conundrum.) It's a great, endearingly weird premise, but text-heavy and gameplay-light.