I coincidentally learned about Short Peace by coming across the trailer while I was surfing the endless waves of the internet. Unlike most games, Short Peace is an anime and video game hybrid that contains four short films and a side-scrolling video game created by people who aren’t strangers to the video game industry. When I finished watching the trailer and realized the route this project was going for not only did it seem awesome, it visually looked amazing. Taking just a mere glimpse of the different types of animation styles and concepts contained in the project left me in awe. Although the trailer is great and all, does the real deal embody this same greatness? Let’s just say, not as much as I hoped for.
The four short films are as follows:
Possessions: A traveler takes refuge in what seems to be an abandoned shrine. What awaited him were unusual spiritual beings.
Combustible: Depicting the love between childhood friends, social changes when entering adulthood, and rigorous firefighting in ancient Japan.
Gambo: A demon rampages on a village and takes all the females until there is only a little girl left to steal. Eventually, a white bear hears her situation and decides to help her take out this demon.
A Farewell to Weapons: Situated in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, a group of men are faced with robotic tanks trying to eliminate them.
Each short film has a different story, animation style, and charm making them standout from one another. Overall, I enjoyed each film fairly equally as they each depict very different situations in different eras or points in time. They are simple and concise, but manage to convey a depth of emotion and/or message. The four films are about an hour together and each have their spotlight for what feels like the perfect amount of time.
Now, to the portion we’re focusing on – the actual game. Titled “Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day”, you play as Ranko by going through nine flashy and colourful stages and watching cutscenes of various animation styles that play out the story. The gameplay consists of basic commands and doesn’t need a whole lot of brain power. You have your simple jumps, hovers, sliding, and attack with monsters chasing you close behind. If the monsters catch up to you, it’s game over. Luckily, you accumulate ammo for a gun used to shoot them back by killing the smaller enemies you come across throughout the stages. While the majority of stages are basic side-scrolling maps, there is one where you ascend upwards killing off two guys then a final boss stage that has a horizontal scrolling shooter gameplay.
So what’s the story? With the scenario written by Suda 51 (known for Lollipop Chainsaw and No More Heroes) and direction and design by Yohei Kataoka (designer of Tokyo Jungle), it starts off with one then just goes out of control and evolves into something completely absurd. When I say absurd, I mean “what the hell did I just play” absurd. You’re first informed that Ranko wants to avenge her mother by killing her father and realize she is a schoolgirl assassin with a violin sniper-rifle. You meet her two close friends and go through the stages to be completely steered in a different direction at around stage six. Crazy stuff happens starting from there and the story becomes a ball of randomness.
It’s not necessarily bad or horrible, but it definitely should not be taken seriously or evaluated critically by any means. While the game itself takes about an hour to complete, I had some good laughs, “what the hell” moments and actually enjoyed it in a way I was not expecting to. Although I was hoping for the game to have depth like the anime it’s packaged with does, it really feels like the game just had everyone submit their ideas and they shoved it all onto a disc and compiled it into a game. It’s more of a visual experience than a gaming or story experience.
Other than the whacky story, the visuals are simply awesome for both the films and game. With the characters in the beginning cutscene of the game designed by Yusuke Kozaki (Fire Emblem: Awakening and No More Heroes), it’s simply a treat for your eyes. With each cutscene made with a different animation style, you’re exposed to a wide range of art and experience the characters the way each animator and artist wants to convey them to you as. The visuals during gameplay are full of explosive colors and flashy lights that make it addicting to kill enemies so you can see all the prettiness the stages have to offer. The visuals are definitely an admirable aspect of Short Peace and I just can’t praise it enough.
Voice acting in the game is also great especially for the crazy scenes of intense screaming and what not. In both the films and game, each voice actor does a superb job portraying the characters whether it’s an ugly beast or schoolgirl. One thing to note is that voice acting is in Japanese only for both the films and game so reading the English subtitles is mandatory if you want to understand what’s going on.
With Akira Yamaoka (Composer of Silent Hill) in charge of the soundtrack, certain tracks did standout amongst others and as a whole it’s decent. Some tracks are especially catchy and makes gameplay in the stages more energetic and enjoyable.
Sound effects on the other hand aren’t as spectacular. There isn’t a wide range of sound effects and it gets noticeably repetitive with just the nine stages. It does do it’s simple job of adding amusement and intensity with each gunshot and kick.
Overall Short Peace leans towards its visually appealing aspects instead of its story and gameplay features. It’s a nice anime and video game hybrid to mindlessly keep you busy for about two hours, but if you’re looking for a serious game to invest your time in and explore this might not be what you’re looking for. Your eyes will be thanking you, but your brain might say otherwise.
