Thinking of importing a game from Japan? Below are the best of the best when it comes to Japanese releases in 2014 that you should probably import.
In our final category for the day, we take a look at the best PSN and indie games out now on PlayStation platforms.
Best JP Release
-
Girls und Panzer
Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Developer: Bandai Namco Entertainment
"Underneath all the schoolgirl “animu” tropes lies a legitimately entertaining, enjoyable game. Don’t let the school skirts and high-pitched voices fool you; this game kicks ass."
(Read the full review here)
-
Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin!
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
"I could pick anything to rave about, but what I’ve been loving most is the gorgeous environments. Attention to detail has always been a strong point in the Yakuza series, and Ishin is no exception. Walking around Ishin‘s world invites a special feeling, like I’m being given a secret look at Kyoto circa 1865."
-
Puyo Puyo Tetris
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team
"Puyo Puyo Tetris is an example of a franchise entry done right. Its developers could have cut corners, but refused to; they could have slid by without the Adventure Mode, but didn’t; they went that extra mile to add value to the product. They could have followed too many other modern games and chosen either ad-hoc or online play and gotten away with it, but they included both."
(Read the full review here)
-
And the Winner is...
-
Winner - Girls Und Panzer
Our own JP games expert Heath Hindman thought highly of this game as well.
If you're wondering whether this us import-friendly, the review mentions:
"This is easily importable for anyone of any Japanese level. If you can’t understand the story, there is a fully localized English version of the anime available. To see if you dig it, give it until at least the third episode. (I was skeptical myself after the first one.)
As with many Japanese games, the menus might take some trial and error here and there, but honestly, there aren’t many menu items to begin with. Within the missions, objectives are fairly obvious, and there are tons of visual cues if you somehow find yourself confused… which you won’t. Even setting up Battle Royale mode and taking the challenge missions can be done without knowing a lick of Japanese.
There is no extra equipment or items of any kind. Tanks have varying stats, but the stats are in English, written as ATK, DEF, MOVE, and HP and given a rank A, B, C, etc. Plain English, right in there as the default in this Japanese game. No worries.
Tank gameplay is self-explanatory. You don’t need to know Japanese to get through this game. And if you do speak it, you’ll love it all the more."
