Uppers

A competent and charmingly designed 3D beat 'em up that is, unfortunately, weighed down by shallow mechanics, lackluster writing, and tired anime tropes.

Was Uppers worth the years-long wait to be able to play it in English? Probably not. Even as a fan of the titles Honey Parade Studios puts out, there's something disappointing about the way Uppers is too scared to fully commit to the gritty, hot-blooded front that it puts up. By having one foot in there and another firmly planted in the same-old T&A antics of the studio, it fails at truly capturing either aesthetic successfully. It's still a fun brawler with satisfying combat, and it looks amazing on PC, but there are plenty of areas where it could be improved on.

So if you’ve been looking for a simple Brawler to take up some time and are in the mood for a few laughs as there is a fair amount of comedy along with the fighting, Uppers by Bullets and XSEED Games and Marvelous isn’t a bad choice.

Uppers may be a wish come true for some longtime Vita or Senran Kagura holdouts, but outside of that odd legacy, it can’t really compete with its contemporaries.

In general, Uppers is a beat ‘em up whose combat is quite fun, but small technical defects end up weakening the experience. It is still worth checking out for enthusiasts of the genre since the combat offers good variety and exaggerated blows, but it does not stand out in comparison to what already exists in the market.

At the end of the day, UPPERS is a solid beat ’em up with a ton of Kenichiro Takaki style fanservice. It’s over the top and bombastic in all the best ways possible, and fans of his previous works will love this. You should buy this ASAP, you will have a ton of fun. Folks that like beat ’em ups in general should check this one out as well. While it doesn’t turn the genre on its head, there are plenty of solid mechanics here for those players to enjoy as well. There is enough content here for fans of beat ’em ups and fan service games to make it a worthy purchase at the $29.99 price tag. All of the DLC included here as well, and it’s great to see Daidōji-senpai back in action.

Uppers is a fun and frantic beat-em-up that uses its tone to perfectly capture that shonen anime charm.

In my opinion, UPPERS was not worth the four-year wait and lengthy localization process. As a beat-‘em-up, it lacks creativity and variety, although it may succeed somewhat as a fanservice game, even if none of the characters have any significant degree of depth.

In short, Uppers could have been a fairly decent brawler if it wasn’t for its borderline idiotic creeper factor. It does feature a nice art style and a really good combat system, but they just had to shove in a ton of gratuitous and disturbing content that does nothing to improve the overall experience. It’s just one of those unnecessary games that practically force you to play it with your room door’s closed and windows shut.

Uppers was almost the game that got away, but now that’s it’s here, I can’t say that I’m completely excited about it. What’s important is that it features a robust battle system and a zany story that will satisfy the developer’s fans. Furthermore, as perverted as they are, the game mechanics can be an insanely fun distraction as you button mash your way through each level. Thankfully, this PC port is clearly the best way to experience this four-year-old brawler for those who waited.