[Review] Kill la Kill: IF

The game’s nature as a 3D fighter is both a blessing and a curse. It allows the battles to feel truly large scale as fighters can dash across the arenas, toss each other up unto the air, and execute combos that span the entire stage. However, the camera can be an issue. With characters being so active, the camera often wildly whips around the screen, which can lead to it often being difficult to tell where your character is at any given moment. This is especially an issue in the game’s story mode, which often pits you against multiple enemies at once. Without a targeting system, it can be difficult to stay focused on a single target.

Speaking of story mode, that is the most significant mode of the game aside from the core fighting content. True to its title, Kill la Kill: IF tells a “What if?” version of the anime starting from episode 8. Instead of focusing on series protagonist Ryuko Matoi, the story mode is all about Satsuki Kiryuin, president of Honnouji Academy’s Student Council. It might not make the best first impression – at first, it’s little more than a severely abridged version of the anime, devoid of the mystery, world building, and character development that made the original story so interesting to begin with. However, it’s not long before the narrative takes some surprising turns, and although it’s certainly not as exciting or engaging as the show’s original plot, it sheds some interesting light on characters and events, making it worthwhile playing for fans of the series.

The actual gameplay of the story mode provides a solid experience as well. In between the lengthy cutscenes, it presents a wide variety of battles. These range from team fights, massive mob battles, and epic one-on-one boss encounters. The story may not be very remarkable in its own right – and likely won’t interest anyone who isn’t already familiar with the show – but it should be enough to satiate series fans who have been starving for a new Kill la Kill story ever since the anime ended back in 2014.

There are a handful of side modes to keep you occupied when you aren’t fighting. These include endless fight modes, horde battles, endless gauntlet fights, and plenty of training modes. In addition, there are extensive galleries of voice tracks, songs from the OST, and character models for a photo mode to unlock with credits earned after every fight. These modes might not seem too impressive at first, but they’re excellent ways to decompress after intense battles and incentives to keep fighting. It became shockingly addictive for me to purchase new songs for the OST and unlock additional photo poses for my favorite characters.

Beyond the mechanics and story, the graphics are perhaps the game’s greatest overall strength. The presentation is gorgeously faithful to the show’s signature visuals, to the point that it can truly feel like a playable anime. There are certain moments at which it can be difficult to tell the difference between the beautiful cell-shaded graphics and the original anime’s distinctive style. Of course, it isn’t completely perfect: by their very nature, 3D models can’t capture the fluidity of 2D animation, leaving some cutscenes in the story mode feeling unnecessarily stiff. Also, it can be strange to see these distinctly two-dimensional characters in 3D for the first time; Mako in 3D is an unsettling sight to behold. At the very least, it looks phenomenal on Switch, with no noticeable differences compared to the PS4 or PC versions when docked. The game does look quite blurry in handheld mode, but it’s nothing terrible given that performance remains solid and the visuals still look vibrant enough.

Kill la Kill is known just as much for its audio as for its visuals. Kill la Kill: IF does a surprisingly excellent job at representing this legacy. Hiroyuki Sawano’s epic soundtrack is present in full force, providing all the same backing drama and intensity to the fights that made moments of the anime so memorable. Another aspect in which the anime set itself apart was the remarkably high quality of its English voice dub. That’s why it’s wonderful to see all the English voice actors reprise their roles in the game with some excellent performances. Of course, there is also full Japanese voice acting available as well, should you prefer it.

Yet here we come to the elephant in the room that must be addressed with nearly every Switch game: the performance. Like so many multiplatform Switch titles, Kill la Kill: IF runs at a mere 30 frames per second while its PS4 and PC counterpoints run at 60. This is certainly a great shame for a fast-paced fighting game like Kill la Kill, in which every frame matters. However, the developers have managed to keep the frame rate effectively locked throughout the entire game. During my ten or so hours with it, I did not notice a single drop in frame rate, no matter how many enemies cluttered the screen. The lower performance is certainly disappointing, but the game still manages to create a consistent and lightning fast experience that distills the hectic action of Kill la Kill. If you want the best performance, pick it up on another platform; if you want a rock solid, beautiful version of the game that you can take with you on the bus, then Switch is the best option. Then again, Kill la Kill might not be the best game to play in public anyway.

There’s nothing ambiguous about it: Kill la Kill: IF does everything an anime adaptation should do. With its spectacular visuals, fluid combat, and excellent audio, it remains loyal to the source material while still creating a compelling gameplay experience. By making every character as unique in the game as they are in the anime, it feels like a love letter to everything that made Kill la Kill special in the first place. Of course, the questionable camera, bland arenas, and low frame rate keep it from being completely flawless on Switch. However, the package still manages to present a deep fighting game that’s accessible to genre newcomers, interesting for fighting veterans, and enticing for fans of the original show. All told, when it comes to bringing this cherished anime to life, this new release simply kills it.

Kill la Kill: IF review copy provided by PQube for the purposes of this review.