Mugen Souls Z is an uncomfortable foray into the candy-colored world of Lolita complexes. A follow-up to the 2012 JRPG Mugen Souls, Souls Z picks up right where its predecessor left off in almost every way, right down to troubling fixations.

A return to form for players who enjoyed the first Mugen Souls; Colorful designs and settings

Uninteresting and cliché-ridden plot; Pointless; annoying; and overlong cutscenes; A confused and contradictory battle system

Combat itself is quite fun, and helps alleviate the boredom produced from the story. Four characters can be used at a time, with others in the reserves that can be called in to replace deceased units. It is your typical turn-based affair but with extra elements on the field.

The fact it's not afraid to be different; and pushing societal buttons with its cast; Deep character customization; You have your own Gundam

The convoluted; boring story that is little more than banter; The seemingly recycled environments from previous Compile Hearts games

Well-drawn character artwork Some cute digs at RPG conventions

Gameplay systems don't intersect well; and are rarely rewarding In-game tutorials don't explain mechanics well and can't be viewed later Field environments are boring and sparse Space battles are much too easy

It's been a few years since I've come across the name Compile Heart while reviewing at GCM. More recently known for the Hyperdimension Neptunia series, Compile Heart appears to have taken a few cues from that series when crafting the wildly complex and bizarre series Mugen Souls.

Positives "Captivate" Mode Combat is somewhat deep Good voice acting

Negatives Overly drawn out dialogue Frame rate issues

NIS America did an admirable job bringing this very Japanese RPG to the West. It seems that, barring some minor changes such as editing out a rather unsettling minigame that could have upset a minority of gamers if left in, everything else in Mugen Souls Z remains intact.

Technically; better than the original; More Moe-type attacks available; Even more gameplay than last time

Still the same-old grind; unappealing visuals; "G-Castle" combat feels out of place; Story is all over the place most of the time

Drew reviews yet another quirky RPG. Discover how many panty shots he had to endure in his review.

+ Some interesting mechanics; + Sound battle system

Overly complicated; Excessive mechanics/lack of explanation; Dated graphics with frame rate issues; Content may be offputting to some

If there's one certainty in gaming (aside from Call of Duty releases earning the GDP of small countries at launch), it is JRPGs – especially from NIS – will always present you with something different.

Despite its issues, Mugen Souls is a fun game that would benefit greatly from a good in-game help system or external wiki.

Great music; entertaining gameplay

Frustrating menus and controls; overly complicated in a number of ways

When we last left Chou-chou, the undisputed god of the universe, she had completed her task of taking over the Seven Worlds and turning everything from enemies to random pieces of flotsam into her peons. Now things are getting a bit boring for the moody tike and it's time to go exploring again.

There is a lot of fun to be had here for fans of SRPGs, but it's hidden behind an layer of inappropriate situations, a mountain of tutorials, and probably two more sets of mechanics than any one game really needs.

There is bound to be a mechanic here that speaks to you; tactical combat is fun

Game veers toward creepy; tons of tutorial; steep learning curve despite all of the tutorials