Gal*Gun Double Peace (PlayStation Vita)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): August 2, 2016
- Release Date (EU): July 22, 2016
- Release Date (JP): August 6, 2015
- Publisher: PQube
- Developer: Inti Creates
- Genres: Rail Shooter
- Also For: PlayStation 4
Game Features:
Review Approach:
More than just a legend
Start off by choosing a personality type from bookworm, jock, fashionista and pervert(!) for the protagonist, Houdai Kudoki. The different types differ in their stats but don’t have a heavy impact on the game as you can improve each stat during the game. More personality types can be unlocked depending on your ending.
If you’re wondering, only a godlike ending will unlock the TFG, which I cannot even fathom how the virtual girls will react.
So, poor little you somehow got entangled with the make up lessons of Demon Academy and Angel Academy students and just like that as if struck by Cupid's arrow (more like a screwed blast from an 'elite' angel) you instantly change from being a lame forever alone passive guy to every girls' favorite. Looks like you've been hit by the "Super Popular Legend"!!!
Ekoro, an elite angel, presents herself to you as being the culprit behind your “misfortune”. She explains that as the final exam of 3rd year Angel Academy, the Goddess assigns each angel to a human who they need to help become a lot more attractive. Ekoro's plan was to shoot you with a love arrow but a demon interrupted her and instead of a normal arrow, you got hit with a super charged shot. This equals to having all chances in your life to find love to become packed in one day!
Nevertheless Ekoro vows to help you find your true love before the end of the day. Why so hastily, you ask? Because beginning the next day, not just the ladies but other guys, and even animals will feel no love for you whatsoever. Talk about an ultimatum! Find your love today or lose all love that you've had or will have!
Waifu for Laifu
Now that you've become the school's irresistible "hunk", the girls will stop at nothing to confess their love to you. Indeed, they have more guts, determination and pantsu than you could imagine as they hide behind closets, behind bushes, cars and even in caves waiting to ambush you. Some will hand out love letters, others will confess their love out loud, still others possessed by little demons are even harder to subdue and with every love confession that reaches you, your HP goes down!
How are you going to handle all those girls? Why, with your pheromone shots of course! You progress through the story to find your love by shooting your way though the hordes of kawai girls running after you. Control the target with the right or left stick and shoot by pressing the square button. It's that simple, a bit too simple. Successfully shoot the girls to bring them to a state of euphoria and you'll earn Mote-Mote points. Every girl's weak spot is different; it might be the head, chest, hips or legs. It's up to you to observe their reactions when you move the target over certain areas. The more accurate you are, the more points you'll earn which you can then use at the Academy Store to buy items to improve your stats. Plus there's Doki-Doki mode that involves touching and rubbing girls in different areas to increase your Doki-Doki Gauge within the time limit to increase your Mote-Mote points and clear the area of more girls at once. And like with the Mote-Mote points, the girls are more sensitive to some areas, open your eyes for those! Unlock different camera angles to ensure that you find the right spot.
Extra tip: zoom in with R to see through "obstacles"
Much kawai, Very gal?
Gal*Gun Double Peace is what it is, a shooting game with a perverse humor. Granted that it is a niche bishōjo game and it is overt about that. The game escalates from giving girls clad in school uniforms ecstasy shots to massaging a girl's butt to get her out of a window to fighting a a girl-groping, tentacled boss for crying out loud!
However, you’d be wrong to dismiss it as a shallow game based only on that premise. You'd be surprised by how much more it offers in terms of content and replay value. The girls chasing you come in all shapes and sizes (you can even purchase an item to check out their bust size), there is accompanying background music for the various sceneries that span from classrooms, parks and caves, and all of these are rendered in Unreal Engine 3.
In terms of replay value, you'll be generously served. Although your choice for the love of your life is limited between 2 girls at the first playthrough, more can be unlocked as you choose different "routes" and finish the game with different endings. There are also side quests for you to complete by collecting items for your schoolmates through the different stages which will earn you extra points. Additionally, you can unlock and change the outfit of the girls to suit your fantasies preferences.
However, the game is not all roses. As soon as you boot the game, you'll come across its biggest inconvenience: loading times. Starting the game from the PSVita homescreen can take up to 2-3 minutes and the load times within the game are all too much noticeable. Also noticeable are the recurring skips in frame rate which can prove to be annoying in the long run but these shouldn't be present in the PS4 version.
Another inconvenience that I noticed while playing the game is that since the voice-over is completely in Japanese, the lack of English subtitles at certain points in the game can prove to be bothersome, unless you know Japanese.
The controls are also too simplistic. There is not much to do other than moving the target around and shooting. There's no opportunity to explore the beautifully rendered surroundings. It doesn't offer much of a challenge either unless you go on a higher difficulty and you can complete a playthough within a few hours.
However these few hours of gameplay can prove entertaining even if you've never imagined yourself playing this genre of game.
Verdict
- Entertaining game despite its niche approach
- High replay value with various endings possible
- Interminable loading times
- Framerate skips
- Overly simplified controls
- Lack of English subtitles at certain points