Short Version: It’s alright. It’s not great, but it’s definitely not a bad game either. If you love fan service like I do, then you’ll like it, but it’s pretty tame on that front as well. The art style is great, but music is generic and forgettable. The story is lighthearted and fun, though a bit bland at times. Even then, it has some pretty pleasant surprises scattered all around that are worth seeing at least once. Go get it if you ever find it on a sale for a discounted price, or you can even rent it, which I think might be better.
Long Version: When I played the Japanese demo for Gal Gun: Double Piece on my PS Vita, I had a pretty good time, but I felt that the time I spent with it was a good enough fill for me. Because of this, I wondered if there was more to the full game than this very simplified and relatively slow on-rails shooter featuring high school girls getting shot with pheromones until they reach euphoria. After playing the game for a good while now, and beating it multiple times, I can say that there are a couple things here that might keep you interested, but most of the game is repetitive and a little dull after a while.
Locked And Loaded
Gal Gun: Double Piece is the sequel to the original PlayStation 3 Japanese game Gal Gun, which never came out in North America. Minus a couple references to past events sprinkled around the game, you don’t need to play it in order to understand what’s going on in the sequel. Basically, you are a faceless, voice actor-deprived high school student that gets shot with an overdose of love arrows by the angel Ekoro. Thanks to this, every single girl in school is in love with you, but it comes with a catch. If you can’t find your true love by sundown, you are destined to be lonely and unloved forever. That’s basically what the story boils down to, with not a lot of complexity beyond that.
When it comes to Double Piece’s narrative, it is very entertaining to see that it doesn’t take itself seriously in any way; and when it does, it usually makes sense and makes those particular scenes slightly more memorable, though that may be me being a bit too generous. If you are a fan of anime in general, you’ll be pretty well versed in the types of clichés and stereotypes you tend to come across on a regular basis, which happen to be fully present in Double Piece. While the cast isn’t particularly large, all the characters can be traced back to some sort of stereotype save for some subtle changes and differences. However, these small surprises in the story are not enough to truly make these characters shine in the way that I can totally see, had they not relied on such tired templates. On the other hand, if it weren’t for those things, the comedic and lighthearted atmosphere probably would not have worked if the story got too complex or crowded in conflict; so in a way, I can forgive that. These are very simple love stories, which I can appreciate to a certain extent, since none are drowned in the typical melodrama that most anime series might have, in favor of a much more comedic and banter-focused approach.
The Only Kind Of School Shooting I’m Okay With
While you’re not busy going through visual novel-style dialogue scenes and making dialogue choices that will affect your standing with all the girls, you’ll be shooting pheromone shots at all the high school girls who want a piece of you, which is pretty fun, but it gets repetitive after a while. It is pretty entertaining seeing all of these anime high school girls fall over with pleasure or find different ways to reach you with comedic effect, but after a while, you’ve seen it all and wish for something new to happen. Going back to my experiences with the Japanese demo, I remember playing about 3 levels and a small mini-game before the demo ended, and I felt that was more than enough time spent on the game for one session. After playing through Double Piece multiple times, I can safely say that this game is better played in short spurts at around the same length that I described for the demo.
There are a couple of mini-games and boss fights involved, but the way you deal with all of that boils down to the same thing. The game doesn’t do enough to shake things up or feel like your ever being challenged, since the game is fairly slow and easy. Even playing the game on higher difficulties is not that tough. The main shooting mechanics are very simple and leave a lot of empty room for creativity, which is never used. Simply shoot the girls, avoid their “attacks,” like receiving love letters a little bit too assertively or getting hit by flying Japanese symbols expressing their love for you, and then move on. It you don’t care for the fan service, then the gameplay will quickly get old for you, which is why I don’t recommend you binge on this game, despite it being very short.
[I originally posted this review on The Buttonsmashers. You can read the rest of the review
by clicking here or just listening to the video version above.]
Game Review – Gal Gun: Double Peace
0Short Version: It’s alright. It’s not great, but it’s definitely not a bad game either. If you love fan service like I do, then you’ll like it, but it’s pretty tame on that front as well. The art style is great, but music is generic and forgettable. The story is lighthearted and fun, though a bit bland at times. Even then, it has some pretty pleasant surprises scattered all around that are worth seeing at least once. Go get it if you ever find it on a sale for a discounted price, or you can even rent it, which I think might be better.
Long Version: When I played the Japanese demo for Gal Gun: Double Piece on my PS Vita, I had a pretty good time, but I felt that the time I spent with it was a good enough fill for me. Because of this, I wondered if there was more to the full game than this very simplified and relatively slow on-rails shooter featuring high school girls getting shot with pheromones until they reach euphoria. After playing the game for a good while now, and beating it multiple times, I can say that there are a couple things here that might keep you interested, but most of the game is repetitive and a little dull after a while.
Locked And Loaded
Gal Gun: Double Piece is the sequel to the original PlayStation 3 Japanese game Gal Gun, which never came out in North America. Minus a couple references to past events sprinkled around the game, you don’t need to play it in order to understand what’s going on in the sequel. Basically, you are a faceless, voice actor-deprived high school student that gets shot with an overdose of love arrows by the angel Ekoro. Thanks to this, every single girl in school is in love with you, but it comes with a catch. If you can’t find your true love by sundown, you are destined to be lonely and unloved forever. That’s basically what the story boils down to, with not a lot of complexity beyond that.
When it comes to Double Piece’s narrative, it is very entertaining to see that it doesn’t take itself seriously in any way; and when it does, it usually makes sense and makes those particular scenes slightly more memorable, though that may be me being a bit too generous. If you are a fan of anime in general, you’ll be pretty well versed in the types of clichés and stereotypes you tend to come across on a regular basis, which happen to be fully present in Double Piece. While the cast isn’t particularly large, all the characters can be traced back to some sort of stereotype save for some subtle changes and differences. However, these small surprises in the story are not enough to truly make these characters shine in the way that I can totally see, had they not relied on such tired templates. On the other hand, if it weren’t for those things, the comedic and lighthearted atmosphere probably would not have worked if the story got too complex or crowded in conflict; so in a way, I can forgive that. These are very simple love stories, which I can appreciate to a certain extent, since none are drowned in the typical melodrama that most anime series might have, in favor of a much more comedic and banter-focused approach.
The Only Kind Of School Shooting I’m Okay With
While you’re not busy going through visual novel-style dialogue scenes and making dialogue choices that will affect your standing with all the girls, you’ll be shooting pheromone shots at all the high school girls who want a piece of you, which is pretty fun, but it gets repetitive after a while. It is pretty entertaining seeing all of these anime high school girls fall over with pleasure or find different ways to reach you with comedic effect, but after a while, you’ve seen it all and wish for something new to happen. Going back to my experiences with the Japanese demo, I remember playing about 3 levels and a small mini-game before the demo ended, and I felt that was more than enough time spent on the game for one session. After playing through Double Piece multiple times, I can safely say that this game is better played in short spurts at around the same length that I described for the demo.
There are a couple of mini-games and boss fights involved, but the way you deal with all of that boils down to the same thing. The game doesn’t do enough to shake things up or feel like your ever being challenged, since the game is fairly slow and easy. Even playing the game on higher difficulties is not that tough. The main shooting mechanics are very simple and leave a lot of empty room for creativity, which is never used. Simply shoot the girls, avoid their “attacks,” like receiving love letters a little bit too assertively or getting hit by flying Japanese symbols expressing their love for you, and then move on. It you don’t care for the fan service, then the gameplay will quickly get old for you, which is why I don’t recommend you binge on this game, despite it being very short.
[I originally posted this review on The Buttonsmashers. You can read the rest of the review by clicking here or just listening to the video version above.]Game Review – Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X
Game Review – Touhou Genso Rondo Bullet Ballet