Game Review | Gal*Gun 2
When I got my Nintwndo switch it was for the purpose of playing one particular game (Xenoblade Chronicles 2). Ahhh that beautiful, majestic JRPG goodness… how I miss it. So why have I been playing so many other titles and not Xenoblade Chronicles 2? Well it’s because I didn’t just get the switch for XC2. I also got it for doing reviews. Reviews that I assumed would mostly be of the family friendly variatity. You know like Mario…. Mario… umm
I can’t think of any other family friendly games atm, but you know what I mean. Anywho, I was wrong, veeeery wrong, and I’m happy that I was. If not we wouldn’t have gotten such pleasant surprises as Metropolis: Lux Obscura, and now GalGun 2 for Switch. This sequel to the titular GalGun: Double Piece follows closely after the plot of the previous game with improvements to every aspect of the gameplay.
In this sequel your character is chosen by an angel to defeat demons afflicting adorable school girls. Each girl is unique in her own way with regards to design and voice acting. They have their own likes and dislikes, quarks and personality traits that separate them from each other quite nicely. These unique additions don’t really change much about the girls during gameplay, but it does add some extra depth to the game.
In short Gal*Gun 2 is a solid game and an improvement on its predecessor.
Oh but I know that’s not really what you guys want to know. I know what you truly want to know about this title, and it’s not related to personalities one bit. Well allow me to put your mind at ease. Yes, the game is the same as it is on all other platforms. It’s totally uncensored and ecchi as hell. So if you get it on the switch you’ll have all the pantsu shots your heart desires and then some.
It’s still an on-rails shooter with a heavy focus on fanservice friendly content. What this means is that if you didn’t fancy the gameplay in the first game, you may not like it in this one. The main changes from the previous game are an addition of 2 more modes, and improvements to your pheromone weapons. The two new modes include a defend mode where you are tasked with protecting groups of girls from mini demons. I found this mode to be tedious at first, especially when having to protect multiple groups at the same time while managing a timer. The strangest thing though is that when playing it on new game plus it was much more manageable.
This is unfortunate because I don’t think a mode should need to wait till the second playthrough to get good. The other other new mode is a scavenger hunt type mode putting the player in situations to collect particular items while avoiding the girls. This mode was also a bit tedious during my initial playthrough, while being better in new game plus. These new modes allow for a welcomed variety, but none are as good as the main mode. In a way they’re more like distractions to mix things up a bit between the regular mode.
As for how the game plays, Gal*Gun 2 controls very nicely with the options for joysticks or motion controls. I particularly liked the joystick controls because I tend to play in very stationary locations. This included playing this game in taxis and on the loo, both not places you’d want to be moving around a lot. It should be noted that you will need to increase the camera sensitivity all the way and use the d-pad for quick 90° turns, but that’s perfectly fine.
In the game you are required to shoot girls approaching you to confess their love (What the heck Japan… are you guys afraid of ladies over there?). Anywho the game allows the player to shoot the girls either multiple times, or once in a sensitive zone. Each girl has a different weak spot allowing for some easy takedowns if you know where to shoot. Your character is also equipped with a suction device to suck up mini demons, and later strip the girls of their clothing. Now the upgrade needed for this stripping option wasn’t quite clear to me so I had to seek some help figuring it out. It’s available from Chiru after you figure out her secret. To acquire it you’ll need to talk to her through the window and bring up the options menu to have her upgrade your device.
During the none shooting segments the player is able to interact with some of the girls. The ones you can interact with depends on if you’ve gained their number or not. Numbers are acquired by completing side or free quests. Depending on the quest you may gain one or more numbers. Once you have a girl’s number you are free to call her for private rendezvous. They can then be won over by giving them candy, yup candy. There are no dialogue sequences, no dating sim aspects, nope just candy. It doesn’t even matter what type you give them because you’ll almost always have more than enough. Just toss candy at them till you can’t anymore and vuala.
It’s also possible to customize the outfits of each of the girls as wells as the look of your room. These are all cosmetic is nature and don’t do anything to affect the gameplay. Upon completing each day you’ll receive boxes that filled with customization items. others can be obtained by completing specific quest and side quests.
Visually Gal*Gun 2 is a gorgeous looking game on the Nintendo Switch. I didn’t play the PS4 version, but I don’t think it’d look much better outside of better frame-rates. And when I say better frame-rates I mean 60fps instead of solid 30fps. The character models already look great, and so do the environments. My favorite being the pool. The way the light reflects reflects off the water is so splendid. It’s like watching anime in motion. In fact the entire game is like that, anime in motion.
The voice work in game is pretty solid and so is the music. As mentioned before this game very similar to watching anime and the audio is a big part of that. During the overarching plot you’ll primarily talk to 3 girls, each acting as a driving force and romantic interest. They do have a bit more depth that the regular girls, although you still toss candy at them to win them over. There are some dialogue choices available, but I didn’t find any of them changed the outcome of the game. Just spending time with each girl progresses the plot.
The difference between which girl you’ll ultimately win over comes down to which of their plot lines you complete first. It’s possible to do this long before the credits roll, but once you win one girl’s heart the others are locked off. This means that there is really no bad ending or mixed ending, just one of 3 main endings, that’s it. This adds replay value for those who wish to see every ending, but nothing more.
Final Verdict
Like I mentioned before, Gal*Gun 2 exceeds its predecessor in every way. It does this, but doesn’t reach the true heights I wish it would. The game’s focus is so heavy on the ecchi on rails shooting elements that it only offers surface level depth in it’s visual novel sections. This I believe ultimately prevents the game from being an easy suggestion. It’s more of a very good distraction rather than the main attraction it could be.
The copy of Gal*Gun 2 used for this review was provided to us by it’s publisher, PQube.
