On January 27, 2011, a very special Xbox 360 timeline exclusive was released in Japan, a game centered around a Japanese boy trying to win the girl of his dreams. This went straight into the pop culture world, not so much for its actual gameplay qualities, as for its own be provocative and with not a few explicit sexual references. Known as Gal * Gun and developed by Inti Creates, the work in question soon saw a port for PlayStation 3 but without any kind of western localization. However, the various sequels, spin offs and crossovers have even reached our territory, creating a real group of fans that has developed and expanded. Unfortunately, the original episode of the franchise has always failed to appeal and so, to celebrate thel XNUMXth anniversary since the release of the original, this February 12th Gal * Gun Returns arrives on Nintendo Switch e PC.
24 hours of an involuntary curse
The story tells of Tenzou Motesugi, a second year student of the Sakurazaki Academy, not very popular with girls. One day he is targeted by Patako. a novice cupid angel who unfortunately makes the huge mistake of shooting sixteen arrows of the heart instead of the classic single. Due to this, our hero became a real idol for any girl for at least twenty-four hours. All this would seem highly positive, were it not that after time runs out all the females on the planet will indisputably hate the good Tenzou. The only way to save yourself from this curse is find a sincere girlfriend before the time runs out, but even here the choice is difficult because he will have to confess his love to himself one of four of her only friends.
The narrative is so very simple and over the top, but nothing else can be expected from such a product. The script is not at all trivial, succeeding more than once in let out a laugh to the gamer. The team then preferred to do not enter no unpublished element linked to the plot, even presenting the usual voice actors that the Japanese were able to listen to ten years ago. This can be seen as a negative side, but it is obvious that the goal is to allow users to experience firsthand the original vision of the work in question. However, we report the translation into the only English language, although it is easy to understand and does not use highly complex words.
A one-of-a-kind pistol
Gal * Gun Returns is mainly structured in two stages of gameplay: the one from simple visual novel, and that from track shooter in first person. As soon as we begin the adventure, the sweet pink-haired Angela asks us for a small survey, in order to determine our mental and physical characteristics. These go to increase or decrease some of our characteristics such as intelligence, strength or perversion. Unfortunately, our features don't seem to change the final result much, making this mechanic nice, but explored exclusively on the surface. Immediately after we are asked the most important choice of the whole product, or if we want to confess the feelings of the protagonist ad Aoi Uno, Akira Hibuki, Kaname Nonomiya o Kaoruko Sakurazaki. All of them lead to gods unpublished campaigns which feature dialogues, boss battles, artwork and minigames that are completely different from each other. Gal * Gun Returns relies heavily on the replayability factor, enticing us to take any path possible. It is important to note that when we talk to each single girl it is possible to decide how to continue the dialogue and, based on our skill, in the end we will meet one of the three achievable endings. These are divided in the final bad, good and true, with the last one that provides a practically perfect (or almost) play by the gamer.
The side just described turns out to be only a part of the whole gameplay experience offered by Gal * Gun Returns, since in most of it you find yourself in shooter sections on rails. Unlike most of the products in this category, here we don't shoot to kill, but rather to excite. The gun that Patako offers to the protagonist throws bullets pheromone concentrates, that make anyone who is hit by it fall into a state of joy. Our hero is forced to use this technique because all the girls in his school, including some professors, attack him with powerful attacks such as declarations of love or letters with a little heart printed on them. Apparently none of her friends are affected by this magical power, thanks also to the power of the guardians. In normal levels we do not control our protagonist, if not the pointer of the gun that goes to hit anything that moves within our view. All enemies are divided according to their student year. In fact, those in the first year are weaker than the girls in the third, with teachers and representatives proving to be the most difficult obstacles to overcome. Fortunately every girl owns it its own weakness, that is what allows you to defeat them with a single blow thanks to the so-called ecstasy shot. However, this varies for each individual person, so to find out which point to hit there are mainly three methods: hitting at random and hoping to hit the right spot before he falls for joy, reading the descriptions of each one or entering the mode. Doki doki. The latter can be accessed once loaded the bar in the shape of a heart visible at the bottom right of the screen, and takes us inside a parallel world where we can calmly and carefully attack the body of the unfortunate. Here our goal is to complete an additional bar, visible on the left of the screen, so as to cause a real scream of joy, such as to affect all the girls who are on the screen. This mechanic certainly proves useful for defeating more powerful enemies in a simpler way than normal, but slows down the gameplay too much, almost to get bored soon. Also, it is not very clear why the Doki Doki affect features of our hero, so much so that after some time someone might even decide to completely ignore this feature.
The most popular of the institute
During the adventure, the boss battles cannot be missing, which can range from one of the four possible girlfriends to real monsters. The battles in question prove to be all too simple and always point to the usual and repeated mechanics, in which you have to hit something and then attack the various weak points highlighted. In general the difficulty proves to be the biggest problem in Gal * Gun Returns, since it is so simple to be played with your eyes closed. the only challenge may be to beat your scores in each match, but nothing more. The minigames, on the other hand, are those that offer variety, which, although not complex, offer different gameplay solutions, such as preventing cannonballs from hitting us or finding the right words for the next single from the pretty Aoi.
In addition to the main story, the Inti Creates package includes several secondary modes to further increase longevity. For starters, once any romance is complete, it can be played back in time attack, with no cutscenes in between, so you can achieve the highest possible score like in a good old school arcade game. Other than that, you can unlock or buy with in-game currency different artwork in the special gallery, as well as being able to change dress and analyze every single girl featured in Gal * Gun Returns. A very interesting additional modality concerns the Doki Doki Panic, that is the post game campaign of the product. Obtainable by reaching the real ending with at least one of the four possible girlfriends, here we play only in the aforementioned gameplay of "Doki Doki" but even making it on multiple targets at the same time. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a part with different fan service and nice dialogues, but with a gameplay that is immediately monotonous and that can not stand even that hour of its duration. There are also several paths here, further focusing on the replayability it can offer.
Fun but without novelty
In general, it is a real shame that this opportunity was not used to expand the original idea. We certainly have improved models come on all DLCs included in the package, but no new conquerable girls have been included, like perhaps the angels or any other of the school. Furthermore, even new enemies or gameplay sections would certainly not have hurt, so as to be able to increase a longevity that is not exactly the best. As it is now we find ourselves faced with a product that is certainly fun, but those who have already played the original work ten years ago may not find the reason to delve into this remastered. Instead, as far as the soundtrack is concerned, this one remained practically identical to the original, unless you are talking about the opening, completely recreated in the video and re-sung. The optimization of the PC version is also excellent, making it playable even with hardware that is not really performing.
