If you’re a fan of slice of life or romantic comedy anime
series Gal*Gun: Double Peace is basically anime nerd wish fulfillment since the
whole premise revolves around getting chased by hordes of cute anime
schoolgirls who all want to confess their love to you. The way you defend
yourself (lol) is by shooting them with a pheromone shot in gameplay that mixes
a rail shooter with a dating sim. The result is an appealing premise with
acceptably enjoyable gameplay marred a bit by just how far the game is willing
to go in the name of lewdness. Anime fans will definitely dig it overall. See
all of the details in our full Gal*Gun: Double Peace PS4 review.Game Details
- Publisher: PQube
- Developer: Inti Creates
- ESRB Rating: “M” for Mature
- Genre: Rail Shooter
- Pros: Cute girls; lighthearted fun; replay value
- Cons: No Move controls; Doki Doki mode is really, really pervy
- MSRP: $30
Gal*Gun: Double Peace’s story revolves around a high school
student who is shot with a love arrow by an angel that makes all of the girls
in the school instantly fall madly in love with him. The boy has just one day
to choose one as his true love, however, or he’ll be cursed to never find love
again. All sorts of anime tropes are present – childhood friends, angels,
demons, band girls, and more.
He has to find his real true love, though, and if the
“wrong” girls confess to him it damages his HP. As far as the gameplay goes,
Gal*Gun plays like an oldschool rail shooter light gun game – minus the light
gun. Previous gen games in the series used the PlayStation Move motion
controls, but Double Peace on PS4 does not. This means the game instead
automatically scrolls through 3D levels and you move a cursor around the screen
to shoot girls and hidden items as they pop up around the screen. It plays OK, but it is easy to see that it would be better with an actual light gun or Move controller.
The “bullets” you shoot at the girls are pheromone shots
that put them in a state of ecstasy and calm them down so they stop chasing
you. Different girls are more vulnerable in different parts of their bodies
(imagine where) and some girls are also controlled by little demons that you
have to shoot first before the pheromones take effect.
When things get really crazy you can activate Doki Doki Mode
which is, honestly, really pervy and exploitative. Basically, Doki Doki Mode is
an isolated event where you and a girl (or three) go into a sort of slo-mo time
bubble where you rub a cursor on the girls butts and boobs and other parts of
their body to the point they go wild and explode with a super rush of
pheromones that act like a grenade and subdue all the girls around them. I …
can’t decide if I like it or not. It’s so pervy and over the top that you just
feel sort of gross. But at the same time, I have a dumb (probably creepy) grin
while I do it.
The general gameplay rhythm is still pretty fun overall,
though. Quickly moving the cursor around and taking out waves of girls is fun
and keeping your eye out for hidden items – that get turned in at the end of a
level for extra money so you can buy new upgrades and abilities in the school
store – is enjoyable. The girls are all cute. The gameplay is genuinely fun.
And doing Doki Doki Mode once in a while is a pervy reward. There are multiple
paths through the game as you can choose to pursue different girls as your one
true love so that, combined with hidden items, gives the game a decent bit of
replay value.
The presentation is fairly good overall. The backgrounds are
pretty simplistic and low detail, but the characters have a distinct anime
style and are very cute. The sound is also good with Japanese voice acting and
some really catchy music.
All in all, as long as you aren’t uncomfortable with how
pervy the whole premise is, Gal*Gun: Double Peace is a unique and fun game for
anime fans. I’m not sure it’s really worth he current $30 MSRP – I bought it
during a PSN sale for $8 which is a lot easier to accept – but it’s definitely
worth picking up for anime fans when it hits a price you’re happy with. Also
good news - Gal*Gun 2 is coming out in 2018.
