People think the life of a game reviewer is all fun, but that’s not always the case. Editors get games sent to them by publishers, and they, in turn, assign the games to staff writers. Writers sometimes get a say in what they play, and other times, games just appear in our inboxes with an embargo date and a “good luck” message. In the case of Gal*Gun 2, I needed more than luck. Within the first 10 minutes of this on-rails shooter, I began to realize what it was that I was playing, and not only did I feel incredibly dirty, but I swear I could hear my editor laughing from 2,000 miles away [for the record, I had a feeling you did not know what you were signing up for when you agreed to review – Editor].
Gal*Gun 2 is the full sequel to the original that released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (and later a version appeared on the PS4 and PS Vita). The newest game in the series eschews most societal norms, thrusting players into the role of a teenage boy in high school, giving him a gun called a Pheromone Shot, which is then used to shoot young girls until they fall to the ground at his feet in complete love with him. And not just young girls, but female teachers and staff too. Apparently, a demon has infected the girls with a virus that makes them love the hero so much that they will hurt him, so he must use the Pheromone Shot to cure them and keep that obsessive love pure. At least, that’s what I think is going on here.
As you’ve probably surmised by now, the game plays very loose with the subject matter. As the possessed girls swarm you, ready to beat you to death with love letters and jealous slaps, the player shoots them with the pheromones, giving you bonuses for hitting the girls in the chest and crotch areas, further removing any sense of decency that a game like this may have had. When not shooting girls with your love gun (let’s call it what it is), the player can interact with certain female friends to develop “real” relationships with, and that entails feeding them sweets, like chocolates and poki-poki sticks, until they tell you to stop.
Gal*Gun 2 brings back the once banned Doki Doki mode, which means that the player will be seeing a plethora of pre-pubescent panty shots during the course of this twisted adventure. The majority of the game is made up of main quest and side missions that will send the player all over the school grounds — even to the girls’ shower. During main missions, an Angel tasks you with collecting demon points, by sucking up the possessing demons that you shoot off the unsuspecting girls. The Pheromone Shot also has a vacuum mode, called a Demon Sweeper, so you can suck the girls too. I swear I’m not making any of this up.
As the story goes on, the hero can even choose what outfits the girls in school wear as they swarm him with their rampant lust, only to then suck the clothes off of them with his Demon Sweeper. This whole game feels like the wet dream of a 14-year-old boy, who was raised in a baptist household. But even worse than the game’s lewd subject matter, is the simple fact that the minute-to-minute gameplay is flat-out boring, and no amount of titillating visuals will change that.
If Gal*Gun 2 has some redeeming value, it comes in the form of the gorgeous visuals, as the art and color pop off the screen and the character models are cute. I feel bad even saying that after riffing on the overly sexual, and barely legal nature of the game for 500+ words, but as a fan of anime, Gal*Gun 2 looks good — even while doing seemingly questionable things when playing it.
I guess we can applaud that a subversive title like Gal*Gun 2 is on the Nintendo Switch, in addition to the Playstation 4. Nintendo has always been known for wholesome, family entertainment, and this is not that. Not even close. This is a game that requires a shower after each play session, and possibly some eye bleach. I get cultural differences, and in games like the Persona series, we here in the west are subjected to some ideas and situations that seem strange. Gal*Gun 2 is not just strange; it’s on a whole new level of weird, one that hasn’t been categorized yet. And that’s good or bad, depending on your personal level of perversion. And that’s for you to decide.
This review is based on the Nintendo Switch version of the game. A review copy was provided to us by PQube.
Published: Apr 15, 2018 11:00 am