Gal*Gun 2 – Nintendo Switch Review

Overview – developed by Inti Creates and published by PQube, Gal*Gun 2 is the third entry in the bishōjo rail shooter series that combines frantic action and dating sim mechanics. Team up with the angel Risu, fight demons to save the female students and teachers of the academy, while also dealing with some problems in the protagonist’s personal life. This title is available for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Windows, links to each version of the game will be available at the bottom of this review.

Disclaimer: this title was chosen for review as part of a poll for anime month on the site. The software used was purchased independently and is part of my personal collection. I want to thank every person who interacted with the poll and voted to see the game they wanted covered, more polls will appear soon.

Mature Content Warning: Gal*Gun 2 is a mature rated title, there is sexual content, imagery and innuendo featured throughout. If you are under the recommended age guideline for this title as presented by the relevant rating boards, or if you find any of the content included in this release inappropriate/offensive, please proceed at your own discretion.

Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review, starting off with the story.

Story – the plot of Gal*Gun 2 revolves around a nameless male student at Sakurazaki Academy. One day while sat at his desk, the protagonist finds an unfamiliar application on his phone, upon opening the app a box appears in front of him containing a headset and an unusual object that looks like a hair dryer. After putting the headset on, an angel appears in front of the protagonist and informs them that they have been chosen to fight demons in the academy. Now, the protagonist has 20 days to get rid of the demonic presence, with failure resulting in the demons taking over the school.

Gameplay – the core focus of Gal*Gun 2 is stationary rail gun shooting, using a special gun to subdue girls that attack from all sides with the Pheromone Shot. While the player is stationary, they can still look around with full 360 degree movement, giving a first person shooter style to the action. Over the course of the 20 days that the player has to exorcise all the demons, they take on missions to help progress the story and earn points.

During each day, two missions are available to play with one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Stages are made up of several objective types, with the most common being a traditional enemy elimination mode. The player battles waves of possessed girls who must be subdued with the Pheromone Shot, moving from position to position when all the girls are purified, working towards the goal of the stage.

The possessed girls will try to attack the player head on and from a distance, touching and screaming at the protagonist to deal damage to them. When exorcising the girls indicators can flash on screen, showing a weak point for the player to hit and cleanse the girl immediately, a special Doki-Doki shot can be activated by charging up a meter by zooming in on a girls eyes. A successful charge shot also has the capability to purge all demons in the immediate area, making for a risky tactic with a big reward.

At preset points during a stage, girls with visible demons attached to them will appear, with the player needing to shoot them off before saving the girl. These demons that get shot can be sucked up by the Pheromone Shot using a feature called the demon sweeper, a limited use skill that can be charged by shooting demons and sucking up angel puffs hidden in the stage. Be aware, after enough progress has been made, upgrades for the sweeper can be unlocked giving the player the ability to suck up clothes as well as demons.

When a stage has been cleared, the points are totaled up for all girls that have been exorcised. Bonus points will be applied for the demons that have been captured by the player, split into four categories depending on their strength. The points are the added to the players Demon Buster Score, with progress for the next story mission being opened at specific point totals. As well as the points earned in stages, special item rewards can be earned during the course of the game.

Alongside the story missions, the player can take on additional side/free challenges to earn extra points and rewards. The side missions provide additional narrative details, with some of them requiring specific requirements to unlock. The free missions are optional stages that the player can take on with little impact on the plot, allowing for a more relaxed approach to be taken to these challenges. The free/side missions also provide additional rewards based on their difficulty so take advantage of them.

Between stages, the player is able to interact with various characters, starting with the angel Risu, classmate/childhood friend Nanako and neighbor Chiru. As the narrative progresses more characters will arrive depending on the choices made by the player, with some adding more layers to the flow of the story. Additional girls can be unlocked to interact with by clearing the additional stages, allowing the player to interact with them in different ways in a manner similar to a traditional dating sim.

When interacting with the characters, the option to give them candy is present increasing their affection towards the protagonist. As more candy is given to the girls, special events will trigger depending on the character. These events can be simple story segments or interactive scenes that ramp up the fanservice, giving the player the option to touch the girls in lewd ways. The other interactions that the protagonist can have with the girls encountered are something that I feel should be experienced firsthand, so I will be omitting those details from the review.

The last thing I want to talk about is the collectables that can be unlocked during play. At the end of each in game day, the protagonist returns home to their room before beginning the next day. Throughout the course of the game, the player can collect items to decorate their room with posters, figurines and set pieces that can be arranged freely. The collectables and other rewards provide a lot of value to this release, giving players more reasons to return to the game several times.

Now with the gameplay covered, I will be moving onto the other aspects of the game, starting with the controls.

Controls – the controls for this release are comfortable in both handheld and docked play, using either a pro controller or Joy-Cons. The movement works well, allowing the player to turn in a full 360 degrees with smooth aiming and precise shooting. Gal*Gun 2 also supports the use of motion controls to varying degrees, allowing for full motion controls for the entire game, minimal use when using the zoom and off completely. The inputs are also customizable, allowing players to modify most aspects of the controls to fit their own play style.

Difficulty – the challenge for this title is fair and balanced, with a gradual difficulty curve that increases over time. This slow building challenge gives the opportunity for players to take their time, playing the less demanding stages over to practice and improve skills. The punishment for failure isn’t a stumbling block, when defeated by the girls attacks or if the timer expires the player can restart the stage from the beginning without losing momentum, even if it is from the starting point.

Presentation – visually Gal*Gun 2 is a beautiful game, with vibrant anime style visuals, colors that pop and adorable (yet spooky) chibi models for the demons. The quality of this title shines during the interaction events, featuring lewd animations and CG art that is expertly crafted adding to the fanservice. The framerate and performance is smooth, with zero lag when played in both TV and handheld game modes, especially when using the motion controls.

The soundtrack is a treat to listen to both inside and out of the game. when booting up the game, the game hits the ground running with the opening them, a fast paced J-Pop/Rock track and then transitions into a happy menu theme that had me tapping my foot the entire time. The rest of the music is comprised of bright melodies and brooding tracks that contrast well. The voice over for this title is Japanese only, however this doesn’t detract from the experience as the acting feels natural and fits the tone presented during the game.

Final Thoughts – overall, I had a lot of fun playing this game, I had it in my backlog for a long time and needed a reason to play it, which I am really glad I did. Again, thank you to everyone who participated in the poll and voted for the game they wanted to be covered. The action is paced well even if it is frantic at times, with controls that fit the gameplay style and the switch in all gameplay modes. The content on offer is well worth the price asked both new and second hand, so check it out if you can.

I can easily recommend this release to fans of rail shooters, dating sim style games and fanservice anime in general. The presentation, sound and overall quality of the package is outstanding. However, there are a few minor flaws that could possibly put a dampener on the experience, with gameplay possibly becoming repetitive and the level of fanservice being tasteless to some. That being said, this is a fun game and I am looking forward to seeing Gal*Gun returns in 2021.

In the end, I give Gal*Gun 2 a final score of 4.5/5. The action is paced well, the presentation a delight and the fanservice element is entertaining. Gal*Gun 2 provides a lot of content in an inexpensive package, with plenty of additional DLC content if you want to add a more risqué element to the experience. If you want to check this game out for yourself, links to each version of the game will be available below.

Link to Nintendo Switch version (HERE)

Link to PlayStation 4 version (HERE)

Link to Steam version (HERE)