Hi all,
I remember that I mentioned to Love sometime back that I bought Science Girls! and that after I finished it, I would write a review here about it. I just finished the game earlier today and so it's time to give a review about it. (And yup, this is my first game review publicly. ^^)
(Now before I continue, I want to point out that this is a review and my opinion of the game. Some may agree with it while others may disagree. It's ok to disagree as long as it's voiced in a respectful manner.)
Science Girls! is a RPG (role-playing game) created by Hanako Games, the creator of Cute Knight and Fatal Hearts, among other games. This game is the first RPG that Hanako has created and I must say that I'm very impressed with it. Especially after I had finished playing it and looked at the credits, I became even more impressed.
So where do I start? lol At the start of the game, you play as a character, a psychology student in high school and president of the science club. It's just a normal day and school is over when all of a sudden, strange alien plant-like creatures invade the school and attack the teachers. Your playable character notices these creatures and decides that it's time to gather the other members of the science club. You have one of your science club members, Jennifer, accompany you and you two must explore the school to find the other members. While exploring the school, you may encounter battles with creatures (this is where the RPG element comes in). In total, if you include your playable character, you have up to six members in the science club. Now once you find them all, then it's time to explore a portal which will take you to where the creatures come from. (I won't reveal the rest of what happens. As the case is, it looks like I already revealed too much. lol)
So you may ask-What makes Science Girls! any different or more impressive than the other RPGs out there? Good question and I'll be happy to point them out. First off, Science Girls! was created with Ren'Py-this is the game engine used to make visual novel adventures such as Fatal Hearts. I was truly impressed when I found out about this because I had no idea that it was possible to create a RPG using that game engine. Also, the artwork for the game is spectacular. It's beautiful and I can tell that a lot of effort was put into making it. The people behind the game definitely did not cut corners to create the game. In addition, I like how each girl in the science club has her own unique special powers (they may be the equivalent of magic powers) and how once a girl levels up, she is given a power up point which can be used to increase the attribute of a girl, such as her health, accuracy of hitting the target, etc. I like this feature, as there are RPGs which don't allow for this. (Also, this reminds me a bit of how the Facebook games are in that they allow for allocation of points.) Also, it's not just a RPG-there are puzzles in the game that you need to use your brain to solve them. I can gush on and on about the game but the final benefit I'd like to point out is the cost of the game. It's only $10-a very low cost for a game and definitely worth the money. Once you complete the game, you'll have a feeling of satisfaction and definitely will not feel cheated. (I understand how important it is to get the most out of your money nowadays.) (Ahh and I almost forgot to mention that the game has easy, medium, and advanced difficulty levels for great replayability value.)
Now I only had a couple of criticisms about the game. First, I found that trying to avoid battling monsters, especially once the girls land in the alien world, was quite difficult. I was trying to navigate my character using the arrow keys and still found it difficult to do so. Also, I felt that there were a lot of monsters to battle, especially once in the alien world. I found myself battling more than exploring sometimes and it was a bit tiring. lol But other than that, I can't think of any other negatives.
Overall, Science Girls! is one of the best and beautiful RPGs I've encountered in some time and I encourage everyone to at least try out the demo. And the Hanako games forum is wonderful if you have questions or trouble getting through parts of the game. (Although I'll be more than happy to help anyone with the game here.) Try out the demo and see for yourself. ^^
Anime RPG-Science Girls!
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