 Platform: Steam / PS Vita Players: 1 Do you like your dungeon crawler JRPGs filled with scantily clad anime girls? What if those girls were seven "delinquents" in a so-called "reformation program" located in Hell Spire? Well if this is something that interests you then you might want to take a look at "Criminal Girls: Invite Only", newly released on Steam, from developer Nippon Ichi Software Inc. and published by NIS America. Note: The game, and by extension this review, contains adult scenes and might be more than a little NSFW. You have been warned.  Our lovely cast at the Infirmary, where a lot of the game's central actions take place. Criminal Girls: Invite Only has a somewhat long release story. It was originally a PSP title that pushed the envelope regarding the level of lewd, "ecchi" content that could be seen in a major console/handheld release. This type of content was usually reserved for the PC market and it opened the doors to several other games like it in the following years. It was re-released/remade for the PS Vita with some new additions as well as differences in the control scheme to make use of the Vita's touch screen and rear touch pad. This version received a US release last year and it is now making its way to the PC via Steam. I already outlined in brief what the game is about, but to elaborate a little further this game's central focus is to guide these seven girls through four trials and out of the dreaded Hell Spire. Along the way you build up your characters by "motivating" them. This is done by suppressing various "temptations" using items like a switch, an electric prod, a feather duster, and others. These basically play out as timed minigames and actually make up a substantial part of the gameplay time. In these scenes the girls are placed in outfits that leave very little to the imagination and we see the girls in various states of duress and undress. This leads me to my next point that I'm going to get out of the way now: changes between the US and Japanese versions of the game. First, let me get it out of the way that I will be reviewing this game based solely on what is present in the US version and not what isn't. That is only fair and I am only bringing this up to avoid any confusion from those familiar with this game's storied history. Second, the purpose of this review is to examine the release on Steam and I will not list or note any changes made in localization. There are many sources where that information can be found, such as HERE). Now, with that out of the way, let's jump into the review proper!
Let's take a look at presentation first since this is what will probably draw a lot of people initially to this game. Graphics in Criminal Girls are a mixed bag. The CGs and character portraits are amazing, as are the Live 2D illustrations in the motivation scenes, but are questionable elsewhere. My one real complaint about the art in the aforementioned Live 2D Motivation scenes is the fact that they are all at least partially obscured with a pink mist that can never be completely removed. This means that some of the game's best, and probably most iconic art, can never be viewed as intended. Elsewhere the game's graphics are serviceable at best. The vast majority of this game is a dungeon crawler and the main character models and backgrounds offer little in the way of pleasing eye candy. They are reminiscent of 32-bit pixel-based RPGs, but seem to be from a different era in gaming; definitely not on par with similar efforts on either the Vita or Steam. There are also some issues regarding details when played on the higher resolution settings. This isn't to say all the in-game visuals are bad and that they don't have their moments, they simply make the main section of the game look somewhat bland in comparison to the art found elsewhere. Monster designs are equally mixed and I can't help but feel that many are in a completely different style than the rest of the game. Thankfully this mainly applies only to the generic monsters, as many of the bosses have far more unique designs. This game also makes heavy uses of palette swaps in the monster designs, and while this isn't uncommon in the genre, the differences here (or lack thereof) make it hard sometimes to see the difference between it and a much weaker version of the same monster.
Looking into sound we get an equally uneven experience. There are some decently atmospheric tracks in the dungeons and the opening theme is quite good, but most of the music is simply forgettable. I honestly can't recall one piece of music from the game outside of playing it. Actually, there is one exception to this; the music that plays during the Motivation scenes. This simple repeating song is heard many times in the game and makes an already questionable minigame (more on this later) actually become boring. It doesn't help that these scenes are completely silent except for this piece and some sound effects. Nothing like smacking one with a switch, or submitting them to electric shock or tickling and they don't make even the slightest sound... I was also disappointed by the battle themes and felt that they also didn't properly get one pumped for some of these epic fights; basically the themes you really don't want to be boring. Not everything in the sound department is negative though, this game has some amazing voice talent and is fully voiced throughout. There are some really funny bits throughout this game and when I said it was voiced throughout I wasn't just talking about the obvious cut scenes and gameplay dialogue. There is colorful banter between the characters during battle and even when just traversing the dungeons. Unfortunately much of the battle dialogue is left untranslated, but it's amusing for those who are able to understand it. This amazing voice work saved the game from being played with the volume switched off really and its omission in the motivation scenes is probably what made those scenes practically unbearable.
Moving onto to gameplay I have to address the biggest thing about this game, the Motivation minigames. These will take up maybe a quarter of your total game time or more, so they're really worth discussing in-depth. These motivation scenes are necessary to play the game as they unlock skills, even simple commands such as attack. That's right until you smack the girl's temptations away with a switch they won't even be able to attack in battle. Besides things like attacking this is also where you unlock their skills, spells, etc. basically where all the actual character building is made. There is a level system based on experience when fighting monsters, but that is just for stat and HP boosts. Each motivation item/minigame has four levels to it and they get progressively more difficult as you go up each level. Also the amount of pink mist that covers the character illustration lessens as this level increases. At the first level you're greeted by nothing but mist and it's not until levels three and four that you can really even see what is going on. It's important to note that at no point does the mist ever completely disappear. I have no idea why this mist was made so thick in the lower levels as it makes the minigames almost pointless at first as you're performing actions over pink clouds with no connection to "motivation", gameplay, or anything. Now since this game is very similar to the PS Vita version these scenes were planned out with a touch screen in mind. Let's talk real fast about the controls. They are standard and work fine and this game supports not only keyboard and mouse, but also gamepads. I played with a USB controller, but realized quickly that the motivation minigames are all but unplayable with a controller as they were designed with direct input you can't really perform with a controller. You pretty much can only get far in these with the mouse. Thankfully the game is able to switch between input devices on the fly and you can switch to the mouse for these when they begin. With that said, even with the greater control the mouse brings there seems to be input lag or poor hit detection that keeps the control from being anything near perfect. I could never get a perfect score using the switch no matter how many times I tried for example. These minigames actually have some other problems besides the controls though...
I mentioned that all the true character building is made using these motivations and that means you spend a lot of time doing them. In my opinion it's far too much time. Each take a few minutes to complete and you have to complete the games at least twice for each level meaning you have to complete each about 8-9 times to complete each motivation item's skill tree. Multiply this by the number of motivation items and then by the number of characters and you'll see what I meant when I said you'll be spending a quarter of your time, at the very least, in these minigames. This wouldn't be so bad if they were more enjoyable, but they are really anything but. I am sure some will disagree with them not being fun in the least, but let me explain a bit. Remember how I said these scenes were completely silent and were almost completely obscured by pink mist at the lower levels? Well that means that for about half of each motivation item's skill tree you're going to be basically clicking/dragging/etc. at pink clouds with no real idea of what you're doing or even why. You get no reaction from anything beyond the points at the minigame's completion and if you mess up too much you might have to play the game more times then you really had to. About five hours into the game, I found these a chore and started to dread leveling up the characters and getting them their skills. I actually wish there was a way to skip these like by paying the in-game price and simply get the skill at the end. You actually do earn a set amount of points regardless of how you perform in these games though and towards the end of the game I didn't even play the Motivation games; I just let them end with the worst possible results which still got me half the points. It took me twice as long, but also saved my sanity. I know I said I wasn't going to discuss the changes made to the US version of the game, but the fact is that most of them were made here and in this one case I can't help but wonder if these scenes would have been better, or at least more tolerable, in their original state. It saddens me that I didn't enjoy these minigames more are they are basically the only thing that keeps this above the dozens of other standard JRPG dungeon crawlers out there. Motivation scenes aside, Criminal Girls: Invite Only is a dungeon crawler and thankfully in this department it doesn't falter. Graphics aside, which I felt held back certain elements like random battles, the core gameplay is fun and addicting. You start with four characters and gain three more early on after traversing the game's levels a bit. All seven of your party members are interchangeable at any time of the game, both in the dungeon and in-battle. This leads to the use of tactics like bringing in stat boosting characters then switching them out for strong fighters, removing a character who is near death, and other things like that. There is a steep difficulty curve that rewards one for grinding here, but this is to be expected in this genre and the battle system can be pretty enjoyable so it's not really a negative point. Skills, chain attacks, and the already mentioned in-battle banter mean that the frequency of fights doesn't necessarily lead to boredom in this game. This is a welcome plus especially in light of the faults already mentioned in the Motivation scenes and honestly kept me playing this game until the end. There are a lot of switch puzzles and fetch quests, but thankfully these are mostly kept fun with the humorous dialogue. There are also "Girl's Order" missions, which are unlocked after completing various levels of Motivation, that have you revisit past areas and perform various side quests which also keep the gameplay from becoming too stale. It is worth mentioning that the battle system is not traditional turn-based, in that you can't choose commands from a set list of all available skills, but instead from certain pre-determined ones the game chooses for you on each turn. It's hard to explain here, but this system actually adds a level of randomness (though it isn't truly completely random) to the game that keeps you on your toes in battles.
Lastly we'll take a look at the story. The seven girls: Kisaragi, Alice, Ran, Sako, Yuko, Tomoe, and Shin all have their own unique characters and reasons there are currently imprisoned within the Hell Spire with no one girl really being more central than the others. I actually didn't think these characters would be much beyond two dimensional stereotypes, but was pleased to discover that they had their own motivations and quirks, however silly they may be. They also have their own ways of dealing/interacting with each other and you. I mention the "you" since you are in fact taking on the character of their instructor even though your role is largely unseen and was often forgotten by myself. Even though I've complained about this kind of thing in other similar titles, I think this game could have benefited from a more fleshed out main character whose role you assumed rather than a blank shell you control, but that isn't a deal breaker by any means. The story itself though is rather thin and more a means to interact with the girl's than anything else. In this respect it succeeds admirably. It does have its share of twists and turns, but these are sometimes predictable. One doesn't usually play this type of game or genre looking for an engaging story though, so this isn't a major fault. That being said, replayability is actually decently high as different endings can be attained and there are several unlockables that are available post game that can keep you playing if the Motivation minigames didn't chase you away already. The Steam version also carries over the Vita's trophies in the form if achievements and these were always a joy to collect. Now if only this game had Steam trading cards... There you have it. Criminal Girls: Invite Only is a somewhat flawed experience whose defining game mechanic is plagued by odd choices and alterations that leave it almost unbearable and at times even unplayable. At its core though, it is a dungeon crawler and if that's what you're looking for then you could do far worse than this one. While I can't fully recommend this game to everyone, I do think that there is something here for fans of dungeon crawlers, or even JRPG fans in general, even though many might be put off by the Motivation scenes, both in terms of their content and in the changes made. I give credit to NIS America for bringing over a game that on paper seems like it would never be able to be brought in the West. Anyhow, this game is available right now on Steam and there is a sequel that will be also be coming our way later in 2017... You can check out Criminal Girls: Invite Only now on Steam at the link below! http://store.steampowered.com/app/409850/ -Manuel (alavic_222) Graphics: GREAT- Sound: GOOD- Gameplay: GOOD+ Value: GOOD+ OVERALL: GOOD FULL DISCLOSURE: This game was provided to A-To-J Connections free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of review. Criminal Girls: Invite Only Trailer (PS Vita) |
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