Gal*Gun Returns

If you’re going into Gal*Gun looking for some voyeurism, then you’re playing it wrong. At the same time, if you go in without a strong stomach for fan service then it’s going to throw you out too. Gal*Gun is for people who enjoy a kind of hyperbolic satire that borders on the transgressive and enjoy light gun shooters. It’s almost a dead genre these days, but Gal*Gun Returns is, all things considered, an example of it at its best.

The Gal*Gun franchise returns to its origins with a remaster of its first game that improves several aspects but still has the same issues. A shooter for a very specific type of player who will surely enjoy it.

I’m sure most people will have made up their minds about Gal*Gun Returns based on the game’s own tagline, or even just a few screenshots. There’s no doubt it is of niche appeal, but those of us who appreciate these sorts of absurd and bombastic stories will find an enjoyable comedic romp with a lot of replay value.

It's certainly not a great light gun style experience but Gal Gun Returns is currently the best that the series has to offer. So, if you want to zoom in on anime girls, look up their skirts, and have some fun in the process, you should definitely give it a go.

If you can put yourself in an academic, emotionless state of mind, there really is some fun to be had, arguably moreso than in Gal*Gun 2. But you do have to wade through some…questionable…content.

Gal Gun Returns isn’t a bad game. Had we not been spoiled with the better sequels, one could even argue that it’s quite good for what it sets out to do: embarrass the gamer if they play it in front of other people while having some decent, if simple, gameplay. There’s enjoyment to be had, but with the sequels easily available, this is a title that can only be recommended to completionists. Someone jumping in fresh to Gal Gun Returns would be better served jumping ahead to one of the more fully fleshed-out entries.

Gal*Guns Returns is a so-so remaster of a tedious on-rails shooter that features dull, unchallenging and highly repetitive action set against a cringe-worthy story that's neither titillating or in any other way engaging. This is a very short and basic game for the asking price, and one that it's hard to see anyone outside of hardened (no pun intended) Gal*Gun fans deriving even the slightest amount of enjoyment from.