Panty Party

Panty Party provides a ridiculous story, funny dialogue, and repetitive but entertaining combat. Still, it suffers from uncomfortable situations and humor that appear as over-sexualization of minors.

Panty Party is not unenjoyable. Don’t be tricked into thinking you’ll be ogling barely dressed girls – the panties themselves are the stars here. Bayonetta is an infinitely more alluring proposition in absolutely every way, but Panty Party’s hack-and-slash style gameplay isn’t without merit and there’s a certain bizarre joyfulness to it. It’s mostly-harmless, repetitive nonsense that you’ll blow through in an afternoon, but we’d be lying if we said it didn’t raise a grin or two through its sheer WTF-ness.

The concept of Panty Party is hilarious, though once you move past making jokes about finally getting your hands on Hatsune Miku's underwear, the humour of the game doesn't exactly sustain itself either.

Panty Party’s eShop listing has a warning that the game does not feature any hentai content, but I honestly feel like it would be better if it did; at least a hentai game has an obvious audience with a clear purpose. As it is now, this game just isn’t dumb enough or openly degenerate enough to have any real appeal. It’s a dumb story that takes itself too seriously to laugh at but not seriously enough to be engaged in, and the gameplay is too boring to keep from getting old after just a handful of chapters. I cannot imagine who Panty Party’s audience is because it seems to be trying to coast entirely on curiosity born from its bizarre high concept.

Given the title, Panty Party doesn't really throw a lot curveballs. Seeing as how each pair of undies has their own strengths and weaknesses, there's actually a bit of depth to the action. As long as players make effective use of cover and manage their stamina, they can avoid getting shredded to pieces. The three modes of play are also appreciated. However, the camera is a constant nuisance. Aiming is really unreliable, and the lock-on isn't great, either. Then there's all of the lolicon garbage, which has no place anywhere. Altogether, this is a strange and only somewhat amusing game. It just can't quite reach its full potential.