Science Girls! Review

Imagine this: School's done for the day. You're about to head to an after school club activity, when BAM! Aliens invade your institute of higher learning. You, being the upstanding citizen that you are, do not call the authorities. That would be absurd. No, instead you (along with your science club pals) decide to wage war against the invaders. And you do battle with SCIENCE. Oh, yeah.

If this sounds a little absurd, that's fine (thinking that means you're a normal human being). The pure ridiculousness of the situation is one of the many endearing qualities of Science Girls, which starts out more or less in exactly that fashion.

Science Girls is an RPG that is a little different from the rest. For starters, it's in a modern setting with a bunch of schoolgirls as the characters. They all are experts in different scientific fields (chemistry, technology, psychology, etc.), which influences their attacks in battle. And the main character (who you name) wears a weird mask/sunglasses hybrid thing at all times, which I didn't understand.

The RPG battles aren't your typical battles: all six girls can be in battle at once, but only the three in the front of the formation can attack or be attacked (with some exceptions). You can switch a girl in the front with a girl in the back whenever you want during her turn, as many times as you want., until they attack. Also, every attack costs SP, even the basic "punch" command. This means that you have to carefully gauge when to use attacks, and how often.

The game is reasonably challenging, too. On the standard difficulty level, my party members were still dying and it was a lot of work just to keep the girls alive. At least healing party members was convenient. In a lot of RPGs, when a character's HP goes to zero, the only way to revive a fallen character is by getting a special "resurrection" item or taking them to a shrine or some rubbish. In Science Girls, the characters are simply unable to fight when they run out of HP, and they can be healed whenever (no phoenix down necessary, thank God).

The graphics are both beautiful and mediocre at the same time. The dialogue scenes are beautiful, thanks to some awesome character illustrations. The battles look adequate, but they're pretty much for functional purposes only. There aren't a lot of animations, and the ones that are there aren't all that interesting. The music isn't spectacular, since it's all the same couple songs stuck on repeat, but it gets the job done and it sets the mood well. My issue was with the girls' battle cries during combat: their high pitch wails were a constant annoyance to me. That is, until I found out that you could turn their voices off. Which I did, happily.

Science Girls was a surprisingly enjoyable little game. There weren't a lot of flaws that I could see with the game, and it stayed fun and lighthearted throughout my experience with it. It's unique, and it's made for anyone to enjoy: the three levels of difficulty widen the range of appeal to include hardcore RPG fans and more casual players alike.

Graphics:
Beautiful at best and average at worst, Science Girls is just a pretty game, overall. The character illustrations look like they're straight out of a professional anime.

Sound/Music:
The music, while it fits the mood, is kind of dull. And the character's voices are the most annoying thing since Asuka Langely's English dub. If you know what I'm talking about, then you understand how obnoxious they are. Thankfully, you can turn them off.

Gameplay:
The game moves along at a pretty swift pace, and the out of the ordinary battle system is refreshing. The game gives off a very polished and professional feel.

Concept:
The story is bizarre. The characters are creative, and the dialogue is well written. The battles are unique, and the whole idea of the game is pretty fresh. Science Girls is a concept that doesn't revolutionize anything, but is still distinctive.

Value:
Science Girls is an RPG, so it's expected to be lengthy. It delivers in this aspect, and it doesn't disappoint throughout the game. And it's ten bucks, so all of you financially challenged gamers out there can afford this one.

Fun:
A fun RPG needs to have a few components: fun battles and a decent storyline. Science Girls has both, and it's quirky to boot. I was very entertained by this game, put simply.

Overall:
Don't let the big-eyed anime ladies and the cutesy style of Science Girls fool you. It's a great RPG, and it's accessible for just about anyone. If that isn't enough to convince you: it's really cheap. And it's ten dollars well-spent, if you ask me.