Bishoujo Battle Cyber Panic!

While I don’t ever really discuss why I score something the way I do in a review, I’ll admit that I struggled a bit with this one. I mean, this game is basically Qix, right? And Qix was good, so doesn’t that mean that this game is also good? In short, no; it doesn’t. While I understand what Bishoujo Battle Cyber Panic! was trying to do, it ultimately fails to provide anything novel to the table and doesn’t go anywhere near being as zany as Gals Panic did. If you have a few bucks and like both Qix and anime girls with no sense of artistic consistency, then go for it. Otherwise, I’d just go play one of the original games.

Bishoujo Battle Cyber Panic! offers us a type of game highly known and cloned to satiety since that distant Qix, but no less valid even today. Its 50 levels and its arcade-like rejubality, as well as its very reasonable price, make it a great option to spend dead time in the most entertaining way. Technically content, it does not need more, and its only obvious drawback is the absence of a multiplayer mode both local and online, as well as a music that ends up being too repetitive and pounding.

For a homage to a game from the 80's, faithfully recreating a gameplay system that was invented 40 years ago, Bishoujo Battle Cyber Panic! feels like a modern, funky game. The anime aesthetic is gorgeous and current, although perhaps a little too safe given that Azur Lane: Crosswave borrows from the same aesthetic while upping the fan service ante significantly. However, Cyber Panic! also has plenty of replay value and an excellent leaderboard system for such a minimal price. Most compelling of all, though, is the fact that the game is an uncomplicated and well-done take on Qix. Qix the kind of game that doesn't need developers to mess around with it, and to the great credit of Bishoujo Battle Cyber Panic!'s developer, they've let the base game stand for itself.

It’s not a game that demands hours of your time at once, nor one that has a vast amount of content to keep you busy in the long term — but it is a game that is fun to boot up once in a while when you fancy some straightforward arcade action that rewards you with the very pleasant sight of some awesome, kick-ass military and mecha girls for doing well.

While it's possible that this style of arcade action puzzling this title represents may bring to mind more seedy offerings from Japan my first introduction to it was in the classic arcade game Qix...