Pretty Girls Panic!

Pretty Girls Panic! is a fun puzzle game, for a short time. The simplistic gameplay makes it easy to pick up, but there’s potential for much more. Expect a short day with these waifus.

For a homage to a game from the 80's, faithfully recreating a gameplay system that was invented 40 years ago, Pretty Girls Panic! feels like a modern, funky game. The anime aesthetic is gorgeous and current, although the developers really should have done something about the quality of the sprites, and the fussy outlines from the relatively low resolution of those sprites are unforgivable given that they are the entire hook behind the game. There are also not that many stages, but with that said Pretty Girls 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 is the kind of game that doesn't need developers to mess around with it, and to the great credit of Pretty Girls Panic!'s developer, they've let the base game stand for itself.

Qix meets the Pretty Girls "universe," in an arcade-style, casual-friendly title that's pretty enjoyable, although it won't win any awards for its originality. As for the titular cuties, there's a nice enough number of them to unlock, as well as a few costumes, but other entries in the series have been much better in terms of variety.

Like the other Zoo Corporation games, Pretty Girls Panic! is never going to be held up as some great masterpiece of gaming or anything like that — but it is a solid, enjoyable, arcade-style casual game that will keep you busy for a few minutes at a time when you just fancy a quick play with something.