Developer: Zoo Corporation
Publisher: EastAsiaSoft
Platform: PS4, PS5, Switch
Tested on: Switch
Pretty Girls Breakers! PLUS – Review
Only a few months have passed since we took a look at the previous Pretty Girls game, which sadly didn’t score that well. Pretty Girls Escape proved to be a bit less entertaining than its predecessors, Pretty Girls Speed and Pretty Girls Four Kings Solitaire. Now, we ditch the block-shifting mechanics or the high-stakes card games to play a more traditional breakout game in Pretty Girls Breakers! PLUS. This game once again puts some busty ladies on the side of your screen for you to gawk at while trying your best to break all the blocks onscreen.
Story
As is the case with all the games in the Pretty Girls series, there is no story to be found here. You can simply select the stages of the different girls to play through, and that’s about it. We don’t really miss the absence of a story here, but more could be done with the overall theme.
Graphics
Graphically, you’ll be presented with busty ladies on the side of the screen during gameplay segments, but there are also segments where you can make your own dioramas. Everything is very basic, and the anime-like girls only have a static pose, with a few different facial expressions. The breakout gameplay portion shows colorful blocks and an odd little mech-like warrior you control to fling back balls towards the blocks. Again, simplicity is key here, but we found everything to be very clear and easy to pay attention to when things get a bit more frantic.
Sound
The sound design is okay, with the soundtrack being decent enough, but the overall audioscape is nothing to write home about. The music is generic, but it does put you in the right mood to play an arcade game such as this. The girls do not present anything of value, which is a shame.
Gameplay
Pretty Girls Breakers! PLUS is a breakout clone, and thus you’ll play through short stages trying to break all the blocks on the screen. The game gradually increases the difficulty by adding special blocks, as well as enemies that fire at you. You don’t simply control a simple platform in this game, but rather a small lightsaber-wielding mech. This means you’ll actually have to hit back balls in order to hit your desired target(s).
All in all, the overall mechanics are extremely simple. You have to unlock the stages in sequence for each of the available girls, or you can play through three types of endless modes aiming for a high score. Playing through the standard levels will net you some digital coins for you to spend on outfits for the different girls. Sadly, the endless mode does not reward you with anything, which is a shame. You’ll probably play through all the normal stages in roughly an hour, and the game doesn’t offer that much replay value outside of being able to adjust the ball speed.
In the levels, you can pick up some power-ups, such as extra balls, stronger ball damage, a barrier to prevent you from losing some of your HP, and so on. It’s all standard stuff, but the core mechanics work fine, and because of this, playing through the levels is still quite enjoyable. You’ll be treated to tried-and-true arcade mechanics with chesty mademoiselles on the side of your screen.
Once again, the Pretty Girls theme is quite simplistic. You’ll be able to unlock the aforementioned outfits with coins, and then you can just create your own dioramas with the different girls. This is also a very barebones feature, and it would be more interesting to add a bit of story content to these games or even simple animations for that matter. The game is clearly adult-oriented, but there is no nudity to be found here.
Conclusion
Pretty Girls Breakers! PLUS is actually a decent breakout game with polished gameplay mechanics. Sadly, once again, the ‘Pretty Girls’ theme feels a bit too shallow and it doesn’t mesh well with the actual gameplay segments. On top of that, this game can probably be beaten in a single sitting, except for the endless modes. Nonetheless, if you’re a fan of the series, or enjoy simple arcade games, you could actually do far worse than this one. So, if you like anime waifus and are looking for a basic arcade game, you should consider checking this one out. If you’re hoping for something with a bit of substance, however, then we suggest you best look elsewhere.
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