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Developer: Sushi Typhoon Games
Publisher: NIS America
Platform: PS Vita
Tested on: PS Vita
Tokyo Tattoo Girls – Review
NIS America is known for its library of quirky games, ranging from very tactical RPG titles to more obscure adventure titles. With a name as Tokyo Tattoo Girls, one might think it’s something along the lines of the Criminal Girls series, which involved young voluptuous delinquent girls who loved to get punished in order to get the proper motivation for the fights to come. Nonetheless, Tokyo Tattoo Girls might also feature some lovely ladies, it’s actually a strategy title in which you have to conquer a neo-Tokyo that has been torn into pieces after a tragic event. We were curious to see what this title had to offer on Sony’s almost forgotten handheld.
Story
Tokyo Tattoo Girl will not win any Oscars for its story content, as all you’ll get is that Tokyo has been torn apart by a tragic event, which made the area a bit on the lawless side. Later on syndicates, led by ladies with magical tattoos, took over Tokyo and the Japanese government couldn’t care less, if they promised that the ladies with tattoos would never leave the Tokyo border. The area was later enclosed with a barrier and then divided into separate wards, each led by a different lady. You’ll get to pick one out of six characters, all with a very simple back-story, and their own reason(s) for wanting to unite the different wards and perhaps even venture further into the world.
Overall the story value feels quite slim, and the interactions you’ll have during your playthrough won’t add that much to the overall plot of the game. Nonetheless, the dialogues are okay-ish and the concept itself does work to a certain extent.
Graphics
Graphically Tokyo Tattoo Girls is nowhere as cute as many other NIS America titles, as you’ll only see a few short cutscenes per character, which are presented with still pictures. You’ll mostly look at a map screen, and the very short dialogues you’ll trigger before taking over one of the twenty-three wards. The latter presents you with lovely looking girls that don’t mind showing off their magical tattoos. Other than that, you’ll see a map screen that shows the different Tokyo wards, and it only shows you when territories turn hostile, when there’s some action you can undertake, and the pop-up menu when you want to spend some of your money on a specific ward. Other than that, the game’s real simple, but for a strategy game such as this, it has a certain charm.
Sound
The music of the game isn’t all that noticeable, but again we can commend NIS America for their effort in voicing the entire game. Granted, there aren’t that many dialogues in the game, it’s still a plus that they are completely voiced and reasonably appealing to listen to. Design-wise, this is probably the best part of this title.
Gameplay
Tokyo Tattoo Girls is a strategy game at its core, but a very simplistic one. You’ll have to pick one out of six lovely ladies to become the future of the nearly destroyed Tokyo. You’ll have to conquer 23 wards, before the game over screen appears. Of course, you can also reach the game over screen a lot sooner if your honor counter reaches zero, as it’s basically your HP meter. You can only regain honor when capturing new areas, by completing the dialogue section of the takeover sequence. The dialogues however don’t make that much sense, and the three valid choices make even less sense, which make it feel a bit like you’re gambling in order to regain some honor. Depending on what answer you choose, you’ll score either ‘okay’, ‘good’ or ‘super’, where okay keeps your honor at the same level, while the other two replenish said counter a tiny bit.
During your playthrough, you can manage your areas by recruiting more clansmen and punks, prevent turf wars and a few other options. While the management options are limited, it’s all about intervening in time when areas turn red, to prevent you losing honor. Nonetheless, sometimes certain areas will turn red all at once, making it impossible to intervene everywhere in time, as all of your ‘skills’ have cooldowns. In the end, things may be extremely simplistic, the game does have fairly amusing mechanics, allowing newcomers to properly enjoy this title. Nonetheless, it often feels as if the game has a mind of its own, and that your impact is very limited. For the most part you’ll feel like you’re on a ride in the passenger seat instead of being at the wheel.
Content wise the game doesn’t have all that much to offer, as playing the game with the different girls is nearly identical, safe for their motivations on becoming the next syndicate overlord. Overall the game doesn’t have that much new content on higher difficulties, except for forcing you to pay proper attention and manage the different territories accordingly, but in the end this game is one big random number generator, leaving your fate in the hands of the whimsical creators of this title.
Conclusion
Tokyo Tattoo Girls is a very hard game to grade because it doesn’t offer a lot of content, or at least content that actively involves the player, it’s still strangely appealing to take over Tokyo with a girl of your choice. Even though a seasoned strategy fan will not find that much pleasure in this title, the game is very accessible for newcomers to the genre, or those who love to be taken on a ride of conquest with a pretty lady at the helm. We’ll give this one the benefit of the doubt.
Note: For this review we were granted the privilege of trying out the limited edition of this title. While this did not have any influence on our review score, it’s a great addition to your collection if you’re in the running of being one of the few Vita gamers left. If you’re interested in the limited edition of the game, be sure to check it out here. The package includes an artbook, a nice box-set and the soundtrack of the game.
Tokyo Tattoo Girls - Review,
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