Every so often a video game comes along that I simply have to play, whether that’s because it’s utterly brilliant or just distinctly unique. Gun Gun Pixies is a case of the latter – I mean, who wouldn’t want to try a game where you play as pixies that infiltrate a girl’s dormitory to see what they get up to? Just me? Oh…
Gun Gun Pixies puts you in the role of Kame-pon and Bee-tan: two pixies from the planet Pandemo that travel to earth to discover more about how humans live in order to help society back home. This means infiltrating a dormitory full of girls and witnessing everything about them, which is an unconventional approach to take, but who am I to judge? What follows is a string of strange situations where the pixie-pair always seem to get themselves into some troubling scenarios, whilst the threat of bigger problems for Kame-pon and Bee-tan to deal with is always looming.
So Gun Gun Pixies is a quirky, strange, and titillating game – but hey, that’s the way it’s meant to be, right? The story is bat-shit crazy and the characters you meet are utterly bizarre too, but there’s no denying that it has got a whole ton of charm to it. One thing that was really interesting about the story is the way that it was willing to tackle subjects that are a bit more sensitive – given that the game is so lewd in design, I was surprised to see it approach real life illnesses and problems in a dignified way. It’s something it deserves praise for and it shows that appearances can be deceiving (not too much, though – this is very much a sexual-focused game).
Gameplay-wise, Gun Gun Pixies plays like a third-person shooter. You’ll get to go as either Kame-pon or Bee-tan (both of which have different weapons) and will then traverse through each room in the game completing objectives, blasting away at enemies, and using your ‘happy’ bullets to get the giant girls that are prancing around into a state of… uh… let’s just call it ‘joy’. Of course, given that you’re a little pixie in a big world, you’ve got to keep out of sight too – this means being sneaky and ensuring that the girls can never see or hear you, with basic stealth mechanics making this easier on the player. You’ll keep your health (which is naturally represented by your own clothing) and ammo charged up by collecting items around each room, whilst there are additional collectibles to be found that can upgrade your weapon – it’s definitely worth searching around each nook and cranny of a room to find everything that you can. It makes for a simple but fun experience.
One of the things that I loved about Gun Gun Pixies is the fact that you’re playing as a small character in a huge room. I’ve always enjoyed game where you’re a shrunk down character in a big world, so seeing what should be normal-size everyday objects tower over you is pretty neat. The fact that the girls are gigantic is cool too, for a variety of reasons….
However, this doesn’t stop the game from feeling a little bit repetitive over time. There isn’t a whole lot to Gun Gun Pixie’s gameplay cycle, so you can expect to find yourself doing a lot of the same things time and time again. The shooting mechanics are a little uninspiring too and play it a little too safe, so it’s not as if the action itself is all that impressive. After just an hour or so of play you’ll see everything that Gun Gun Pixies has to offer, and whilst nothing ever feels bad or boring, it can feel samey.
The controls are guilty of being a bit finicky too, with each pixie’s momentum when moving causing them to be a little tricky to control when trying to make precise movements. In fairness, there aren’t any real platforming sections in the game and there’s no real area when you need to be SUPER accurate with how you move, but not being able to stop or turn quickly enough can cause you to run into the path of an enemy here or there. It’s just a little clumsy.
So if it wasn’t obvious, there’s a lot of lewd content to be seen in Gun Gun Pixies. You can expect to see girls in plenty of compromising situations, parading around in their underwear, and even in the bath with just bubbles to protect their dignity – heck, you even get x-ray glasses so you can constantly see them in some state on undress. It certainly doesn’t hold back on the titillating content, and truth be told, I was glad I was playing on the portable mode of my Nintendo Switch at times just so nobody would notice.
Now this wasn’t a problem for me and I’m certainly not one to judge (I’ve played plenty of games like this in the past), so if you enjoy your games to be a little explicit you’ll be in your oils here. However, if you’re not a fan of sexualised content, you’ll certainly want to steer clear of Gun Gun Pixies… you’ve been warned!
Summary
Gun Gun Pixies is undeniably unique in design, but the gameplay mechanics won’t do anything to blow you away. In fact, it can get a little bit too repetitive at times, leaving the player doing a lot of the same things over and over again.
There’s no doubting it’s a charming game and it doesn’t do anything bad per se – in fact, the way it tackles some sensitive topics is quite admirable, especially given the titillating tone of just about everything else in the game. When it boils down to it though, Gun Gun Pixies knows its audience, and if you’re not a part of it you won’t find anything in the game that’ll impress you too much.
Developer: Compile
Heart
Publisher: PQube
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch
(Reviewed), PC
