Criminal Girls is an atypically character-focused dungeon crawler with a unique spin on typical JRPG gameplay, unusually-smart writing, and some genuinely intelligent themes about growing up and becoming a better person... all of which are, to varying degrees, undermined and corrupted by its nature as a fanservice game.
On the one hand, for instance, the "pick the girl who picks her moves" mechanic makes for a very different combat experience, since rather than only managing resources, the player is also juggling the various factors that will proc different responses. On the other hand, having to unlock these moves with expensive "punishments" is annoying and resource-intensive.
Similarly, the "punishment" mechanic really does hurt the otherwise-emotionally-successful part of the game where the girls confront their past traumas and misdeeds and resolve to be better people. Ran's story in particular is horrifying and heartbreaking... but her rising above it is less-triumphant than it should be because the player has done all sorts of weird things to her already.
And, finally, the endings. Bleh. Of the game's nine-or-so endings, almost all of them are disappointingly short and shallow. Not terrible, but, again, hamstrung by the fact that this is a fetish game and all of them have to help fill in that niche.
Once again, none of this makes the game bad, or ruins it forever. But it is the single biggest flaw with the game. And cutting all the voices, while good for helping players to play in public without quite as much shame, is still totally counterproductive: the "gag" option is now a pointless money sink!
Finally, the additional postgame content and new characters added by the expansion are good. Not... incredible (the two new heroines' backstories in particular, while absolutely on par with the original cast's in terms of absolute quality, clash heavily with their established characterization from the original game) but definitely good. I've never played the original, but nothing here stands out as anything but a straight upgrade.
VideoGame A Clever, Well-Written Game With a Terrible Premise
Criminal Girls is an atypically character-focused dungeon crawler with a unique spin on typical JRPG gameplay, unusually-smart writing, and some genuinely intelligent themes about growing up and becoming a better person... all of which are, to varying degrees, undermined and corrupted by its nature as a fanservice game.
On the one hand, for instance, the "pick the girl who picks her moves" mechanic makes for a very different combat experience, since rather than only managing resources, the player is also juggling the various factors that will proc different responses. On the other hand, having to unlock these moves with expensive "punishments" is annoying and resource-intensive.
Similarly, the "punishment" mechanic really does hurt the otherwise-emotionally-successful part of the game where the girls confront their past traumas and misdeeds and resolve to be better people. Ran's story in particular is horrifying and heartbreaking... but her rising above it is less-triumphant than it should be because the player has done all sorts of weird things to her already.
And, finally, the endings. Bleh. Of the game's nine-or-so endings, almost all of them are disappointingly short and shallow. Not terrible, but, again, hamstrung by the fact that this is a fetish game and all of them have to help fill in that niche.
Once again, none of this makes the game bad, or ruins it forever. But it is the single biggest flaw with the game. And cutting all the voices, while good for helping players to play in public without quite as much shame, is still totally counterproductive: the "gag" option is now a pointless money sink!
Finally, the additional postgame content and new characters added by the expansion are good. Not... incredible (the two new heroines' backstories in particular, while absolutely on par with the original cast's in terms of absolute quality, clash heavily with their established characterization from the original game) but definitely good. I've never played the original, but nothing here stands out as anything but a straight upgrade.