I haven’t really played this since early 2021, so take this review with a grain of salt. Also, it’s meant for those interested in the game, but might not be willing to have a 3.8 GB (before fully downloading all resources!) game sitting on their phone/emulator.
The biggest reason why you should play Girls’ Frontline (henceforth referred to as "GFL") is the story.
That’s practically the main draw — the writing gets better after the prologue, and is especially stellar during the biannual-ish limited main events.
The story is definitely in line with decent sci-fi, if not good sci-fi. (Hello dystopian post-WWIII-nuclear-apocalypse Soviet Russia — with ANDROIDS! Oh, and zombies.)
It deals with some pretty heavy thematic material, including those you definitely wouldn’t expect from a mobile game with big tiddie anime girls. (And yes, nearly the entire cast is composed of women, except for a few main and side characters.)
For the gameplay, there’s not much to say. Despite many calling this a gacha game, that aspect is not incredibly in-your-face, except in the heavy farming/grinding for resources.
The game is built around a Kantai Collection-esque system of acquiring characters (called "T-Dolls"), which are used to build teams (known as "echelons").
The character acquisition system, in short, is based on the amount of the 4 in-game resources (obtained from regular gameplay) that you have, and chance.
This is where one of the most obvious gacha aspects show up, since it’s determined primarily by the amount of resources you input into the acquisition system (known as "production") and how much times you can do so.
Another Kantai Collection-esque part the game is built around is the maps. This is where all the "true" gameplay happens, as it’s where the tactical nature of GFL can shine. Unlike Kantai Collection, the maps operate on a turn-by-turn system, though it borrows the node motif.
The maps initially start out simple, with enemies in neatly contained areas; then progresses into moving enemies, larger maps, and soon turns into sprawling, labyrinth-styled maps that have all kinds of traps.
I won’t go super in-depth into the other game mechanics, since the in-game tutorial covers (some of) it anyways, and you can just look it up on a fan site/wiki for further details. But there can be annoying game mechanics designed to force grinding and encourage spending, so if you’re into a more pure strategy / RPG (heh) styled game, look elsewhere.
The biggest reason why you should play Girls’ Frontline (henceforth referred to as "GFL") is the story.
That’s practically the main draw — the writing gets better after the prologue, and is especially stellar during the biannual-ish limited main events.
The story is definitely in line with decent sci-fi, if not good sci-fi. (Hello dystopian post-WWIII-nuclear-apocalypse Soviet Russia — with ANDROIDS! Oh, and zombies.)
It deals with some pretty heavy thematic material, including those you definitely wouldn’t expect from a mobile game with big tiddie anime girls. (And yes, nearly the entire cast is composed of women, except for a few main and side characters.)
For the gameplay, there’s not much to say. Despite many calling this a gacha game, that aspect is not incredibly in-your-face, except in the heavy farming/grinding for resources.
The game is built around a Kantai Collection-esque system of acquiring characters (called "T-Dolls"), which are used to build teams (known as "echelons").
The character acquisition system, in short, is based on the amount of the 4 in-game resources (obtained from regular gameplay) that you have, and chance.
This is where one of the most obvious gacha aspects show up, since it’s determined primarily by the amount of resources you input into the acquisition system (known as "production") and how much times you can do so.
Another Kantai Collection-esque part the game is built around is the maps. This is where all the "true" gameplay happens, as it’s where the tactical nature of GFL can shine. Unlike Kantai Collection, the maps operate on a turn-by-turn system, though it borrows the node motif.
The maps initially start out simple, with enemies in neatly contained areas; then progresses into moving enemies, larger maps, and soon turns into sprawling, labyrinth-styled maps that have all kinds of traps.
I won’t go super in-depth into the other game mechanics, since the in-game tutorial covers (some of) it anyways, and you can just look it up on a fan site/wiki for further details. But there can be annoying game mechanics designed to force grinding and encourage spending, so if you’re into a more pure strategy / RPG (heh) styled game, look elsewhere.