Girls! Girls! Girls!? Review (kittymints)
If I had to title this review, I would call it "Too Bad Playing Through The First Route Took Me More Than 2 Hours So I Couldn't Get A Refund."
I agree with the other negative review that talks about this not feeling like the type of game it is advertised as - this feels like playing a heterosexual visual novel through and through. There's barely any of the "Girls!?" part in this game, it almost never comes up that these are boys cross-dressing in a maid cafe - they're always referred to as "she" and "girls" and by the end I was just bored, waiting for anything interesting to happen. Not to mention, the fact that this game is already so expensive and any "exciting" (adult) parts are gated behind an off-site paywall is ridiculous.
It took me 3 hours to play one route - and that's me taking it slow, saving at the seemingly-important questions because I am a save-scummer in these type of games, going back to see what the other options were, hoping that I was maybe just missing the interesting options the first time around and I'd eventually find something worth continuing to play this game for - and I got more bored and more disappointed the longer I played.
And what's more - the "girls" barely have personalities to speak of, all whiny/abrasive and not very endearing, and the character you play as is pretty pathetic. (Not that that's especially rare in these types of games, I know no one plays these games for the MC, but it just makes for a more annoying experience on top of everything else). The plot is also VERY melodramatic, maybe if I cared about any of the characters I would care about what happened to them, but again, I really did not expect to sit down with this game and get nagged about the complexities of keeping a cafe open, I just wanted to have fun and see cute guys in cute outfits... like was advertised in all the marketing.
I realize maybe I over-hyped this game in my mind, but with so little of these types of games to choose from, so much advertising from the developer, and such a long time of seeing it sitting on my Wish List and looking forward to it, I can't help but feel let down by the final product. And I feel like I'm pretty lenient with my judgement because I WANT more games like this to exist - just fun, silly, lascivious romps for people who like cute guys to sit down and enjoy for a few hours. But at this price point, for what you get v.s. what is advertised, I say save your money. Or if you really just like to look at characters in maid outfits and pretend they're boys even though every line of dialogue in the game practically tells you otherwise, then go for it.