OVERALL IMPRESSION:
Girls’ Frontline 2: Exilium (GF2) is a game with solid battle mechanics that lead to diverse and intriguing combat encounters. GF2 is a turned based tactics strategy game set in a world of bounty hunters and militaristic factions. Many will be drawn to the high quality aesthetic of the visual design and fun modern style combat experience that offers an array of strategic options. On top of that there are various environmental obstacles and interactive objects to add depth to encounters. The initial gameplay experience is slow as the early chapters ease you into the combat mechanics. The game is at it’s best when it throws more challenging encounters at you. When it does, you feel the reward of building a balanced team that has synergy. The combat mechanics and team dynamics are very interesting as many skills interact with each other making for intriguing theory crafting. However, on the narrative side there are issues. Dialogue scenes appear to be functional to get you to the next combat encounter. In addition, there are problems with pacing and captivating the audience. Conversely, the animated cutscenes are dynamic, fast paced and exciting. Overall, there’s a fun, interesting and strong foundation established in the combat with a high quality feel. The potential is there to build a rewarding and lasting game especially if the challenges can be addressed.
GAMEPLAY:
There are numerous gameplay mechanics that allow for dynamic and diverse battles. Among them include: various powerups, destructible cover, explosive/collapsible objects, obstacles that block movement/projectiles/melee attacks, weapon and phase weaknesses and character skill sets and team synergies to name a few. The most interesting content are the more challenging battles that allow you to strategize. The early chapters feel simple as game mechanics are introduced. There is also a very helpful tutorial section under hunter assessments that will go further in explaining the various combat systems. The tougher fights allow you to more closely consider your team lineup, enemy weaknesses, skill synergies, positioning, environment setup and overall plan of attack. This is the dynamic that so many strategy fans love about these types of games. Character progression and itemization also feels pretty standard compared to most mobile games. There are some small ways to customize a unit but nothing major. The overall combat experience is of a high quality feel with interesting skill sets and abilities. They’ve also embraced a lot of support actions so your units end up performing more reactions in a round compared to more traditional strategy games. One of the questions that remains is the long term appeal of the game. It’s still too early to know how this will play out, but the basic foundation is set for strategic, rewarding and interesting battles.
STORY:
The majority of the narrative feels functional. This may be different for fans who played the original game and understand more of the backstory and context. There are issues with pacing, chapter duration, and capturing and maintaining the audience’s attention. Many sections feel like filler content that is there to make sure there are a certain number of missions per chapter instead of telling a compelling story. It’s a shame because most of the other elements of the game are executed well. However, this does contrast sharply with the cutscenes. Many of the cutscenes are engaging, action packed and dynamic. There’s obviously a lot of care and attention put in to create them. Overall, I can see some fans enjoying the slower paced story, while an equal number of players will likely skip through the majority of it. This is one of those titles that as a gamer you need to know what type of content you enjoy and what is worth your time.
ART & CHARACTER DESIGN:
One of the reasons the game has fostered more attention is the quality of the visual design. There’s definitely a high level of execution in the art and graphics. Combined with visually captivating cutscenes and it does standout in the gacha/mobile space. Nevertheless, if you look closer at the actually character designs themselves they are more of the common variety even though they are executed well. In an era where it’s become standard for an all female lineup with an anime like aesthetic, it is challenging to distinguish the characters from one game to another. It’s a problem for many mobile games in this generation as so many of them are inspired to capture the spotlight and mimic each other instead of innovating and developing their own identity. In a similar way, character personalities also feel more common place. No characters really standout on their own. In the end, the art direction is executed well despite an overall aesthetic that matches the current norm in the gacha space.
MUSIC:
The soundtrack has a nice vibe that matches the tone of the game. Nothing really standouts here. Instead, the music complements the high quality feel of the game without taking over. There’s a bit of everything here: mellow and more laid back tracks and epic and high energy musical scores. The music really helps set the feel of the game and the versatile array of songs is a welcome mix.
GACHA:
The overall gacha mechanics feel standard to many games out there at the moment. When evaluating gacha systems, its important to see how they compare to others in the genre, as well as your ability to actually acquire a unit. This will be based on the amount of premium currency you can earn, the actual drop rates and pity system. Altogether, it feels pretty standard. The actual drop rates are a bit low, but the pity threshold is standard so in the end it can balance out. As a result, this does feel like a gacha that if you save and plan your pulls appropriately you have a good chance to acquire the units you want. However, the main drawback is that you are very likely to pull weapons instead of characters. For example, in a 10 pull you likely see 9 weapons and 1 unit. This is quite different than most other gacha games out there. On the plus side, there is a good amount of premium currency, draw tickets, resources and decent free units available from completing objectives and during event missions.
For a game that has pushed the boundaries further on quality in a mobile title, it’s a shame that some innovations haven’t also been applied to the gacha system. Like many games in the mobile space it doesn’t make sense to have an energy system that limits your players’ ability to actually play the game. This is just one example of how a gacha system will always interfere with good game design. In the end, the gacha elements are expected and unfortunately pretty standard.
GAME DETAILS
PLATFORMS: Android, iOS, PC
RELEASE: December 2024 (Global)
DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER: Sunborn Information Co. / HAOPLAY Limited
GENRE/TAGS: Turn Based Tactics, RPG, Strategy
TARGET AUDIENCE: Tactics/Strategy Fans
IMAGE CREDITS:
Sunborn
THANKS
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