Haneda Girl - Review (PC)

Stylish graphics and precise gameplay add up to an awesome 2D action game

Studio Koba, who you might remember created the hit indie game Narita Boy, is back with a new 2D action game with Haneda Girl.

Now, this game has made all the right impressions on me. First, let’s talk about the graphics. It’s 2D pixel based, with CRT style overlays, and lot’s of style. The game has a fairly monochromatic colour scheme, but then occasionally uses flashes of colour. Due to these flashes being somewhat reserved - for big fancy lasers or enemy purple blood splatter, it really stands out. It’s a great looking game for sure.

The story, is that you play as a girl called Chichi Wakaba. She is the best player of Haneda Girl, which is an arcade game located at a local coffee shop. She becomes so proficient in fact, that the creator of the game, professor Nakamura, chooses her to travel into the game to take on the evil Hackernauts, which are the scourge of the Data Empire. Yes, it’s all over the top digital speak - and it’s great.

The developers describe the gameplay as a precision action platformer, and I think they are spot in. There are two methods of gameplay, either playing as Chichi directly, or in her mech ‘M.O.T.H.E.R’. When you are playing as Chichi, you can jump, dash, go through small spaces, climb up walls and take out enemies. However, you are vulnerable to attacks - one hit and you are dead - so need to be quick and stealthy to take them out. In the mech, you can both deal a lot of damage with a machine gun and take a lot of damage - but you can’t move fast or jump much, and you can’t fit through small spaces.

Switching between these two modes is the key gameplay mechanic. You’ll have to do so often - for example, you make come across an area where there are some enemies in a small space, but with a big barrier blocking it. You take out the barrier with the mech, and then go into the small space as Chichi. Later levels let you experiment more and take on the levels your own way. You can either go through speedy and stealthy, taking out enemies tactically, or blast your way through. There’s a lot of customisability in your gameplay approach, which is always fun to see.

As the game goes on, you can unlock new weapons for your mech which open up new ways to play. At its core though, the game is about precision - it’s easy to die, so perfecting your movement and plotting your approach through a level is key. The game does become difficult, but it’s that special sort of difficult in which you never blame the game, only your own skill, and pushes you to get better and keep attempting it. There’s not too much punishment for dying as the levels are relatively short, so retrying over and over is not a chore.

Finally, the soundtrack is great - with lots of fun techno beats. Overall, I really like Haneda Girl. It’s got an awesome style matched with addictive gameplay - what more do you want out of a 2D action game?

Rating - 4/5