Game Announcement: Science Girls!
Science Girls! (the explanation point is part of the title, I think) is a new RPG from Spikey Caterpiller and Hanako Games (the force behind Cute Knight Deluxe and Fatal Hearts).

This cute, anime-style RPG takes place in a girls' school, which has suddenly inexplicably come under attack by alien plant-monsters. Or rather, they LOOK like plants, but they really probably aren't, according to Jennifer - the biology fan of the team - pointing out that they probably do not have a cell wall, which means that they violate the definition of plant-hood.

Oh, yeah, the science thing.

You are a member of the school's science club, and it's up to the science club to save the school. And maybe the world. I haven't gotten that far yet. Because you are all scientifically-minded, you have some special powers that give you an edge in combat (and something to do besides punching your enemies). For example, the main character - a psychology buff - has an early power to hypnotize and confuse enemies. Jennifer the biology student has the ability to apply first aid, and later (as pictured) to provide a nerve pinch. Just like Mr. Spock.

Nobody said it was realistic. Silly, cute, and fun, sure.

Combat is turn-based, and uses a menu system popular with many jRPGs. I was a little thrown off by the demo for a bit. It took a little while for me to get it through my head that the way to regenerate "special points" to power your abilities was in combat. Every round you regenerate special power points, at a rate of one per round. Coincidentally, punching costs one point, so pummeling an enemy leaves your remaining special powers points unchanged.

I was pleased to find that the monsters very early on often have special powers that require some strategy to counter. Sure, battling the simpler enemies does take a little bit of thought to "optimize" the fighting, but early on you'll be facing enemies that will swallow party members whole (ick!), spawn minions, or create illusionary hologram decoys of themselves.

One of the more amusing aspects of the game is the "Defend" command. The character "hides behind her hands" in a very ... uh, girly way. But, amazingly, it works. The monsters hit less often and for less damage. This also increases the special point regeneration - especially when all three of the front-row members go defensive. This creates a phalanx formation, and gives the other two girls on the front row a bonus special point for each character that defends and contributes to the phalanx.

The strategy here seems reminiscent of Final Fantasy VIII's ability to pull magic out of enemies. I'd delay killing the last of a weaker group of monsters so I could take a couple of rounds pulling magic out of them. Here, I do the same thing - I usually end up fighting the monster down to a point where I think 1-3 hits might finish them off, and then spend some rounds defending and having Jennifer cast healing spells. Er, I mean, exercising First Aid ability.

A character who is knocked to zero hit points is only out of the game until healed, or until the next combat (where they will come back with a single hit point). However, a character who ends a fight knocked down will not get experience points for that combat.

Your party can consist of up to six members of the club, but only the front three can actively participate in a fight. The rest hang out on the back rank, and regenerate special points. They can only be hit by area effect attacks, but they can receive first aid from a front-rank ally. At any point, you can swap them in for someone on the front rank - very handy when one character is getting pummeled badly and is running low on special points.

While so far I am still confined to the school, I have it on good authority (and the screenshot to the side to prove it) that this isn't the limit of the game's environments.

After a certain experience point thresholds are reached, your characters gain a level and gain a bonus point you can spend enhanncing the characters attributes. There are no "classes," exactly, but each character gets her own set of unique special abilities as she gains experience. And, fortunately, the game allows you to save anywhere.

So far, I have not encountered any equipment (though I have had to run back up a few floors to pick up items to get a member of the club to join my party), and precious little by way of quests. There are some items which can be used in or out of combat, which have effects like healing a small number of hit points and recovering some special power points.

The game is pretty light (and lighthearted) fare. In spite of a cameo appearance by Nethack (which gave me a good chuckle), it may not provide much appeal for those seeking a hardcore, deep RPG experience. But those of us who tend to play games in 10-15 minute snatches and don't mind a solid dose of cute (or the other "c" word, "casual") should find much to enjoy here. I certainly have.

As usual for indie games, however, you can download a copy of the demo and give it a test run first. Conveniently, it is not time-limited, but only the top two floors of the school building are playable. The full game is only $9.95, and is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

And so, without further ado, here's the demo:

Download the Science Girls! demo here and check it out (Windows Version)

Science Girls! Demo (Mac version)

Science Girls! Demo (Linux version)

Labels: Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

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