While I understand that fast-paced shooters have been around forever, as I did live through the emergence of first-person shooter titles back in the day, my more recent memory of them starts with Ultrakill. That game is fast, intense, and loaded with violence, and a beautiful, raw sense of competitive nature. It brought back a lot of memories from the Unreal Tournament days.
Now, following in its footsteps, yet not as overly violent, Don’t Stop, Girlypop! from developer Funny Fintan Softworks brings a mixture of zaniness, a tad bit of Sayonara Wild Hearts-esque music, and some well-designed mechanics and levels. While the controls could use a bit more tightening, what you get with the rest of the game is fun run-and-gun creativity and good direction that sets the tone right from the get-go.
So, let’s dive right into this good game shooter.
Fast and somewhat furious
Love is in the air, and enemies are trying to steal it. Evil villains from Tigris Nix are hellbent on abolishing love in the world. The only way to stop them is pick up a gun and go as fast as you can to do the most damage. This game contains a simple shooter storyline that is good-natured with its design, yet sets the right tone in a sea of senseless violent shooters of its type. Don’t Stop, Girlypop! does a great job of getting the player right into the thick of things and quickly states exactly what it is shooting for…literally and figuratively.
The gameplay of Don’t Stop, Girlypop! is based on two principles: Take down as many enemies as possible, while also going as fast as possible to build multipliers. The faster the player navigates mazes, obstacles, and enemies, the more firepower they have at their disposal when trying to take down baddies.
Starting with the game’s speed, the design of the levels and controls was made to give the player every single tool they need to traverse from room to room quickly. The game features long, narrow hallways that players can climb when the walls call for it, or giant bulb-like chandeliers that will propel players at breakneck speeds. The levels in the game were designed to be smoothly run through and encourage the player to keep pushing themselves. The reward for doing so? Multipliers that make taking down enemies incredibly simple.
In a way, this feels a bit like Mirror’s Edge. In that game published by Electronic Arts, players are put through running grounds on top of buildings. Running was the main core mechanic of that game, which helped push the intensity of the gameplay and aid the storyline that EA was trying to desperately create. The problem? The controls were the issue, as getting players to run as fast as they can for hardcore parkour movement methods didn’t work as well in a first-person perspective. Was it neat? Hell yeah. Was it practical? Hell no. Fighting with controls was the first reason to avoid that game, and it was a short-lived game mechanic that was great on paper, but didn’t translate well to the game. I know that Eric Layman would disagree with me here, but ME was simply frustrating to play through.
Don’t Stop, Girlypop! takes that same avenue with its controls, but gives some leeway to the player to make mistakes and not be perfect without completely devastating the process. While the controls can be a bit loosey-goosey at times, managing the mechanics through narrow and tiered level design works more than it doesn’t. When you’re on a roll, getting good speed through the levels, you can feel that intended rush that the game is trying to tout. It works in the best of ways. Occasionally, those same controls can be a bit frustrating, as players will no doubt find out when they’re shown how to run along walls and mix-and-match climbing and swinging. It does take some initial getting used to, but eventually it becomes easier to pull off, which plays into the game’s big reason for existing. It is by no means perfect, but it’s also by no means Mirror’s Edge difficult. You never want controls getting in the way of gameplay, and Don’t Stop, Girlypop! avoids this.
Now, mechanics aside, the run-and-gun portion of the game is intense and relentless. Players will rarely find a place of calm in the game, as enemies will spawn pretty much anywhere at anytime. The game wants to keep players on their toes, and by throwing large numbers of enemies at the player, and a variety of interesting weaponry. The game does both easily. And you want that with this type of fast-paced gaming experience.
Staying on the topic of enemies, the common enemies are a bit repetitive. While there are certainly a good chunk of common enemies that can climb walls, approach players like Vex from Destiny, and/or fly towards players on the ground ready to blow, players won’t find a large variety of them. As common enemies go in these types of games, this is common practice. The game is built to keep players on their toes and push players forward as fast as possible. If players stopped and smelled the roses, then this would go against the prime purpose of the game. In short, this is forgivable, but it is noticeable.
The goods from enemies come with the creative bosses and how they function. Players will find this out immediately when they encounter the very first boss, who is a gun-toting abomination that looks about as evil as one could. While his purpose at the beginning is merely for exposition, he still sets the tone for what is to come later during progression. In other words, players are going to get creative bosses that match their environments, bring their own defined personality, and differ very much from common enemies. They’re a great highlight.
Overall, players are going to get high, narrow levels filled with enemies, while also being rewarded for the journey with defined bosses at the end. All of this is as simple as it gets with a fast-paced shooter design. Don’t Stop, Girlypop! works well with these elements and doesn’t falter.
Music pushing the pace
While anyone could certainly make a fast-paced shooter, even if it’s not great, having personality and good music built in helps separate some from others. For Don’t Stop, Girlypop!, players are going to get a healthy mix of something caught between Space Channel 5 with musical absurdity that brings a light-hearted tone, while sharing space with a Sayonara Wild Hearts message.
The music in Don’t Stop, Girlypop! is a thumping good time, and it helps match and push the pace of the gameplay. Because of the music, it also keeps the violent tone of the game light. That doesn’t mean players won’t have exploding enemies, but the music and tone of its message will help keep good vibes flowing. It’s amazing how well it works and how players will probably connect with it as they run and gun. It works in tandem with the gameplay, and it does it well.
On that sweet note, let’s wrap up this review.
Conclusion
Don’t Stop, Girlypop! from developer Funny Fintan Softworks is a jewel in the crown of fast-paced shooters. It brings good level design, excellent boss design, and throws in fantastic music that helps push the gameplay along. While not everything works with the game, it’s still quite fun to run-and-gun with this one.
