Now, look, when this popped up in the Tavern emails I may have only hastily read the details; something something scrolling shooter, something anime – I’m in! What I somehow completely skipped over was the visual novel of it all which, it turns out, is actually the bulk of the experience here.
We spend a lot of time reading dialogue and making a few choices along the way, all while an omnipresent, scantily-clad anime girl/war plane looks over us. Did I regret my choices? Well, not really, as the tale here is actually pretty good. But it did make for some looks when my wife walked into the room while I was playing…
We take on the role of an elite fighter pilot in the kingdom’s army. War is on the horizon, thanks to the king discovering a powerful energy source called The Light. In order to protect his kingdom, the king places a powerful veil around the land, keeping foes out while letting his own subjects build and prosper using The Light. Our pilot is stationed at the centre of the kingdom on a floating base in the sky, waiting for his first assignment.
We know he’s the best pilot they have, but when our plane walks in, well… we know we’re in for a bit of a different experience. The titular Lassplanes are super powerful aircraft that can take down entire squadrons, but when not in combat they present themselves as beautiful ladies – as innocent looking in the flesh as they are deadly fighting machines in the skies.
We meet two of the Lassplanes on our adventure: the bubbly and somewhat naïve Alba Trossé, and the far more intimidating figure of Hannah Brandenburg, who has seen her fair share of battle. In typical anime fashion, our own hero can’t help but go from ace fighter pilot to awkward teenage boy in the Lassplanes’ presence, and across the game we can develop his relationship with them via various dialogue choices.
The writing in general is passable, if a bit on the over-egging the pudding side. Some decent one-liners make it in but, at times, the dialogue can drag on in a somewhat tedious fashion rather than just getting to the point. We can at least skip the text as fast as we can read, or have it autoplay at a more leisurely pace, but a bit more brevity wouldn’t have gone amiss.
The art that accompanies all of this is clear in its intentions. The Lassplanes in their human forms are very… stylised. All curves and dressed in scantily clad, tight outfits that don’t leave a lot to the imagination. Some scenes go a bit further by putting them in far more revealing attire (or lack of it). Romancing the Lassplanes is clearly the goal from the off, so I get the art, but it can feel a bit much at times. Alba and Hannah stand there, gently bobbing up and down (in every way) as we read their dialogue text and listen when they occasionally chip in with actual voiced lines. I can appreciate what the game is going for, even if it isn’t necessarily for me.
A few times per act, we get to actually pilot the Lassplanes, and this is where I found the most enjoyment in the game. The scrolling shooting is good, with a nice selection of enemies to fight and power-ups to grab. Almost all of the power-ups are of limited use, but are dealt out so frequently it’s actually rarer to not have something buffing our attacks. Most of the power-ups bounce around the screen until we’re ready to pick them up, too, and some even let us pick them back up after we’ve been hit and lose them. Levels aren’t overly long, but do a good job of keeping the action flowing, with big boss battles at the end to round things off.
Conclusion
As a whole then, Kamikaze Lassplanes is a game of two distinct halves: a romance-heavy narrative adventure, and a good scrolling shooter. Personally, I’d have preferred more of the latter than the former, but what’s here is decent enough to enjoy all round.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
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