Review for Punch Line. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, the video game was released on 31/08/2018
When a young lady bends in front of him, Yuta Iritatsu just can't help but take a look at the panties. For various reasons that will be explained at the end of the game, when Yuta is attracted to such visions, a meteorite hits the earth and destroys it. Add in that the protagonist lives in an apartment building with a group of teenage girls who love to wear short skirts, bend over and generally show off their underwear, and you will feel how the end of the world can be around the corner. And if all this seems strange enough to you, we haven't told you yet that Yuta is a ghost.
This is largely the plot of Punch Line, one of the most bizarre anime we have ever seen in recent years and has now become a visual novel, but it must be said that beneath the surface is a surprising story that includes terrorist acts, secret identities and human experimentation. We also have the mystical art of Cheermancy (a strange dance done while wearing a pigeon mask), Rabuna's opaque love life, and the lonely player Ito trying to hide his pet bear from his roommates. Sometimes serious, often funny, and always downright bizarre, Punch Line basically combines everything Japan loves into a single story, managing to somehow make it sense.
The game strictly follows the plot of the anime, even if it fills some sections to increase its longevity. Over the course of the twenty-one chapters that make up the adventure, we should bring Yuta back to his mortal body, stop the terrorists and save the world by trying to take his eyes off the roommates' underwear. For all intents and purposes, Punch Line is a visual novel based primarily on the story, interspersed with having to prank girls to get them to do what Yuta wants.
As a ghost, Yuta has her newly acquired spirit form without powers, but her body passes through most objects. Our first mission will be to locate an ancient tome, the Nandara Gandara, containing the necessary information on how to get Yuta back into his body. The book appears to be somewhere in the condo, although where exactly it is is obviously a mystery; spying in the various rooms, we discover that Mikatan has a book in his desk drawer, but he does not have the key. The key is found on Meika's workbench in another room, with no possibility of picking it up directly, except by taking Mikatan to Meika. We will therefore have to set up a series of “tricks” in the hope of triggering a chain of events that will lead our victim to the right place.
All we have to do is choose from a handful of elements to interact with in each room, choosing the right combination to trigger a chain reaction. It is not always obvious what effect the different objects will have on the characters, so you go by trial and error until you find the right combination.
As you progress through the game, you gain access to more and more advanced tricks. However, as our skills grow, the risk of coming face to face with a pair of panties also increases. A useful "boom!" The pressure gauge on the left of the screen shows Yuta's current arousal level, and when a pair of panties are visible on the screen it quickly begins to rise. If we fail to look away in time, we will end up destroying humanity. Fortunately the spirits are able to go back in time, so we will never be faced with a real game over, but rather we will be called to retry the part of the adventure that just went wrong.
If you love the Punch Line anime or just have a penchant for visual novels, don't wait any longer and dive into the adventure. The puzzle elements may seem a little simplistic and random but the quirky premise and a long-lived story will keep you entertained for hours.
► Punch Line is a Visual Novel game developed and published by 5PB for PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, the video game was released on 31/08/2018
