I had been wandering itch.io for days when Hello Girl caught my eye. I stared at it. I had seen thousands of other titles and dabbled in a few, but none of them struck me like Hello Girl. Quite instantly, I knew it would be an experience I'd forever remember. I didn't watch the trailer or read the description or comments. I just glanced at the four stills, clicked download now, unzipped and launched the game. I played the whole thing in one sitting. It is very difficult for me to put into words what I feel. In short, I have a fondness for the story and game, but have fallen in love with its potential. Why do I say potential? Because even though I share the opinion of the many comments before mine that the game is full of care, full of atmosphere, and therefore full of life, I still feel that it is incomplete, and in two major regards, extremely gut-wrenching.
BELOW BE SPOILERS! (From this point on, unless you're fine with reading ahead, I suggest you play the game first!)
The plot was paced well at first, until closer to the end when it cut short what it seemed to have been setting up. Rabbit Zero, the soldiers Twintails and Helmet, even Ana's sister Clara and Yunozha Moonbeam — these plot points and characters which ironed Hello Girl into a compelling story went more or less NOWHERE. In fact, the story felt like it was building up to be much more, and in my opinion, it began to lose this luster with the handling of Yunozha's character. The whole conflict produced out of it, which grappled me with questions like "What will they do when the army comes looking for them?" "How'd Yuno lose her eye?", fizzled quite quickly into non-existence; in Hello Girl's final thirty minutes, the whole story seemed to die on itself. Like a wave it reached the shore with nothing more to it than a final thunderous splash, followed by the silence of a computer screen staring at its audience.
But nothing could have been more fatal to the story than the epilogue. What on Earth were they thinking?! Not only did the characters violate my idealized images of them, but they did drugs. D R U G S! For a moment I thought the surprise Courier was preparing was to be something nice, like Clara's return, a letter, or maybe something romantic — not this shockingly disgusting garbage, this poison. Yes, perhaps for the average itch.io audience this thing, drugs, is a fine things nowadays, but for me it only cemented my sadness over what Hello Girl had been thus far. Having to click my way through minutes of slow brain-frying felt like crawling out of no-man's-land with a bullet-ridden body. I also felt bad for Ana, who quite ironically is being corrupted by her newfound friendships. On that note, judging from the dynamic, I felt it more appropriate that they be besties rather than birdies, but whatever, you can't win them all. It's just me anyways.
There's also the political side of the story, which I believe suffered greatly. At the beginning vague suggestions of the Great Effort were fine, but as the plot advanced, it would have been incredible to know more and more in a gradual manner, especially when you have soldier characters. Economically and politically, what exactly was Gamot? The Eastern Alliance? Their enemies? Why were they fighting? These are questions, like many others, which pass silent in unanswerment.
Ultimately, I give Hello Girl a 3/5. This review itself was somewhat rushed. I actually formed my account solely for the purpose of posting it, literally seconds after finishing the game. That's how much Hello Girl moved me. The soundtrack for one was phenomenal. But all its flaws and shortcomings aside, it was still a worthy experience, an unforgettable voyage.
To Imo Team, I am deeply grateful to you for all your incredible labour. From it, this wretched life saw a star. I applaud you, and thank you twenty million times over.
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FYI comments below represent the pre 2.0 state of the game :)
I had been wandering itch.io for days when Hello Girl caught my eye. I stared at it. I had seen thousands of other titles and dabbled in a few, but none of them struck me like Hello Girl. Quite instantly, I knew it would be an experience I'd forever remember. I didn't watch the trailer or read the description or comments. I just glanced at the four stills, clicked download now, unzipped and launched the game. I played the whole thing in one sitting. It is very difficult for me to put into words what I feel. In short, I have a fondness for the story and game, but have fallen in love with its potential. Why do I say potential? Because even though I share the opinion of the many comments before mine that the game is full of care, full of atmosphere, and therefore full of life, I still feel that it is incomplete, and in two major regards, extremely gut-wrenching.
BELOW BE SPOILERS! (From this point on, unless you're fine with reading ahead, I suggest you play the game first!)
The plot was paced well at first, until closer to the end when it cut short what it seemed to have been setting up. Rabbit Zero, the soldiers Twintails and Helmet, even Ana's sister Clara and Yunozha Moonbeam — these plot points and characters which ironed Hello Girl into a compelling story went more or less NOWHERE. In fact, the story felt like it was building up to be much more, and in my opinion, it began to lose this luster with the handling of Yunozha's character. The whole conflict produced out of it, which grappled me with questions like "What will they do when the army comes looking for them?" "How'd Yuno lose her eye?", fizzled quite quickly into non-existence; in Hello Girl's final thirty minutes, the whole story seemed to die on itself. Like a wave it reached the shore with nothing more to it than a final thunderous splash, followed by the silence of a computer screen staring at its audience.
But nothing could have been more fatal to the story than the epilogue. What on Earth were they thinking?! Not only did the characters violate my idealized images of them, but they did drugs. D R U G S! For a moment I thought the surprise Courier was preparing was to be something nice, like Clara's return, a letter, or maybe something romantic — not this shockingly disgusting garbage, this poison. Yes, perhaps for the average itch.io audience this thing, drugs, is a fine things nowadays, but for me it only cemented my sadness over what Hello Girl had been thus far. Having to click my way through minutes of slow brain-frying felt like crawling out of no-man's-land with a bullet-ridden body. I also felt bad for Ana, who quite ironically is being corrupted by her newfound friendships. On that note, judging from the dynamic, I felt it more appropriate that they be besties rather than birdies, but whatever, you can't win them all. It's just me anyways.
There's also the political side of the story, which I believe suffered greatly. At the beginning vague suggestions of the Great Effort were fine, but as the plot advanced, it would have been incredible to know more and more in a gradual manner, especially when you have soldier characters. Economically and politically, what exactly was Gamot? The Eastern Alliance? Their enemies? Why were they fighting? These are questions, like many others, which pass silent in unanswerment.
Ultimately, I give Hello Girl a 3/5. This review itself was somewhat rushed. I actually formed my account solely for the purpose of posting it, literally seconds after finishing the game. That's how much Hello Girl moved me. The soundtrack for one was phenomenal. But all its flaws and shortcomings aside, it was still a worthy experience, an unforgettable voyage.
To Imo Team, I am deeply grateful to you for all your incredible labour. From it, this wretched life saw a star. I applaud you, and thank you twenty million times over.
Sincere as always, Red Echelon.
And to top it all off, what I think of it as music.
the gurls are smoking zaza