Developed/Published by overGame Studio
Released for Xbox One (9/4/2019)
Also on PC
Gaijin Charenji 1: Kiss or Kill was released in early September 2019 and is easily among the weirdest games I've encountered on the Xbox One. For starters, this game has an interesting back-story to its creation. If the game is left idle at the title screen, a crawler will pop-up explaining the origins of how Gaijin Charenji came to be. The game was originally being programmed for the Dreamcast by the developer's father back in 1998, but it wasn't finished in time before the system met its untimely demise. After his father passed away before completing the game, Yosuke Takahashi vowed to finish what his father started and release it to the public when it was finished. Over 20 years after the development began, Gaijin Charenji 1: Kiss or Kill finally saw a release in September 2019.
Before we get into the review, I want to say that if you're into the strange and eccentric, particularly of the Japanese flavor, then Gaijin Charenji is definitely going to tickle your fancy. This is one of those titles that's best experienced if you go in blind, so you may want to hold off reading this review, download and play the game first, then come back and read the review. The less you know, the more shocking it all is and discovery is part of the fun. Now that we have that out the way, here's a look into the craziness of Gaijin Charenji...
Running on the Unity engine, Kiss or Kill plays like a twin-stick shooter on LSD, with weird full-motion video cutscenes thrown in at points that feature the programmer taunting and challenging the player. A single run through of Kiss or Kill will only last around 30-40 minutes and the game provides a good amount of variety between the stages to keep it interesting throughout. As you play, FMV clips of the programmer congratulating or taunting you will occasionally pop-up in the corner of the screen.
When you start up a new game, you can choose between kiss or kill. You can switch between the fire-type at anytime, though you will only receive a point bonus for whichever you selected at the start. The kiss shots will send enemies off the screen, usually with hearts flashing above their heads while the kill weapon will leave a bloody mess of bodies after using it. There's also separate music tracks depending on whether you're kissing or killing. If you rack up a large combo with either fire-type, the sides of the screens will be populated with either images of death or various scantily clad anime women. At the bottom of the screen, there's a karma meter that will fill up either positive or negative, depending on which weapon you're using.
Kiss or Kill isn't nearly as difficult as games in the twin-stick genre tend to be. The difficulty is lax enough that anybody should be able to see it through to the end, though there is enough challenge that you'll still die several times along the way. Death isn't a big deal though, since you can continue right from where you left off. There's a time limit present and you'll get a game over screen if it runs out, but it's not that big of a deal since you can still continue from the main menu with a fresh clock. Picking up the pellets or coins will grant you an extra second to your time. After you finish the game for the first time, you'll unlock survival mode where you'll shoot endless waves of enemies to see how big of a score you can rack up. Outside of completing the game a few times and playing a little survival mode, there's not going to be a lot of replay value. The experience is unique and weird enough that, despite the game's short length, this is one that you'll remember long after you turn it off.
Kiss or Kill is loaded with tons of callbacks to old classics, with stages inspired by Dragon Quest, Asteroids, Space Invaders and Centipede. The game over and pause screens with the dripping blood were taken straight from the NES game Monster Party. One of the bosses is the giant disembodied head of Sadaam Hussein, which is an obvious nod to dictator Deng Xiaoping's appearance in the infamous cult-classic bootleg Super Famicom title Hong Kong 97.
There's even a secret area that can be found (details here) where you can watch the movie Night of the Living Dead in its entirety; I left it running just out of curiosity and, sure enough, it's the entire flick. There are rows of seats in front of you, trying to simulate sitting in a theater and likely to help hide the low-resolution of the video file. Since the distributor failed to copyright the movie back in the day (here's an article about it on ScreenRant if you'd like to know more), the movie ended up in the public domain, which is why you'll see so many different companies distributing the movie over the years. Kiss or Kill was the last place I expected to see the George Romero classic (RIP, one of the all-time horror directors) but it was definitely one of the more interesting Easter eggs I've encountered in a while.
Some of the FMV sequences feature Nintendo-brand products, I'm not certain but this could pose some sort of copyright issue later on down the line. There's also a bit of concern for one of the tracks in the game. As Victor Bucky points out in his review (a great read, check it out here or in the links after the review), the music that plays when you use the kiss weapon is a well-known track called Marble Soda by Shawn Wasabi. The artist isn't listed in the end credits, so this is another potential copyright issue that could end up getting the game de-listed at some point in the future. For this reason, if you have any interest in playing Kiss or Kill, you may want to go ahead and grab it now just in case it vanishes at some point.
Kiss or Kill was released for the Xbox One and PC, available through Steam. This has to be the weirdest game I've played on the Xbox One, so you're into the strange you'll definitely want to have a look at this one. Gaijin Charenji was obviously a passion project for the developer and is one of those that will keep you guessing the whole time.
Final Verdict: Gaijin Charenji 1: Kiss or Kill is a twin-stick shooter infused with a good dose of insanity. Playing it is like a virtual acid trip, so this is one for lovers of the weird and eccentric.
Purchase Links:
Buy Gaijin Charenji - Microsoft Store
Related Links:
Kiss or Kill Night of the Living Dead Secret - Xbox Overview
overGame Studio - Official Site
Kiss or Kill - Official Site
Marble Soda by Shawn Wasabi - YouTube
Gaijin Charenji Review - Xbox Era
Gaijin Charenji - Metacritic
Gaijin Charenji - GameFAQs
Gaijin Charenji - True Achievements
Gaijin Charenji - Xbox Achievements
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