Cy Girls Impressions

We spent a little time with Cy Girls, a futuristic action game based on a Takara toy license, at Konami's E3 booth, and we've gotten a decent idea of what the game will be like. Cy Girls stars two buxom heroines, Ice and Aska, who have entirely different skill sets but the same yearning for justice. Ice is a sort of techno-warrior--she uses a variety of firearms and relies heavily on ranged attacks. Aska, meanwhile, is more ninja-like and fights primarily with a sword. Both characters have more or less a different game experience; though their paths will cross occasionally, from the demo we saw it looks as though they'll be going through different missions and storylines.

The controls in Cy Girls are pretty simple. When you start the game you can opt for an automatic camera or one that you have to control manually. Since your targeting reticle is bound to the camera, choosing the free mode is the best way to have full control over your shots. We tried running around a bit with Ice and found the gameplay to be pretty quick and the action snazzy. You can run in one direction and shoot in another, shoot while jumping into a roll, and other stylish action movie-like effects. As mentioned, Aska is a lot more ninja-like and uses her sword to dispatch enemies, and again you can use the camera control to aim your attacks. Both girls have secondary items you can use; for instance, Aska has a grappling hook-like wire she can use to reach higher areas.

Cy Girls will actually have two modes of play--one in the real world and one in a "cyber" world. Apparently, you'll be able to go into a virtual reality mode with different gameplay mechanics from what the real world offers. Unfortunately, though, we didn't have an opportunity to check this out in the E3 demo. Hopefully new information about this gameplay mechanic will be revealed soon.

Cy Girls seemed to play pretty well from what we played. The graphics are clean looking, and Ice's level in particular was attractive and high-tech. The only major gripe we'd offer about the gameplay so far is that the camera angle moves far too slowly when you control it with the right analog stick. Fortunately, you can click R3 to center your view, which alleviates the problem somewhat. We look forward to checking out more of Cy Girls, so stay tuned.