Some people would say it’s an amazing time we live in when we can drag and drop a few colourful gems and cause a barely legal looking cartoon girl to take off her clothes and make virtual sex noises at you. Others would say that it’s despicable and all video games that promote objectification of women should be outlawed. Personally, I’m someone who stands by the former. Because it’s goddamn hilarious.
I am, of course, talking about the recently released, tongue in cheek visual novel, HuniePop. An idea conceived by lead designer and programmer Ryan Koons, HuniePop only came into fruition due to the generosity of backers on Kickstarter. When someone utters the phrase ‘a game enriched by deep RPG systems’ to you, games such as The Witcher or Dragon Age come to mind. Somewhat amusingly, that’s part of the tagline utilised by the HuniePop developers on the game’s Kickstarter page.
The aim of the game is to bed all twelve girls in the game, nine of whom you meet within the first 20 minutes or so. There’s also three secret girls which require specific circumstances to unlock. Each girl fills a common stereotype, such as the ditzy blonde girl named Tiffany who likes cheerleading and the timid blue-haired girl who prefers staying in her room and playing video games, claiming she’s never been on a date before. There’s also the special pink-haired fairy who introduces herself to you as a love fairy with the goal of turning you into a ‘babe magnet’. She follows you around, commenting on the girls you meet (and being surprisingly racist at the same time) and offering you advice, along with providing you with a ‘HunieBee Four Point Oh’; a fairy smartphone which contains various utilities such as your inventory, a customisable wardrobe for the girls as you unlock more outfits and hairstyles, and also a ‘girl finder’. That does exactly what you’d assume; it tracks the location of all the girls you meet so you know where they are at all times. Yep.
Gameplay-wise (or lack thereof) consists of two simple mechanics; dialogue options with the girls, to find out information about them such as their height, birthday and cup size (you read that right; within 3 sentences with each girl it’s possible to find out the size of their breasts) and to gain what is effectively experience points, known in-game as ‘hunie’. Hunie can be spent on increasing your skills, known in-game as traits, which tie in neatly to the second game mechanic.
HuniePop is, at heart, a match three game in the style of Bejeweled or Puzzle Quest. This aspect of the game comes into play whenever you’re on a date with one of the many girls, also known as a ‘date grid’. It contains eight different style of tokens to match; Flirtation, Sexuality, Talent and Romance being the four main ones, known as affection tokens. Each girl has their own preference for which token they prefer, thus giving you a slightly extra boost compared to if you match one of the other types. Similarly, they also have one token they dislike, giving a slightly decreased benefit. Other types of token include Joy, which gives you an extra move (as each date is limited to twenty moves), Passion (in essence a score multiplier); Sentiment, which enables you to use ‘date gifts’ which are effectively power ups, and Broken Hearts, which decrease your score. How do you win? It’s simple. Match as many of the affection tokens as you can to reach your score goal. As you progress through your babe slaying haven and upgrade your traits, each date has an increasingly higher score to achieve.
However, like I said at the start, I’m a fan of HuniePop. One of the main strengths of the game is the voice acting; each girl has a unique voice actress and they’re all fantastic. Whether it be the sultry sounding, pornstar, MILF character Jessie or the loud, brash, rebellious punk ‘fuck the system’ Audrey, every girl’s voice really encapsulates their personality. It’s also a genuinely funny game; the writing is pretty great, there’s various pop culture references and also a couple of fourth wall breaking quips. The soundtrack in the game features various slightly differing tunes depending on your location, which are nearly always energetic, consisting of a mixture of pop and jazz.
So there you have it. HuniePop is effectively a match three anime porn ‘simulator’, although simulator is a stretch. I’d definitely be more inclined to class it as a fantasy. Undoubtedly not for the easily offended or anyone below the age of 18, if you have £7 and are looking for a laugh with casual and not-safe-for-work gameplay elements, HuniePop wouldn’t be a bad buy. For anyone else, I’d recommend avoiding this one until it goes on sale. I feel HuniePop is worthy of a 5/10 score.
Also, I have an ongoing LP of the game; if you want to see some gameplay, check it out here!
