Ginga Force

About

Ginga Force is a single player arcade shooter game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Qute and was released on September 24, 2020. It received positive reviews from both critics and players.

Fight over the Earth-like planet of Seventia and its scarce resources of Septonium. A vertical shoot ’em up at its core with an added focus towards immersive storytelling. Follow the story of Alex and Margaret, two exceptional pilots, for the first time on Steam and PlayStation 4. - Various exciting bosses over a dramatic 10-stage Story Mode - Alternative Score Attack Mode with Online Leaderboard…

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

85%

Audience ScoreBased on 209 reviews

story16 positive mentions

grinding18 negative mentions

The game features a lot of mechanical variety, allowing for diverse gameplay with ship customization and unique boss designs.
The soundtrack by Yousuke Yasui is climactic and enhances the overall experience, making the game enjoyable to play.
The difficulty can be adjusted easily, and players can earn extra lives through ship modifications, making it accessible for newcomers.

Visual clarity is a significant issue, with many bullets blending into the background, making it difficult to see what is dangerous.
The constant character dialogue during gameplay can be distracting and may hinder the player's focus on dodging and shooting.
The game lacks a traditional arcade mode, which may disappoint players looking for a continuous play experience.

story
148 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
84%
5%
The game's story mode features a basic and predictable narrative spread across 10 missions, enhanced by vibrant anime-style characters and voice acting that adds personality, though it can become repetitive. While the story attempts to engage players, many find it secondary to the gameplay, with some missions feeling overly long and filled with filler content that detracts from the experience. Overall, the story is seen as a commendable effort but ultimately lacks depth, serving more as a backdrop to the action rather than a compelling narrative.
- “I personally adore the anime-style story and Japanese voiceovers strewn throughout the game - they give it so much personality.”
- “Honestly one of the, if not the best modern-style shoot 'em up out there, the game brings a lot of innovation in terms of structure to entice the casual audience to get into the genre with its mission-based structure with 10 levels + 2 challenge stages that encourages the player to take the game at their own pace, forgiving life system and an actual story mode that, while pretty basic and predictable, is still good enough so that you will want to see what happens until the end.”
- “The system of unlocking new weapons and customizing your ship adds tons of variety in how you approach stages; difficulty is challenging but fair, the story is basic but entertaining, and the music is great.”
- “The story was a little hard to follow as I was trying to read and dodge.”
- “Story mode is completely overtuned to the point where you cannot complete most stages without dying.”
- “In addition, the stages have lots of filler sections that advance the story and cannot be skipped, making replaying them even more of a chore.”
music
78 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
51%
5%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising the contributions of renowned composers like Yousuke Yasui, Shinji Hosoe, and Ayako Saso, highlighting the soundtrack as a standout feature that enhances the gameplay experience. However, some players found certain tracks to be generic or forgettable, and there were complaints about the inconsistency in quality among the various composers involved. Overall, while the soundtrack is generally considered solid and fitting for the genre, opinions vary on its memorability and impact during extended play sessions.
- “The soundtrack by Yousuke Yasui had me already sold, but as expected from a cute shooter, it is pretty climactic, especially at the end.”
- “Combined with the music, which has a few true bangers, the game always feels refreshing to play despite the difficulty.”
- “The music by Yousuke Yasui, Shinji Hosoe, and Ayako Saso is just perfect.”
- “The music is absolutely generic and forgettable.”
- “It is just 8 minutes of torture with an absurd difficulty spike no matter what you're playing on and the music is just... not really music?”
- “My only negative is the music - definitely turn off in-game music and fire up something aggressive on Pandora or Spotify.”
gameplay
71 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
66%
4%
The gameplay is characterized by its engaging bullet hell mechanics, offering a variety of ship upgrades and challenging boss encounters, which many players find enjoyable despite the steep difficulty curve. However, the frequent and distracting dialogue during gameplay, along with lengthy cutscenes, detracts from the overall experience for some. Overall, the game successfully combines modern graphics with classic shoot 'em up elements, providing a rich and immersive experience for fans of the genre.
- “Awesome game! If you like shoot 'em ups, this is a good modern adaptation of old school gameplay with modern graphics and gameplay refinements.”
- “This is a beautiful shmup with superb gameplay.”
- “Qute has cracked the code in how to make a shmup playable in a way that feels less grindy and allows for dozens of hours of gameplay.”
- “The gameplay is unfair.”
- “There are way too many conversations during gameplay; not only is it mentally distracting to hear a language I don't know, but not having any time whatsoever to read it is infuriating.”
- “What this ultimately amounts to is very annoyingly loud anime characters, distractingly talking over your gameplay with subtitles in the corner, and a handful of really, really overly long cutscenes in between some stages because they had to cram all the exposition somewhere.”
graphics
33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
36%
9%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the clean and modern 3D visuals that support 4K resolution and run smoothly on lower-end hardware. However, some players criticize the anime art style as lacking depth and quality, describing it as mediocre and low contrast. Overall, while the visuals are generally considered engaging and flashy, opinions vary on the artistic execution and its alignment with the game's aesthetic.
- “The 3D graphics look great, fill most of a 16×9 screen while the gameplay remains vertical, and can be run on something as lowly as a 3400G APU while still reaching 4K at 60 FPS.”
- “It has great, flashy but clear visuals, entertaining voice acting, and tons of replayability.”
- “Lame gimmicks, mediocre dialogue that never, ever shuts up, extremely low contrast graphics and what are essentially 'know not to have been anywhere near that side of the screen' QTEs make this very hard to recommend.”
- “The graphics are clean but detailed, and the bullet sprites don't blend into the background unlike some other shmups I've played.”
- “In this particular game, I think the 'texture' of the soundtrack is kind of at odds with the 3D graphics and anime aesthetic, since it's not particularly a retro game, but that somehow only makes it better.”
grinding
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players have mixed feelings about grinding in the game; while some find it necessary for unlocking items and gaining extra lives, others feel it becomes tedious, especially in later chapters. The grind can be rewarding and fun for skill development, but it can also lead to frustration, particularly when aiming for achievements or facing challenging boss battles. Overall, the balance of grinding contributes to the game's difficulty, with some players enjoying the process while others may find it overwhelming.
- “I was fine with grinding for extra lives until chapter 9, then I just rage quit.”
- “This game is actually pretty hard, at least in normal mode, but thanks to the 1-up feature mentioned above you can eventually get through anything regardless of your skill by sheer grinding alone.”
- “Like all over the places there'll be these glowing balls with enemy bullets that can fly through them, but your bullets cannot, so it can make for long, tedious boss battles.”
replayability
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
Overall, the game offers significant replayability through its diverse weapon options and multiple difficulty levels, catering to players of varying skill levels. However, some users feel the absence of an arcade mode limits its replay value, leading to mixed opinions on its long-term engagement. Despite this, many appreciate the game's smooth performance and rich content, contributing to a generally positive replayability experience.
- “It runs butter smooth even at the maximum settings, has a metric ton of replay value due to the multiple weapon options you have available, and the multiple difficulty options mean anyone of any skill level can pick it up and have a good time.”
- “It has a ton of content and replayability.”
- “It has great, flashy but clear visuals, entertaining voice acting, and tons of replayability.”
- “Even though I enjoyed my time with the game, I don't think it's all that replayable due to the lack of an arcade mode.”
- “That's not the kind of 'replay value' that I want in my shmup.”
- “It's not that much of an issue because the game is designed for replayability, but it can be frustrating at times.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game demonstrates excellent stability, particularly on the Steam Deck, where users report smooth performance.
- “Runs great on the Steam Deck too!”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by its whimsical and absurd premise, featuring a comedic space cop navigating a quirky universe filled with ironic twists, such as an evil boss and a dangerous energy source. Players appreciate the lighthearted tone and the playful interactions between characters, which enhance the overall enjoyment of the narrative.
- “You're a funny space cop for a funny space corporation running a funny space planet. The planet thrives on mining a funny glowy rock that's used as an energy source. You stop evildoers because you're a space cop, then you find out your boss is actually evil and the funny glowy rock is lethal to humans. He wants to destroy the world, so you team up with some of the prior 'evildoers' who actually just wanted to stop him. You beat up the bad guy boss and save the planet.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is characterized by vibrant colors and an overall positive ambiance, contributing to an enjoyable gaming experience.
- “Nice bright colors, good atmosphere.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's optimization is highly praised, with users noting excellent 4K support and no performance issues, while the 3D graphics maintain a modern and clean appearance.
- “The port is great, it supports 4K, no performance issues for me, and the 3D graphics still look modern and clean.”