🚤 Kandagawa Jet Girls | Review | PS4 | “Jet Set Boobies” @marvelous_games 🚤 #IndieGames #GameDev

I’ve played and reviewed several games released by Marvelous Inc. over the years and I have to admit that they aren’t shy of variety in terms of gameplay...although I wish I could say the same about the characters.
Kandagawa Jet Girls is about several duos of jet ski teams from various schools that compete against each other in racing tournaments, naturally, they are all voluptuous, teenage girls. Through the surprisingly lengthy story mode, you take control of each team in turn and work through their chapters, winning races and learning about the team through visual novel scenes as you go.

Before I talk about the main gameplay itself, I’ll cover off some of the background details and mini-games. You have quite an extensive library of changes that you can make to both your character and jet ski.  Whilst the additions and costume changes character-wise are purely cosmetic, your jet ski can be upgraded to improve the handling, boosting, acceleration and top speed. 

In terms of mini-games, there is a handful here from running on a treadmill and mopping to a surprisingly fun rhythm-based jet ski washing section, in which it is possible to net a huge amount of points with which to spend on upgrades.

There are also various art, movie and sticker unlockables which can be accessed through the many menus. I’d also like to point out the most useful button here, when you are changing the costume and items on your characters, you can push R3, which will make your buxom high-schooler gaze lovingly over her shoulder straight into the player’s lustful, voyeuristic eyes. Nothing unusual about that. Nothing at all. Nothing. At all.

With all of this going on; the fully-voice acted visual novel sections, the dense cosmetic and upgrade system, the lengthy tutorial explaining the quite cool control scheme (you can drive, shoot forwards, drift, boost and leap whilst doing tricks but also have the ability to switch to the ‘shooter’ character when you pick up a new weapon and aim behind at other racers whilst your jet ski cruises on autopilot) when it comes to the gameplay itself….it’s...well, it’s easy. 

Even without upgrading my jet ski, I was pulling away from the pack at the starting line and never seeing anyone else again, making all of the weapons and boosts redundant. 

Even on two occasions where I actually went backwards for a bit on the same track, I came first by a country mile. If you want a challenge, you’ll need to put the difficulty on hard otherwise you will cruise easily through the game.

In terms of the mechanics of gameplay, the tracks are quite fun if all a bit one-dimensional, the controls are responsive and the frame rate is a mostly solid 30fps with a really vivid and bright colour palette. 

The music is energetic J-rock and the girls constantly chat throughout your races, which actually gives the game a more rounded feel, as they interact during the races as well (even if they are saying things that don’t necessarily match up with what’s happening in the race itself) which pushes the (admittedly slight) narrative forwards.

Kandagawa Jet Girls was a nice surprise, with offline multiplayer, this could be a really fun blast in the often-overlooked water racing genre. 

The single-player is overly easy on the standard mode and I was, unfortunately, unable to try out the online multiplayer for the purposes of this review although I can very much imagine that this is where the real challenge would lie, upgrading your characters and jet ski then trying your hand at beating other players. 

Whilst the ‘sexy’ setup may not be to everyone’s tastes, there’s actually a fun racing game underneath all the jiggling boobs. 

I just really wish there was offline multiplayer to give it the boost over the line that it feels like it needs.

Right, I’m off to cause some serious waves.

💧❄️ RATING: MELTING ❄️💧

Ratings Explained

ICE COOL (Great Game Recommended)

MELTING (Recommended with reservations, one to consider if you are a fan of the genre)

MELTED (Not A Recommended Purchase)