It's Time for Motivation!

I've recently played and finished Criminal Girls: Invite Only on my friend's PS Vita and I must say, it was a fun game. The premise of the game involves you, the main character, overseeing the rehabilitation of a number of criminal girls. They're a rowdy bunch and you have to guide them to the top of the tower (imagine Tartarus from Persona 3) whilst battling enemies known as convicts using each girl's unique set of abilities. Of course, since they're all criminals, you have to 'motivate' them before you can access their skillset. I believe the better term to use is 'discipline' but hey, that's just me.

The start of redemption and sin

Therein lies most of the game. You fight enemies in a turn-based battle system with each girl giving verbal prompts as to what they intend to do. Some situations prompt specific actions whilst others appear randomly throughout the battle and you simply have to choose one. You can swap a reserve in and use an item once every turn in battle. Specific special abilities that can be used during battle will be dictated by your party line-up so strategy plays quite a big role in terms of team efficiency.

Ah, classic PSP days

But all that is beside the point! The main point of the game (that also represents the main advertising point) is the motivation stage (I prefer to use the term discipline, so discipline it shall be!). Each girl has to be DISCIPLINED appropriately in order to draw out her power. For example, Kisaragi can't use her strong paralysis ability until you give her some light electrocution and likewise, Alice can't conjure ice spells unless she receives a good spanking. You understand now why one of the tags for this article is raunchy?

Blonde tsundere being too tsun tsun and not enough dere dere? DISCIPLINE!

That is literally the main focus of the game as the story, level design and soundtrack are quite ordinary. The game however, is quite lengthy. Which is great! More bang for your buck. But after completing the main story and ending up with my chosen heroine (yes, there is a choice system but it's not a major thing), responsibilities assured me I should move on from the game. There goes the post-game dungeons, extra bonuses and additional characters.

A bruise is the least of your worries girl

This is where the gripe begins. In the original Japanese version, you get to see the women as you maniacally commit deeds of inexplicable raunchiness on them. Which is fine considering the whole appeal of this game is tailored towards lonely or otherwise awkward otakus who enjoy the finer 2D things in life. But in the American version, they made sure to censor the scenes with pink mist for the most part and remove the voice acting during said scenes.

I can appreciate the pink mist because it slowly dissipates as you go on. In that respect, you can say that it creates an air of inviting appeal, giving you more reason to gratuitously discipline the girls to finally see their expressions as you spank them of their temptations. It usually only permanently lingers around the areas of interest in the more pre-pubescent characters present (which is fine considering I don't quite see the sexual appeal in loli characters).

I wonder who's behind this veil of CENSORSHIP

What's disappointing is that, throughout the sessions, they don't make any noise whatsoever. Of course, America wants to keep the moans away to ensure that the players don't vote for Donald Trump but the whole point of the game is the sexual appeal. You have the image for the most part but removing the sound is like giving you bubble wrap with half of the bubbles already popped! INSANITY!

Though, at the end of the day, the internet is filled with a lot of H-18 stuff if you want it. You don't need a game for that. Considering the combat is relatively fun and the motivation part of the gameplay adds an interesting flair to the game, I'd say it was still a good time. Unless of course you're one of those 'normal' people that find this sort of thing absolutely disgusting because if you are, what are you even doing on this blog?

Criminal Girls: Invite Only. I enjoyed the game. I can even safely say that if they made the story more interesting, tweak the battle system and invest more into the overall production quality of this game, it would have been a damn well good game. Maybe the sequel would fair better? Yes, there is a sequel.

Sexual appeal aside, the art is brilliant