REVIEW: Alice Gear Aegis CS Concerto of Simulatrix


Title	Alice Gear Aegis CS Concerto of Simulatrix
Developer	Pyramid
Publisher	PQube Games
Release Date	March 16th, 2023
Genre	Action
Platform	Switch, PlayStation 5
Age Rating	Teen
Official Website

When I first saw Alice Gear Aegis CS Concerto of Simulatrix, I thought this game is right up my alley. Lots of cute girls with weapons having duels with each other. It made me think of Strike Witches a little bit, if I’m honest. I decided to look further into the series and found it began as a mobile game in Japan quite a while ago, but it was never localized for the West. Nevertheless, I was pretty stoked to get my hands on this fantastic looking title. Let’s see if these girls really shine, or if this whole thing just falls flat.

An alien threat named Vice has taken over your world. A group of actresses with an aptitude for wielding special gear are the only hope of taking on the alien menace. The girls train with a company named AEGIS, charged with the defense of your world. The girls will fight in simulated tournaments against each other. Each girl has their own reasons for wanting to win, and they will become better prepared to defend their world as well.

I have to say I really enjoyed all of the different actress stories here. Each of the girls have a very unique personality and the stories were pretty interesting as well. There were a few curve balls thrown in there I wasn’t expecting, but this was a great thing since most of them were pretty lighthearted overall. I do wish that since you end up playing each of the stories here a few times to unlock every tile in the grid-based story mode that there were some alternate story bits or hidden scenes to find. It would’ve made this a bit more engaging rather then just skipping all the story bits during other play-throughs.

The gameplay is simple enough to pick up and play in minutes, but there is enough customization here to keep you entertained for hours. Battles take place in a variety of 3D arenas, and while you are locked on to your foe you can move freely about the area. Each girl has four different weapons. These include a main gun, melee weapon, body and leg artillery. Each of these can be fully customized before each battle, but some equipment is made for use with certain actresses only. Aside from the unique pieces, you can paint each piece of equipment any color you wish as well. Gun types are pretty much what you would expect: there are pistol types, machine guns, bazookas, sniper rifles and more. These can be charged up for bigger attacks by simply holding the button down. Body weapons work in the same way and most of these deploy satellites that will attack your foe with many beams, but some of the others do have different actions to play around with.

Battle can take place solo or in three-on-three skirmishes. These battles will take place in story mode as well as online and offline modes. During the three-on-three battles you can switch girls at any time with the D-pad. If your special meter fills a bit, you can also call one of your friends out to tag team a disadvantaged foe. Your special meter will also give you a powerful melee attack when it has filled to a certain point and a bad ass special attack when it’s fully filled. The special attacks vary greatly depending on which character you’re using. Some have damaging effects, others may heal your party. Figuring out which one you wanna use will play into your strategy with this one.

Graphically, Alice Gear Aegis CS Concerto of Simulatrix looks pretty good. The character models are all nicely detailed, which is great considering the amount of customization here. I loved that each girl had a variety of costumes to choose from, so you can give each girl the exact look you want. Combat runs very smooth on the Switch even when bullets and explosions are flying everywhere in the fantastic arenas. There is a little lag in the menus but it wasn’t enough to bother me, and the game ran just fine in handheld mode as well. I think not having a diorama mode in this one is a huge missed opportunity, given a big draw of this series are the real life models you can buy and assemble.

There are not a lot of musical tracks found here, but they are quality. The battle themes get you ready for combat while the other themes add a bit of feeling to the visual novel sections. The voice acting here is top tier. The actors do a great job bringing these girls to life and a couple of them really stole my heart by the end of this. You can listen to the soundtrack in the bonus section of the game after completing the story mode.

Overall I really enjoyed my time with Alice Gear Aegis CS Concerto of Simulatrix. The combat is a lot of fun, the characters are great and the customization here will keep you busy for hours. I spent about 10 hours and competed each of the girl’s story modes at least once. I feel like at the $29.99 price tag for a digital copy, this one is a nobrainer for fans of anime with cute girls or action game fans. You won’t be disappointed.