BanG Dream! Girls Band Party‪!‬ 4+

- Introduction
I came into this game with a neutral stance on anime, only showing interest in the rhythm part of the game. Here we are today, and I still don’t care about much anime related things, with the exception of this game, its anime, and the franchise as a whole. This game had to be good if I was incompatible with it, but love it to death.

- Gameplay
First off, the gameplay is simple, you tap, hold, slide, and flick the notes. The fun part of the gameplay is how creative the beat maps can get, generally more satisfying at higher difficulties. You can customize many things with the rhythm part of the game to your liking, note speed, sounds, appearance, and during certain events, limited themes.

- In-Game Music
With the gameplay comes the songs, which are really good, my music taste was way different from anything this game had to offer, but I actually love the originals, and think most covers are better than the song they’re covering. Each band has their own distinctive styles and all of them have great songs.

- In-Game Stories
Aside from the rhythm game portion, there’s the stories. I really loved these too. I was shocked by how much fun I had watching the stories considering I wasn’t too interested in anime. A lot of them are just charming, and it was great seeing most of these stories and their subplots referenced in the second season of the anime.

- Gacha/Is it pay to win?
Since this game is a free to play gacha game, you’d think it would be like every other mobile game: pay to win. Well, you’re wrong. This game can be played fully without investing absurd amounts of time or any money. Nothing is locked behind a pay wall, you can get the full experience for free. The only time you would need the high end characters is if you plan on getting high rankings on the event leaderboards (or if you just want them). Even if you want the best characters, you still don’t have to pay. As long as you save stars for 2500 star rolls and dream fest events, you can get strong teams without spending a buck.

- Development of the game
We’re approaching the one year anniversary (this has passed now) and I have to say, development on this game is extremely fast. We’ve almost caught up to the Japanese version (which released a little over 12 months before the Worldwide version did). So in addition to more content (songs, characters, and stories) being added every week or so, major updates come out fairly frequently. Along with working hard, the developers are also very generous with free gift stars when it comes to issues, maintenance, or even to celebrate.

- Problems with the game
You aren’t prompted to do this when starting the game (This might’ve been changed by now), so don’t forget to copy/setup your transfer ID and link to game center. If you don’t do this and the app glitches or you have to re-install it, all your progress is lost. While it is something I deal with very rarely, lag can be an issue with this game. I use an iPhone 7 Plus, so if you use an older model, you may lag a bit. Other than lag, there really aren’t any problems with the game at all. I guess multi-lives, and vs lives are unplayable if your internet connection isn’t good enough, but I don't see that as much of an issue (It probably isn’t the best idea to play online with others if you have a weak internet connection anyways).

- Recommendations if you enjoy it.
If you end up enjoying it for the rhythm game, then perhaps you should just stick with the game. But if you enjoy the stories and the music too, then not only do you have the game, but the entire franchise has stuff to offer. The second season of the anime is ending very soon (has ended now), with a third season coming early next 2020, the full versions of original songs are released on most music streaming platforms and stores, and the seiyuus (voice actors) do an amazing job with their live performances.

- Summary
To summarize, I’ve been playing all sorts of mobile games for years now, and I genuinely think this game is one of the best, if not the best in the mobile market (It has to be good if I cared enough to write a review this long). The gameplay, music, characters and their seiyuus, stories, and the developers are extremely good, and the game is not pay to win. If you enjoy it, do yourself a favour, and look into the rest of the franchise.

i cant stop playing it save me from bandori hell

give me chu2