Maiden Cops, the latest creation by developer Pippin Games, is a brawler that aims to transport people back to era of the colourful arcade-style brawlers. It draws inspiration from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, Streets of Rage and, of course, Final Fight – and it succeeds, all while adding its own simple twist: cute and sexy anime half-animal girls. Does Maiden Cops reinvent the wheel? No, it just dresses it up a bit.
What’s the deal, you say? Well, Maiden City is in peril, as a criminal organisation is attempting to take the city for themselves. Who you gonna call? The Maiden Cops!
The game follows a trio of girls who fight crime. In a typical beat ‘em up fashion, the three have differences in combat strengths and weaknesses. The half-serpentine Priscilla being the allrounder, bunny girl Nina being the small sized speedster, while Meiga, the curvy cow-girl (whoo!) takes the place of the heavy brute. Despite the existence of three characters, you can either play solo or with one more friend – instead of all three – and that’s it. Strange, but it makes sense as the battlefield would probably get a bit too chaotic.
The game’s design leans into the fanservice-y side. Well-endowed girls with bounce physics, flirty poses and cosplay costumes. Nothing NSFW, but not exactly something that can be played at family gatherings. Maiden Cops is intentionally silly in terms of presentation and the occasional banter between the characters isn’t to get players interested at the “lore” behind it all. You are meant to laugh, and while the comedy on offer isn’t something that good, it makes for a pleasant ride. All this is served with some vibrantly colourful, fine pixel artwork as well as a look that will transport people back to a ‘90s Arcade.
If you’re not a fan of the genre this game won’t change your mind. Those who are into this type of gameplay will be happy to know that, despite this not deviating from the typical brawler formula, it refines it and adds a few things that increase the fun factor and tactical depth. Beyond the typical moves and the melee weapons, the girls have an assortment of specials that don’t consume health. These abilities instead recharge slowly over time – a neat block move, various grapples, as well as a couple of combo moves. It’s also cool how enemies can be thrown onto surfaces, bounce off, and return to the heroine to get hit again. It would be nice if there were bigger differences between the girls, like how Meiga can use her huge cow biceps to swing very large objects, or how Nina can combo foes to foe via her jump-kick.
Sadly, this can’t escape the almost inherent problems of the genre – namely, repetition. There is a small number of enemy types, and they aren’t as varied as they could be. While some stages try to be more creative with their combat scenarios and mechanics, they don’t really turn the tide. In fact, that part where players fight while riding bikes is probably the worse level amongst the seven or so available. For some strange reason, while one can freely pick a level after beating the game, it’s only possible to choose one and then progress onward. Score-chasers can try getting better medals for each stage, but if they want to try their luck with Stage 1 and 4, they must also play 2 and 3!
In terms of content there are two modes. Maiden Classic is the one that can ease newcomers into the mechanics, as it includes difficulty settings and continues. This is also the mode that can be played with two characters. Arcade sets the difficulty to Hard, and players must complete the whole thing with just five lives. Money that has been gathered after completing a mode can be used in outfits, music and photos, and even cheats. That the average player must do about three runs to purchase most items. All in all, a pretty neat beat ‘em up with a welcome cheesecake flavour. One that’s not something ground-breaking, but still a bargain at £15.
