When I was in high school, a bunch of us would always carry around a deck of cards and we’d play games together during lunch breaks and such to pass the time.  This was in the early to mid 90s before everyone had cell phones so we had to entertain ourselves somehow.  One popular game that a lot of us liked to play back then was Speed, where you had to place adjacent card numbers (higher or lower) on two piles as quick as you can and whoever got rid of their deck first, won.  I was horrible at that game, though, so I didn’t like it much.  And now you can play Speed against a slew of anime ladies in Pretty Girls Speed.  It’s available on PlayStation consoles, Switch, and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

There are two ways to play.  You can battle a single anime girl in a best two out of three match.  Or you can do a challenge mode where there are 100 levels of skill to beat, but you only have to win one match.  To play, you and your opponent get a certain number of cards, and two cards are placed in the middle.  Four cards are shown at a time and you can press the directions on the D-pad to play one of your cards.  If your card is one higher or lower than what’s in the middle, you can play it.  But if not, you’ll have to put it back and waste precious time.  If nobody can play a card, they will change the two middle cards until you can play.  Whoever gets rid of their deck first, wins.

I’m really horrible at this game, so I couldn’t get past the first level.  Maybe if they arranged the cards in your hand in a ‘plus’ pattern to make it easier to visualize which button to press.  But this game is kind of broken because as soon as I just started mashing buttons quickly, I was able to win a lot more matches.  You’re probably better off with just a deck of cards.

Kid Factor:

Pretty Girls Speed is rated T for Teen with an ESRB descriptor of Suggestive Themes.  Nothing violent here, just cards.  Some of the anime ladies are well-endowed or wear somewhat revealing outfits, but that’s about it.

Tags: Game Reviews