Thank you Marvelous for sending us this game to review!

Earth is under attack from the Octoid alien race and it’s up to a high school boy and girl who get fused together in the female’s body to save the world. As luck would have it, the girl happens to be the president of the Kichijoji Metal Girls band and the aliens are vulnerable to the metal particles produced from their heavy metal music. As the drummer of the band, the power to save the universe is in your hands!

Gal Metal can be played in one of two ways. The easier way to play the game is in the Noodle mode where you get to move the Joy-Cons air drum style. There’s a limit to the noises you can make in that mode, but the patterns and rhythms are endless. In Drum mode, there’s a drum set on the screen and you can tap the various drum components to make a more complex beat. Experienced and aspiring drummers may prefer that method.

In total, there are thirteen sets to play, and before facing off against the alien invaders, you get to choose how to spend your time to prepare for “battle.” At the beginning of each day, you’ll participate in a group chat with your fellow bandmates and discuss various lighthearted topics. The text moves pretty fast at times and it’s hard to keep up with the conversation as a result. You’ll often be prompted to provide input on the discussion which may determine the popular hangout place or story sequence for that day.

Each day you get forty stamina points which can be spent doing solo or group practices, working, or hanging out/playing around town. If you choose an activity that one of your bandmates is doing you’ll strengthen your relationship with them. As your friendship develops you’ll unlock story sequences that are usually pretty funny to watch. The activities you choose also impact your various playing stats: Morality, Kvit, Activity, Passion, and Guts. These stats impact your score and can make or break the final results in battle. By working, you’ll boost one stat, while other options will add to one stat and reduce the other. There are in-game achievements for increasing your stats and friendship levels. When all of your stamina for the day is spent, the day will end and progress the main story.

If you just want to jam without the story, you can practice or free play the individual tracks from the main menu. The control scheme can also be adjusted from the menu but you have to be configured for the currently selected one in order to change it to the other. For example, if you’re in Noodle mode you have to have the Joy-Cons unattached in order to change to the Drum mode.

The 2D paper cutout/comic book style artwork is neat. The main story is shown via comic book panels and the daytime events have a Paper Mario feel to them.

There isn’t any voice acting, but the backtracks for the songs more than make up for it. My favorite track is the Beethoven’s Ode to Joy themed one called Distorted Synopsis of Joy. After every battle you can watch a replay of your performance. I wasn’t inclined to re-watch my performance and I agree with the after-performance critiques of my drumming to be either repetitive or off rhythm.

Morally speaking, Gal Metal is pretty tame as long as you don’t mind heavy metal music. One of the songs has the word ‘hell’ in the title. With the premise of the boy and girl sharing the same body there could have been way more sexual jokes in this title, but none of them come to mind. The PG-rated movie Your Name had more objectionable content in that regard.

In the end, Gal Metal is a short but fun rhythm game. It’s much cheaper than a drum set so it may scratch that itch for an aspiring drummer. The asking price is $29.99 which is a tad steep for a story mode that can be completed in three hours. Granted, the Noodle mode does get tiring after a while so breaks are recommended. Switching between the Noodle and Drum mode may extend the gameplay somewhat. With that said, if you like drumming and rhythm games, Gal Metal is worth checking out. If you’re unsure, it’s best to wait for a sale.