Kandagawa Jet Girls

My first reaction firing up Kandagawa Jet Girls was genuine curiosity. Jet-ski racer, two-person teams, water weapons, neon Tokyo waterways. On paper that reads like a genre mash worth spending a weekend with. Then the first race started, and I spent most of it waiting for the AI to show up. That's the problem this game never fully escapes. The core setup is actually interesting. Each team splits into a Jetter, who pilots the craft and handles drifting, boost pad routing, and trick jumps off ramps, and a Shooter, who manages water weapons picked up Mario Kart-style along the course and can deploy a full-bar special attack when the EDP meter charges to 100. You can also tilt the nose of the jet-ski up for speed at the cost of control, or push it down for tight cornering at the cost of pace. That nose mechanic is genuinely smart design, and the jetter-shooter combination system means team pairing can unlock unique trick buffs. There's more depth here than the surface suggests. The problem is you rarely get to test it because the AI in story mode is so far behind that shooting anyone becomes a chore you have to intentionally slow down for. The difficulty curve is broken in both directions. Story mode AI is so passive that most races are decided inside the first lap, while free race mode solves this by simply giving opponents better jet-ski upgrade kits, which makes it a gear check rather than a skill fight. The sensation of speed is the other persistent issue. Multiple tracks, alternate route configurations, boost pads, and ramps all exist, but none of them manufacture the feeling of actually going fast. Reviewers consistently compared it to Wave Race 64 running at half throttle. If your monitor is 144hz and you're used to fast reflex games, the sluggishness is going to feel extra wrong. Multiplayer, which is where a game like this should live or die, is essentially a ghost town. Ranked and casual lobbies had thin population at launch, and concurrent player counts have since cratered to near zero. There's online infrastructure there, but finding a real match in 2025 is a long shot. The PC port itself is clean, with frame rate options up to 144fps and unlimited, good scalability across hardware, and no major technical issues reported. No netcode catastrophe to report, mostly because there's no one to play against. Customization is deep relative to the game's ambitions, covering character outfits, jet-ski parts, and decals. Mini-games can funnel points faster than grinding races, which undercuts the loop but also means you can unlock most cosmetics without the pain of replaying easy content. The seven story campaigns total 64 episodes across all teams, which is a real volume of content if the anime cast connects with you. The Senran Kagura crossover characters are available as bonus racers. Visuals are bright and well-animated, and the presentation has a consistent, energetic aesthetic that holds up. Straight up: if you came here because you love water racers and want something that scratches the Hydro Thunder or Wave Race itch, this does not deliver the speed or the tension to satisfy that craving. If you are a fan of the Senran Kagura series or the Kandagawa anime specifically, there is a sincere and playable game underneath the disappointments. Just go in knowing the multiplayer is dead and the AI is not going to put up a fight. Fred, Scout Team