Warning: Spoilers
Silly little game that did not need to exist.
Gynophobia is a very, very short little game that feels like a school project. It revolves around a dude that is afraid of spiders and women and apparently need to overcome his fears.
You start in your apartment and see a spider on the floor. You are filled with fear when the doorbell goes. Through the spy hole, you see a woman, filling you with even more fear and the game is finally done reminding you, the player, that this is what the game is all about.
The graphics are actually decent. The enemy design of the zombies is horrible, and the movement is stiff, but the environments, objects and details are great, especially for 2015.
The music is almost non-existent, and the sound effects are fair but nothing special.
The controls are basic, easy and just work. The only mechanic that I did not like was the requirement of pressing R to reload when empty, even when trying to shoot (normally this would reload the weapon).
Gynophobia consists of five short levels. Two of them are in a video game inside this video game, in which you shoot zombies while collecting four wheels, a toolbox and a gas cannister, played on the computer in your room, the other three levels play out when you drink a mysterious beverage, left by your mom.
Apparently, this sh!t makes you trip balls, and it drugs your sorry ass so much that the framerate drops to 29 instantly. The horrible motion blur leads you to your bed, while high as a kite. Then, you enter three medieval themed dream levels, full of zombie women and spiders. In the first level, you just progress through a linear pathway. In this level, there are 9 eggs that you can shoot. When shooting one, a counter appears that you shot 1 of 9. When shooting all 9, a generous reward unlocks when…. No, just kidding, nothing happens. No popup, no power ups, no extra content, nothing.
The second level is a cave with one new enemy. Floating woman heads with a spine. I have to say, this design was pretty terrifying. After this level, you fight a spider lady boss. Just shoot her a million times while strafing right and that’s it, you beat Gynophobia.
This is absolutely not the worse game I have played but it did not have any special reason to exist. For the mere price of a dollar and a half, I would say support the dude/lady that made this game.
