Shots Fired but the Aim fell short

MICA Team/Sunborn Network Technology has officially released Girls’ Frontline: Fire Control. Set in the Girls’ Frontline universe, Fire Control blends high-intensity shooting gameplay with deep team-building strategy. This exciting action-game delivers high-speed gun combat, cute and hot characters, and a lot of questionable decisions in the game, which made me ask a few questions.

Girls’ Frontline: Fire Control officially launched for Android in Southeast Asia (SEA, excluding Vietnam) on November 27, 2025, with a PC version also planned, focusing on 5v5 PvP shooting. This title tries to do something that other GFL titles don’t. I played it extensively on my Asus ROG Phone 9 to see whether performance is ideal enough for this competitive title to survive. 

In this Girls Frontline Fire Control Review, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on gameplay, visuals, monetization, and its content. So stick around to find out if this popular game series spin-off is worth the time. If you are just starting Girls Frontline Fire Control, you should know some of the useful redeem codes to claim and acquire some useful freebies and starter rewards. You can also check out our beginner’s guide for a strong initial start.

Gameplay is good, but there’s a lot to improve

Let’s start with the most important question: Is the shooting good? I will say it’s average. I have seen it in a mobile game. The shooting lacks weight and punch when we shoot, and the audio and visual feedback do not indicate whether we are hitting a character or the void. The only sound cue we get is when we break the armour of an enemy, which is the same as our shield breaking, so yeah, a weird feature.

Now, on the other hand, when we compare the game to its sibling Girl’s Frontline 2, you can immediately point out the noticeable sound difference between the guns, but the biggest difference between these two is that Fire Control is a full real-time PvP-only third-person shooter, while Girl’s Frontline 2 is turn-based. Each doll has a different class, weapons, and skills, so be sure to choose one that suits your playstyle.

The lack of variety in gameplay is a head-scratcher

So let’s start with how many maps and modes are there in the game. Some are indoor and narrow, while others are open and big for long-range fights. There are six maps in total. Oh, and I forgot to mention, you cannot choose maps or modes when you start your match, so there’s that.

And once you play any of them, you have played them all, as they all look the same aside from one unique map, Sandstorm. I really hope they add a lot more variety because, for now its very lackluster and barebones as a PvP shooter.

There are three game modes currently in game: Team Deathmatch, Escort, and Combat Simulation (the Lackluster MOBA-like game mode). And there are two types of maps: Combat Simulation (big-open ended map) and Team Competition (Small tight Corridor map).

Deathmatch is the only mode you will end up liking, as it’s very short and very action-oriented, while the remaining modes are very long and repetitive and heavily rely on team play, which, let’s be honest, doesn’t exist in gacha game communities.

No story and voice acting is also a bummer

I could have ignored this entire section, and it would have changed nothing on this entire review because there’s zero story or lore in the game, so if you have any questions on why we’re fighting and who we’re fighting or if there’s any lore on the t-dolls, then let me stop you right there.

There’s none, we don’t even get any special voice line because we as a person don’t exist in the game, nor do we interact with anyone or anything. The game expects us to take its gameplay at its value.

Weirdly enough, you can give them gifts, but they never unlock anything meaningful for the story, nor do we get any special lines. So if it were named a different game, it would have changed nothing as well. Since nothing is connecting its story and lore-wise with GFL games, just the characters are there.

Visuals look very appealing, with models and environments stealing strong points

Now this is something where I will say, Front Line truly shines as the second game in the Girls Frontline Series that is in 3D, and it puts a lot of work into delivering great-looking models and environments, so I will give props to the devs for giving a good amount of details to the character, their skins, and the guns. They look almost as good as Girls Frontline 2, if not the same for some characters.

The animations are good and smooth; they aren’t janky or stiff or missing any keyframes, there aren’t any clipping or messy physics, so that’s great. The close third-person gameplay allows us to see everything up close and personal in each fight. But sadly, that’s the only place I will say positive things about because now it’s all downhill from here.

The shop and how much pay-2-win is there

Now, since the game is not a gacha, it doesn’t mean the devs didn’t include any; in fact, they added gacha for costumes, which thankfully are not pay-to-win (yet) because the real pay-to-win aspect comes from the paywalled character and direct buying of Exp chips that let you level up character skill levels, stats, and gameplay variables.

Gacha skin tokens are either too high-priced or too low-priced, or it’s a gacha skin, so pick your poison where you want to waste your crystals(very hard to get) in there. I had to grind a lot to get one of my characters’ skill levels to 10, and that’s half the journey so far.

People can buy Exp chips (blue and purple chips) directly with premium currency, max their characters, and get a great level of edge on the battlefield that leaves F2P players like me grasping for air. Also scummy move from them is making sure the best event reward skin is for a character that is only unlockable by paying real money, so hats off to them for killing whatever motivation I had for doing events.

UI and its function work decently, with a cluttered feel

The issue from Girls Frontline 2 carries over here as well. For instance, voice lines during ultimate skill activations often lag behind the animations, disrupting the flow. While this is a minor gripe, it’s noticeable enough to detract from the overall experience. I have reminded myself that these are the same company game, so the same is expected.

Certain menus feel cluttered and sometimes even incomprehensible when viewed, for example, this loadout in the game, which doesn’t even let us see the entire list of what was being used.

And the worst offender is that we can’t choose our own maps or game modes when we start queuing for matches. At least the shops work without any issues (we all know why), and the play menu is minimal, so that’s one positive aspect I can commend on.

Final Verdict

Girls Frontline Fire Control is a product of what happens when companies get their hands on fan projects, and this is the result we have. Sometimes you have to ask, “Why are we playing this game?” That’s exactly what I was asking when I was grinding away my time in matches and had to think, is this the same fan game I played back in the day with my friends when it was just a fan game?

The lack of content variety in map types and game modes, and the choice to select maps or modes in this day and age in modern shooters is a big let down, which this game honestly is after my own self hype left me in shambles, thinking it would be the next big game I would play regularly like valorant but alas, this is not it.

The devs have a long path they need to tread before this lackluster game can become a blockbuster one, because at its core, the game has a good, simplistic gameplay loop and a core fundamental foundation to become a good game but unfortunately, the devs’ very unconvincing decisions have led to this shallow and former shell of a game that I used to remember.

That’s all from us for the Girls Frontline Fire Control Review! Did you find my Girls Frontline Fire Control review helpful? Do let us know in the comments!

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