Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Rose Destiny Dating Sim

Author: Chickslovegames
Availability: Free, Online/browser
Format: Dating Sim
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: Teen
My Scores: (Writing: 1, Art: 1, Gameplay: 1) out of 5


Summary:
In Rose Destiny Dating Sim, you, your father, and your brother have all moved to a new kingdom. Your father wants you to find a boyfriend, preferably in time for the ball.

Review:

Writing:
Notice how I didn't use any names in that summary. The dialog in the game doesn't make it very clear who's who and what's going on. Generally, you can figure out the boys' names by checking the stats sheet immediately after talking to one of them, but this brings up a hilarious inconsistency with the brother; throughout the game, your brother is referred to as Adrian, but the stats sheet lists him as Alex. This makes me think of a scene from a Cheech and Chong movie: "Dude, you never told me your name was Alex!" As for our "shy" but totally-willing-to-break-into-people's-houses-and-start-bossing-them-around protagonist, I think her name is supposed to be Rose, but I wouldn't bet my life on it.

As you can guess, I don't much care for the writing, but there are a couple places where I must give credit. One thing that impressed me is that one character has an attempted female-on-male rape in his backstory, and it is treated as something to be taken seriously. Often in fiction, and real life, the concept of women sexually attacking men is either not addressed, downplayed, or laughed off. We assume that women are too weak, or that men only respond when they want to, and neither of these assumptions are true; but because of them, a serious crime will often go unreported or unbelieved. As women, I think it's time we took responsibility and acknowledged the heinous things we are capable of.

Soap boxing aside, there was one other interesting bit that warrants half a point: The fact that Rose's father wants her to find a boyfriend. This is unusual, as parents generally either don't want their children dating (as the game mentions), or they want their children married off (mainly for status and/or money). Why this obsession with Rose finding a boyfriend as opposed to a husband, then? What does he have to gain? This would be very interesting if I didn't think it was merely an excuse for the dating sim setup, but if the author ever wants to do some serious retooling, she has the material for an intriguing story.

Art:
The art here is harsh, and also a bit confusing. The first time I played this game, I didn't see the "leave" option in the corner and thus couldn't figure out how to exit the house. Also, the intro to the game is hard on the eye and thus difficult to read.

Gameplay:
This game is broken. Choosing to work takes away hp more than once (after you click the button, and after it tells you how much you earned), and choosing to date someone who is not yet datable also results in a glitch. Also, it is possible (and easy) to end the day with -10 hp.

This game also commits the sin of having two nearly identical responses to pick from, one of which is wrong. Furthermore, the game won't tell you why it's wrong. Often, it feels like the author has written a script, and the point of the game is to guess what my exact lines are.

One more issue I have is with the lesbian in the market place. Some games have gay options; others don't, and that's fine. But why have a lesbian character, build up how much she's madly in love with you, give her Talk and Date buttons, and then have it come out that she's not actually an available character? Friends, when it comes to things like sex scenes and gay options, let us remember the words of Yoda: "Do or Do Not, there is no Tease."

TLDR:
In short, I found this game difficult to play and enjoy. In many ways, it reminded me of Dating Sim Academy, and has some of the same flaws. Still, as much as I hate both of them, I'm certain that every game has its audience. As long as there are redeeming qualities in a piece, there will be someone who can appreciate them; and when a piece has no such qualities, there will be someone who can enjoy it ironically. Alas, that someone is not me, but maybe it can be you. Feel free to say what you think.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

<3

Author: Mole-Chan
Availability: Free, Download
Format: Visual Novel
Rating: Teen
My Scores: (Writing: 2.5, Art: 3.5, Gameplay: 2.5)


Summary:
In <3 , you are a computer named Ime. Your owner has abandoned you, and so you find yourself working at a facility that traps computer viruses. The latest threat going around is the <3 virus, which causes AIs to fall in love!

Review:

Writing:
For some reason, I was expecting a completely different story when I downloaded this. Ah, well. Suffice to say, the <3 virus is basically just a McGuffin that gives you an excuse to get close to people.

I had a hard time getting into the story, personally. The characters and situations felt a bit under-developed; not flat, mind you, but like we weren't given all the necessary data about them, which made it harder to care. There were too many loose ends and unanswered questions. Why was Ime abandoned? What's going on with Vaquita's owner? Who broke in and why? WHY SMASH THE MONITORS?

I'm also not clear on the exact nature of these computer people. The concept seems to be similar to Chobits, where a "personal computer" is basically an android, with laptops and hand-helds corresponding to tinier androids. The computers in <3 , however, seem to be much more human than machine, and I don't just mean in the romantic "Robots can feel!" sense. These "computers" go out for dinner and eat fast food. They get tired, sleep in beds, and have issues with privacy and "funny business", just like humans. Why? Why do they behave like organic life-forms, instead of charging up, running as long as they have access to electricity, and just powering down in a corner when they run out of juice? This is not answered. For the record, robot-girl Ping from MegaTokyo eats food, but this is explained in the strip: It's a necessary function for a Dating Game accessory to have (since dating usually involves eating), and she is able to internally process sugar into electricity. <3 doesn't address the issue at all, unless I missed something crucial; so I'm left with the impression that Ime is just an ordinary girl with amnesia and a CD slot.

Art:
The art is anime/manga style. It has some strong points, but the score ends up being pulled down by one stupid detail: female anatomy. The women in this game look like they have oranges glued under their necks, near their armpits. It's jarring. You may scoff, but I find it very distracting, and thus it sinks the art score like a rock.

Gameplay:
While quite a few games have a gay/lesbian option, this is the first one I identify as being both GxB and GxG. There are four people you can end the game with, and it's an even split between the boys and the girls. Granted, one girl's ending is platonic, but this is balanced out by one guy's path being so short that it almost feels like a non-standard Game Over.

That guy's path really annoyed me. It was so short, that I barely learned anything about him at all. His ending has Ime comment about him "finally wanting something for himself", but at that point, he hadn't really done anything to establish his character, let alone mark him as being selfless. It was only on other characters' paths that I got to see a glimpse of what the author was talking about. This goes back to what I was saying about the writing; the story doesn't give us all the information we need about the characters.

Also, the game didn't really feel very cohesive to me. There were little inconsistencies, like the fact that one character dies when you don't revisit them, even though visiting them just shows them being saved by someone else. Oh, and this supposedly non-dangerous computer virus will kill you if you don't choose a character's path. All in all, it just didn't line up quite right.

TLDR:
To make a long post short, I was disappointed with <3 . It left too much unexplained; I had a hard time getting into the story and characters, and the boobs on the women seriously need to drop down a few inches (middle of the rib-cage should be about right). Also, while the game's name is fairly clever, its similarity to an incomplete HTML tag caused me to lose half of my saved draft of this post, and that makes me angry. (Edit: Much thanks to my friend Anna for telling me how to get the < / > symbols up.)

Of course, that's just me. You might decide that you like, love it, and/or want some more of it; or maybe you hate this game and think that I wasn't harsh enough on it. Feel free to point this out in the comments!


Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Secret Santa

Author: Eternal Dreams
Availability: Free, Download
Format: Visual Novel
Genre: School Romance (If that's not a genre, it should be.)
Rating: Everyone
My Scores: (Writing: 2.5, Art: 2.5, Gameplay: 2.5)


Summary:
In Secret Santa, you are [Insert Name Here]. Your school has a Secret Santa program, and you've been assigned to get a gift for a boy you have a crush on. Perhaps this is the perfect opportunity to win his heart?

Review:

Once again, we have a proclaimed First Attempt at game-making, and once again, I try not to let that color my ratings, although it is a nice first try.

Writing:
Proof-read, authors, proof-read! Is that so much to ask? The English here isn't as bad as in some of the games I've reviewed; I get the impression that the author is a native English speaker, albeit fairly young (I could be wrong on both counts, though). While it's comprehensible, there are still enough spelling/grammar problems to make my inner grammar nazi cringe.

The story itself is simple and cute, and captures the feelings of young kids experiencing puppy love in a way that feels mostly honest, and only a little bit wish-fulfilly in terms of Haruta's* character. I like the fact that winning him over doesn't result in him instantly falling head over heels for you with hearts and flowers and ponies; instead, he just agrees to give you a chance. Just a chance. It's a small step that grows into something more, in a way that's plausible and beautiful.

*At this point, I must ask, since it's crossed my mind many times: Why do all of these games give the characters Japanese names, regardless of where they're set? I've been chalking it up to the fact that the visual novel/dating sim formats originated in Japan, but it still doesn't make much sense. If any authors/game makers are reading this, I challenge you: Make a game with no Japanese names in it. Maybe have some ordinary Georges, Bills, or Harrys (Harries?), or heck, use names from another country like France or Mexico. For extra hilarity, have the game be set in Japan.

Art:
Well, the art isn't exactly Disney quality, but I don't mind it too much. Yes, it's wonky and out of proportion in ways that reaffirm my "Young author" conclusion, but it's also bright and cute. The over-all effect reminds me of Bomee's My Cup of Tea. Also, the music is nice.

Gameplay:
I'm not quite sure what to make of the gameplay. It's certainly not perfect, but I can't exactly peg what's wrong. Perhaps the best way to describe it is that while a good multi-ending game encourages replaying, this game pretty much requires it. On the first, cold play-through, the options (with few exceptions) seem to amount to "Door #1, Door #2, or Door #3?" You have no idea what's behind any of these doors; why any choice would be better than another. Of course, once you've seen the consequences of your actions and gotten a feel for the characters, the correct options suddenly become a lot more obvious.

TLDR:
Like I said, this was a good first try. Over all, it strikes me as a fairly middling game; it has its flaws, but it's still cute and worth playing.

That's my opinion. What do you think?