Heartstring Bugs

Author: VenusEclipse

Availability: Free, Download

Format: Dating Sim / Raising Sim

Genre: School Romance / Sci-Fi

Rating: Teen

My Scores: (Writing: 4.5, Art: 4, Gameplay: 4) out of 5

Found at http://www.unbrokenhours.com/ 

Summary:

In Heartstring Bugs, you are Elly/Insert-Name-Here. It's your second year of high-school, and you suddenly find yourself the protector of a baby computer virus who has come to Earth to do a report. This virus, named Vi, has hacked your DNA so that you can now see colors representing people's emotions and attractiveness. Needless to say, high-school just got a lot more interesting.

Review:

The Writing:

There's an old saying which goes “God is in the detail.” While many other games have a high-school as the setting, this one stands out for making that setting come to life. This isn't just another dating sim with uniforms and classroom backdrops; in Heartstring Bugs, you'll find yourself dealing with everything from grades, to parents, to parties, to bullies, to people obsessed with sparkly vampires. The various random events further heighten the experience, making it feel like days in the life of a high-schooler. It all feels so real, aliens and rock-stars notwithstanding.

What's more, the characters themselves are rich and full of dimension. They're more than just your standard high-school types, such as jock, nerd, or cheerleader: each character, whether a datable boy or just one of Elly's friends, has one or two quirks that go against all expectation, and a personality that really brings that character to life. I found myself becoming emotionally invested in every path I followed, including the girls' friendship storylines, and feeling for every character. What's more, these characters don't just fade into the background until you pick one to focus on: their personalities shine through every time they appear on the set, and if you know what to look for, you can spot cryptic allusions to the secrets and drama of their storylines.

I must also salute the makers for choosing to set this piece in Canada. As I've mentioned before, certain cultures seem to dominate the playing-field when it comes to settings for visual novels and dating sims. Maybe this is finally changing. Anyway, this game does as good a job of immersing us in Canada as it does of immersing us in high-school, with Thanksgiving in October, provincial exams, and a newcomer being unused to the cold. As far as I can tell, they forgot to mention poutine and hilariously high taxes; but then, you can't have everything.

The Art:

The art in this game is quite good, and some of the CGs are absolutely scrumptious. The music is also nice, and I like the fact that every character has their own leitmotif. Even more, I like the fact that this game takes a common artistic convention and turns it into the story's premise: not only do you see pink bubbles around someone pretty and black lines behind someone nervous, but the protagonist herself sees them, too.

There is one annoying issue, though: before playing this game, you have to make sure your graphics drivers are completely updated. Otherwise, you may experience some frustrating graphics glitches that can make the game very hard to play. It's a major nuisance, but at least the author addresses this issue on the game's website, and once it's fixed, it shouldn't bother you again.

The Gameplay:

The gameplay method of choosing a week's worth of activities in order to change stats and stress brings to mind Princess Maker (and other games based thereon). Since Heartsting Bugs covers three years, it's certainly a lot shorter than, say, Prince Maker: Braveness. Allowing for failed activities, this three-year span seems to be enough to get your stats where they need to be, with the third year being mostly superfluous (much like in real high-school!).

I like how when shopping, different clothes are available at different seasons. Not only does it kind of mirror the way fashion changes in real life, but it adds an extra element of challenge, since in this game, what you wear matters. I also love the outfit system: certain items, when worn together, give your look a theme which may appeal to your boy or repulse him, depending on his tastes. What's more, tossing a jacket over your outfit can change its look completely, meaning you'll probably end up trying everything with everything else at least once, just to see what happens.

This game hits all three points of the Dating Sim Trinity: Talking, Gifts, and Dating; but it weaves them in very naturally. At any time, you might bump into someone at school or while out and about and be able to talk to them; and of course, there's always the chit-chat that happens on a date. Gifts come up on birthdays and at Christmas. Once you know someone well enough, they give you their number, and then you can call them up ask them out; they might say yes or no, and depending on how close you are, they might even call you. The whole system is very organic, and puts as much emphasis on your impression of a person as on that person's impression of you, making this the most natural and lifelike dating sim I have ever reviewed since starting this blog.

TLDR:

Heartstring Bugs is amazingly true to life, despite its supernatural/sci-fi elements. The characters are believable as people, and their problems are handled plausibly. The art could be just a little bit tighter in places, but it still manages to hit the high-notes, and the game is so rich and nuanced that it really puts the “simulation” in Dating Simulation. With at least 5 guys and a lot of surprises, this is one game that you'll want to play over and over. I actually want to thank the folks at Unbroken Hours for making this, and for making it free. If the art were just a wee bit tighter, I'd say sell it and make a fortune.

As usual, this is all my opinion, and we may have different tastes. You might think this game is Cute and Sexy, or Bizarre and Awful. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. :)

Prince Maker 2: Braveness

Author:  Alpha Games
Availability: Free, Download 
Format: Raising Sims (with RPG elements)
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: Teen
My Scores: (Writing: 4, Art: 3, Gameplay: 3)

Found at: http://princemakerproject.wordpress.com/

Summary:

Prince Maker Braveness is part two of a fan-made series based on Princess Maker, although it doesn't require playing part one in order to understand what's happening.  It's originally Chinese, but an English Translation is available (and is, in fact, what I'm basing this review on).  In this game, you are tasked with raising a young boy to become the next Emperor of the Three Kingdoms.  Will he succeed, or will he wind up pursuing other dreams instead?  Will he find love?  It's all up to you!

Review:

The Writing:

This is definitely one of the more story-intense raising sims, and even after several play-throughs and a bit of research, I still haven't uncovered everything. There are several distinct characters that your boy can meet as you progress through the game, and uncovering the secrets of his past unfolds a twisted and convoluted tale of love and politics.  Mind you, the English is imperfect, which can make reading the dialogue a bit of a chore in some places.

The Art:

The art in this game seems to divide evenly between "OMG That's so cute/hot/pretty!" and "Gah! Anatomy does not work that way!"  The main sprites for your boy are well done, at least, which is good, because you'll be spending a lot of time looking at him.  The music is nice, too.

The Gameplay:

There is a lot packed into this game.  There are several different locations you can visit, whether you're just shopping or explicitly sending your boy out for an adventure or a stroll, and a number of jobs and classes to unlock as you play.  There are also at least 6 different people the boy can meet and end up with, aside from you and your maid.  Be forewarned, though: this game is hard.  Some of the endings require triggering events that won't even happen unless you've set things up just right. If you don't have a guide, there will be a *lot* of guesswork over what to do, where to go, and what to say.

This is one of those games that ends up consuming all of your time, because by the time you've finished a several-hours-long playing session, you've come across details that you missed the first time around, or learned something that would have totally altered your strategy had you known, and so you have to go back and start over.  The high difficulty combined with the elusive plot-threads and the numerous endings you can get certainly makes for a lot of replay value.

TLDR:

Prince Maker 2: Braveness is both fun and frustrating.  It has it's flaws, but it also has a well-layered plot and some good fan-service...I mean art.  Art!  *Ahem*.  Anyway, as an English translation of a Chinese fan-game based on a Japanese series, it's easily the most cosmopolitan game on this blog so far, and certainly worth checking out.

Of course, this is all just my own opinion.  Feel free to state your own in the comments. :)

Spirited Heart

Author: ?

Availability: Demo/$19.99 Full Version, Download

Format: Raising Sims

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: Teen

My Score: 2.5 out of 5

Found at: http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/ OR http://www.winterwolves.com/

Summary:

Spirited Heart is a raising sim, much in the style of Princess Maker. You play a girl in a fantastical setting, on your own for the first time. Work jobs, take classes, and see what you end up becoming.

Review:

First of all, let me just express my appreciation for the art; it’s clean, it’s professional-looking, and I quite like it. The layout’s nice, too. All in all, I give the art a 4. It is anime-based, as many of these games seem to be.

The writing is decent, and I like how the creator justifies the stat changes in-story. I particularly like how you can tweak some of your character’s stats by reliving “past events”, ala Choice of the Dragon. As an aside, why is it that fantasy settings have silly-sounding place names? I can’t really fault the game’s creator here, but it’s something about the genre that struck me while I was playing.

So, we have nice art and good writing, and then it all gets shot by the gameplay.

I HAte the gameplay here, with a capital ‘H’, and an ‘A’ for good measure. On the one hand, it’s cool that you can pick one of three races, choose her general background, and then further tweak her history if you like. That part is great. But as for the game proper, everything is much too random.

Want to work a job? Roll a die to find out if you did well enough to raise stats and/or get paid. Want to find romance? You have six potential suitors: Just keep hacking away at certain jobs and hope their associated Random Events eventually show up. Repeat until your health is low and your spirits are crushed, then waste your time and money resting so that you can start all over.

Granted, it’s fairly realistic to meet someone randomly. However, once you’ve become aware of that person, it should be easier to intentionally track them down to initiate interaction; especially when you know what places they frequent! In other words, if Elf Boy really does sing at that bar every single day, then I should be able to just click something like “Go Talk to Elf Boy” or “Invite Elf Boy over for beer”, instead of just mashing the “Work last job” button over and over until the game’s D20 (or whatever it is) finally lands on Elf Boy’s magic number. The problem with having every aspect of a relationship left up to chance is that it is, though statistically rare, entirely possible to roll an entire string of 1s, which means that no matter what you do, the relationship won’t progress at all. That. Sucks.

All in all, this game had some good ideas; and the addictive nature of multi-ending games means that, if the full version were free, I’d probably have played through it a few times despite the frustration. In my opinion, though, it’s not worth paying for. I don’t even know* what the price of the full version is; but as it stands, I wouldn’t give a dollar for it.

Of course, all this is just my opinion. Others may find the game more enjoyable than I did. Feel free to try it out and discuss your experiences in the comments.

*ETA: After writing this post, I looked up the price for the info section at the top.