Yin-Yang! Another X-Change

"Solid Entry in the X-Change series"

Warning: Yin-Yang! X-Change Alternative is a bishoujo, or Japanese dating-sim game and is strictly for adult. If you're under 18 or the legal age of your respective countries, then please read no further.

Your character is Kaoru, a male high school student. Kaoru accidentally drinks an experimental medicine that turns him into a girl. Kaoru's goal is to return to his male self. In trying to do this you will reach one of twelve possible endings where Kaoru ends up either alone or with one of the other characters in the game, either as male or female.

This game owes a lot to the original X-change trilogy also by Crowd / Peach Princess. Fortunately, the main character is a big improvement over Takuya from the original series.

Gameplay: 5/10

Gameplay is simple. Click the mouse, read the dialog on the screen, and repeat. This is occasionally interrupted by having to click to choose an option instead of just to advance the screen to the next line of text. Unfortunately, this can get extremely boring during the occasional long periods between choices. Crowd is aware of this limitation and offers two ways to lighten this chore. Once you have played through a particular scene, you may skip through it quickly using the aptly named skip button. This is useful when trying alternate paths to reach different endings. There is also an auto mode feature that allows you to start the game going and watch. Each dialog box stays on screen long enough for it to be read or for the actors to speak their lines. The speed can be adjusted in the Options Menu if it is too fast or too slow.

There is certainly no challenge or risk to this type of play. In general, you can guess which sort of ending a particular choice will lead you to. There are also a couple of choices that don't affect the ending at all, but merely increase the CG you view. The CG Room feature and Memory Room are good ways to measure how much of the game you have completed.

There are a couple of minor problems with the game. There is a continuity error along one of the paths. The English translation is wrong in some places, sometimes humorously so. The translation, despite its flaws, is far superior to the translation done in X-Change 3. The game also suffers seemingly random crashes on some systems. The slim manual does a good job of explaining how to fix this.

Finally, there is little innovation in gameplay from the original X-change series. The only new feature is the auto mode button.

Story: 8/10

This area was pleasingly good. Most of the characters were well-developed with extensive backgrounds and motivations that came out over the course of gameplay. The main character is interesting and flawed, as are most of the other characters. As the game progresses, the choices you make allow you to exploit or mend some of these flaws. There is certainly some potential for improvement in the plot. There were several points where adding additional choices would have allowed greater exploration of the various characters. In particular it would be nice to have Kaoru pick up on some of the clues that the other characters occasionally drop along the way.

The sex scenes are an important part of the story. The rape scenes that were common in the original X-change series are much reduced here. It's far easier to choose a plot path that has little forced sex. There is also a much greater variety of sexual situations than in the original X-change series.

Most of the storylines were fairly involved. There was room for improvement in the area of romance though. Kaoru and some of the other characters fall for each other a little too easily sometimes. Given the length of the timeline, three weeks as compared to the one week of X-Change 3, there should have been more room for romance. Overall; however, the storylines were excellent and varied. There is just about something for everyone.

Graphics/Sound: 8/10

Graphics were in the style typical for this type of game. There is no animation. One graphic, or two to three very similar ones, stays on screen for several minutes of game play. The female bodies are generally more realistic than those in similar games. My only complaint in this area is that Kaoru has a strand of hair that tends to stand erect when she is surprised. While this isn't unusual for this style of graphic, I found it to be a minor annoyance. The graphics were certainly superior to those in the original X-change series.

The music is typical of this type of game, with heavy reliance on synthesizers. There is enough variety that it doesn't get boring through the course of the game. Themes are well chosen to match the events in the game. The comedy themes are particularly apt. You can download the opening theme from the official site for free.*

Play Time / Replayability: 6/10

In one respect, replayability for this game is very high. Until you reach the ending of each storyline and get all of the CG and memories of the game, it's easy to replay. While many scenes are repeated on each storyline, they can be skipped through easily so that only the new content gets your attention. After the first few times through the game, which take about three hours each, the additional storylines only take an hour or so to complete. I confess to getting bored after the first four storylines, but then found myself interested again as I discovered how varied the endings were as you went deeper into the game.

There are twelve possible endings and each one takes one or two hours to reach. Total time to complete the game is about twenty-five hours. At this stage, replayability is very high.

Once you've reached all the endings and gotten all of the CG and memories, replayability drops. Since there is no real challenge to the game, and all of the important graphics and memories are available at the click of a mouse, there's no reason to go back into the game.

Final Recommendation:

Overall, this game delivers what you expect when you buy it. For anyone who has the previous games in the X-change series, I recommend it. If you're new to this type of game, it's a good introduction. If you've played other bishoujo, this game is good if you're interested in exploring the concept of a sex-changed character.

This game is superior to the original X-change in just about every respect. The only real complaint I have is that there was no major innovation in gameplay. After three previous games, it would have been nice to see something really new for the reinvention of the series. There were some points where the potential for an even better game could be seen.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Written: 1/18/2007

*from the review by alicefujimori

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/07