X-Change

"A Thinly Veiled Rapefest"

In X-Change, an adult PC game created by Crowd and distributed by Peach Princess, you are Takuya Aihara, a second year junior college student. Due to a mishap while cleaning in the chemistry room, you are turned into a large-breasted woman. Will the chemistry club president, Asami Satoh, be able to turn you back into a man? Or will you end up being a woman forever?

The storyline of X-Change is extremely weak. While the idea of turning into a girl is not a novelty, X-Change could have focused more on the non-sexual aspects of being a woman. X-Change could have, for example, explored the joys of shopping for clothing (including underwear) and shoes, going to a karaoke with a bunch of girls, getting a manicure, and even getting a makeover. Instead, as female Takuya, you are raped several times at school, on the bus, and even in the sanctity of your home. And when there isn't a rape scene, you find yourself masturbating in your room. The story could have been less testosterone-driven if the game maker, Crowd, wanted to head in a different direction. By turning X-Change into a rapefest, Crowd really missed the boat.

Furthermore, X-Change failed to adequately develop the supporting characters that appear in this game. For example, the gamer is introduced to Asuka Katakiri, Takuya's childhood friend, at the beginning of the game. But your interactions with her during the course of X-Change is limited to being awakened by her to go to school together prior to your change in sex. You don't talk to Asuka during school, you don't hang out with her after class, and you don't walk home with her either. With such limited interaction on a daily basis, it is hard to understand how your character and Asuka can remain friends for so long.

Another weak point of X-Change is the music. There are only eight tracks in all, and most of them sound rather annoying. Furthermore, there is no voice, and no sound effects.

The saving grace of this game is the graphics. The characters are well done and look nice. However, the characters (aside from Takuya) stand in the same pose pretty much throughout the entire game. While the game has many sex scenes involving rape of your character, the sexual acts are not of the hardcore variety involving bondage or tools.

Gameplay is poor. You're given only ten save slots, which is not enough for this game. Your options to adjust the speed of the text are limited to normal, and high speed. On this Reviewer's computer screen, the text is cut off at the end of the sentence. And there are quite a few misspellings in the text.

The game has fairly high replay value. There are multiple endings, and it's worth spending the time to get them all. As you achieve each ending, you will unlock additional CGs as well.

X-Change is not appropriate for the gamer who is repulsed by rape scenarios. But if you are interested in exploring the dark side of boy-turned-into-girl theme, then X-Change may be just what you're looking for.

Story: 5/10
Music: 6/10
Graphics: 8/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Replayability: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/18/03, Updated 06/18/03