"You Just Got Served!"

From the opening of this game, where you find one of the leading characters standing there with her breasts exposed, I was hoping for the best. A colorful and joyous j-pop song plays in the background after you hit Beginning and go through the prologue, leading you to the beef of the game.

You play as Koji, a "junior college" student that is walking with his childhood friend down the road when he gets run over by a car. The only way to save him is shipping him to CA, USA, in which he is revived and rehabilitated. He is then sent back to Japan after some "recovery time" with the doctor, Alice. When Koji arrives back at Japan, he would usually go back to his own home, where he would usually live alone, considering both of his parents are split up. He finds himself staying at his uncle's house/restaurant instead though. Along with him and his uncle are four attractive young girls, three of which go to the same school as Koji, one of which is the mysterious archetype girl.

What do all these girls have in common? They'd practically do anything for Koji. The thing is, the game really never explains why. Koji isn't very special, he's attractive, but nothing special at all. I can understand why his childhood friend would like him, considering he got hit by the car to save her, but it escapes me why all the other girls are falling head-over-heels for him.

This game is a hefty installation, but the thing I love about h-games is that they'll run on any computer. All you need is about 32 RAM, and that's it ^__^ Good thing too, or I'd have a lot less games to review.

The installation size is well used though, considering the awesome graphics that were made with the latest shiny special CG programs. Everyone is shiny and has many different expressions and poses. I wish I could say that about the backgrounds, as they aren't quite as shiny as the characters. Quite a bummer, but most environments/backgrounds aren't as good as the characters. But although the girls are all shiny, proportionate, and pretty, none of them are that attractive. At the beginning at least. The faces and voices kind of grow on you, but one thing that bothered me was the eyes, which were unusually darker than most animes.

Yes, the game has voices, just like all newer h-games. Unlike newer h-games, however, the voices aren't that fitting, and a much better job could have been done if the actresses just put a little more effort into it. One of the girls, Takano, is supposed to be sweet and innocent, etc, but her voice/personality/looks don't match at all, which is partially why she is unattractive, as she clashes a lot. The BGMs in the background are very nice, considering that they're BGMs. The j-pop song in the beginning is good as well. So the music is good, but nothing else is too special.

As for gameplay, it's your standard "point at the 14 total choices you make in this really short game" game. So yeah, there are only about 14/15 choices you make in the game, and they're so obvious it will make you cry. You hardly need a brain stem to figure these out, so the game is pretty darn easy. It's also repetitive, which is kind of annoying after a while. Thank God it's not as repetitive as say Critical Point, but you'll still get tired of clicking that mouse button after a while. Which is where the clever "Te-Bura" (hands-free I believe) function comes in. It auto-clicks for you at a decent pace if you can read fairly quickly. So no more clicking! One other function I really appreciate is under Preferences, where it offers to give you hints, and you can select one of three choices from all hints to no hints. You won't need 'em in this game though, seriously. The last nifty function in this game that is pretty rare is the option to save right before a decision. You don't even need to click save, the window automatically pops up and you can save right before the choice. Very nifty indeed, making for replaying easy. Oh, and there are typos. Lots of 'em, but it doesn't make it hard to read.

Story? What story? You're a guy that gets hit with a car, so all the womens love you. ...yeah. What's up with that? The lack of character background is staggering, as almost all the characters are the same, except for Uncle Ryosuke, cuz he's funny. But all four girls are equally in love with you, and as you adventure through your relationship with the one you choose, you don't get any background on them at all. Sure, they tell you a little bit about themselves, but nothing significant, and they all act the same almost. It's quite disturbing really.

As in all h-games, you gotta have h-scenes. Around half way through the game I was wondering where they were, but all you have to do is wait for the long-dragged-out ending, which has pretty much all of the h-scenes. Seriously though, after you finally choose the girl you love, the game is only 2/3 over. Under normal circumstances, this would make the game short, but the repetitiveness really drags it out. But at least it's sometimes funny, and they constantly call the game a harem, which is very fitting, considering there are 5 female roles and 2 males.

So, aside from the typos, lack of story, lack of direction, dragged-out ending, and not-so-fitting voices, this is a good game. If you're looking for a quick sprint through the harem h-game world, go for this game. Otherwise, you could make a lot of better choices.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 05/30/04