"The Dating Sim Genre Has Such Better Offerings So Why Do We Get This?"

Dating sims have had a hard time trying to infiltrate the western market, and this is the only real attempt to do so in recent times. Unfortunately, this game does not do a good representation of the dating genre, since many actually have intricate storylines, whereas since just simply doesn't. It barely uses the technology made available to it, and is some 40-something's interpretation of how the young kids actually talk and date nowadays. If you play it, get ready to cringe.

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Storyline (2/10)
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The game revolves around a guy and a girl going on a skiing trip; the guy wants to get in the girl's pants and the girl spends the first part of the game getting over her ex-boyfriend, then she suddenly seems to and tries to bed everyone in sight. The only reason they know each other is so you know the main goal of the game is to get them to go out with each other, but the fact is they spend the whole game chasing other people. The dialogue has it's moments but for the most part is cringe-worthy, and despite being split up into chapters, the game has very little continuity. It's a dating game, so chasing other people is to be expected, but it's ruined when you know the whole point is to get the two main characters together, so you know you've very little chance of getting them to go out with the characters you want. Essentially, the characters are so incredibly shallow and have to depth to them in the slightest, meaning you're left with very little desire to care for the characters or to even play the game.

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Gameplay (3/10)
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The only gameplay here is; you read text and then choose one of the responses you're presented with as your reply. There is an instant problem however; many times when you choose the “wrong” response, they simply reply and you get the same options again, which repeats until you choose the right answer. It completely removes any challenge from the game, and is a poor way of the developers trying to keep you on a narrow path, giving you the feeling of anything you do is irrelevant; you may as well be reading a book, it's more enjoyable than this.

There are items to pick up, but they're only used at certain moments, with most of them having no use at all and simply being there to provide some kind of collection challenge. There are also some puzzles along the way, such as having to have paid attention and choose the right answer when being quizzed by your friends. However, once again, they're just tiresome and don't really provide anything of remote interest.

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Graphics (6/10)
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The graphics are fine, since the character portraits are clean and look good for the most part. Some of the poses look incredibly stupid though and really make you want to punch them. The backgrounds are a bit bland, but the character portraits are large enough to hide that for the most part. On occasion, such as at the end of a chapter, you get a picture that takes up both screens as a kind of reward, and for the most part these are pretty poor, not because they look bad, but because they're just irritating.

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Sounds (3/10)
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There are very few songs in the game, so if you find ones you don't like it can be even worse since the chances are you'll run into them a lot. There are also very few sound effects, and in fairness, there aren't many uses for them, but in the end it leaves the game feeling incredibly bland.

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Lifespan (1/10)
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Even if you play the game all the way through, it is extremely short, then once you have, you're left with very little to encourage you to play it another time. You can play from the other character's point of view, but you'll have had your fill of the characters by then. The only puzzle element that exists in the game is trying to work out which of your given responses is the correct one, but since most the responses you can give are rubbish, there's not even much enjoyment to be had from the game's script.

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Summary (2/10)
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There are a great number of dating games out there in Japan, so I have to wonder why out of all those games, we have to end up with this. It's obviously just some western interpretation of the dating sim genre, and it falls far short of the mark, and is nowhere near as enjoyable as actual Japanese games. The whole point of these games is the story, but this one is as shallow as an episode of Friends and is purely a chore to sit and read. There are very few positives to this game, if any, and absolutely no reason to spend your money on it. If you want a decent dating sim for the DS, unfortunately, you'll have to get it on import.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 06/18/07