Review: Kurenai no Tsuki

Kouya, a rookie detective, is walking deep inside the forest. It was two weeks ago. A hand of unidentified creature washed up on the shore of a river. Hard and thick skin. Bristle like an animal. Thick fingers and sharp nails. It was not a human's hand. Also, there was a jewel ring on the ring finger. This mysterious story was featured in a magazine and caught people's attention. Days later, the police found that it was a woman's hand, who had been missing for a month. She went missing when she played golf with her friends nearby. The police confirmed she was attacked by a stray dog, but couldn't explain why the hand looked so differently. They tried to close the case, but her husband wasn't convinced. He didn't want to believe his wife was a monster. He decided to ask a detective to investigate the case. That's why Kouya is now roaming around deep inside the forest. It is getting dark, but he doesn't know where he is now. Just when he feels dizzy, he hears someone's voice. Is that auditory hallucination? He hears a girl's voice this time. "I've been saved!" But he accidentally falls down a waterfall.... When he regains his consciousness, he finds himself lying in the bed. He looks around and finds three girls. "Are you alright?" "Well, did you save me?" "Yes, I and my older sister carried you all the way here." Their mother says to him, "I'm relieved to see you getting well. But you must marry either of my sisters, Sunao or Hiori." He doesn't know what she means.... A mysterious hand bitten off by someone. A small village deep inside the forest. Marriage to a miko. Kouya's fate is led to unexpected direction after he meets two girls....

~Summary taken from VNDB



Plot 8/10: This is the first mystery VN other than G-senjou no Maou (though, G-senjou no Maou isn't much of a mystery) that I've played since I began my eroge rampage six months ago, and it was an excellent choice overall, in my opinion. The protagonist in this story is a rare type, the kind of guy who is usually level-headed and thoughtful. As such, being behind his eyes was quite enjoyable, as he searches for clues to the mystery of the small village into which he stumbled. The heroines are all good, and for the most part I can't find a reason to complain... except that the epilogues for each arc are quite short... This is also one of the few games with a harem ending that is not in any way a nukige, which was interesting in and of itself. While this isn't really a comedy, it does have enough light moments to keep you from falling into gloom during the somewhat grim investigations. Because of this, I can definitely say that this VN's pacing is good, if not the best I've ever encountered.

Visuals 8/10: The CG's in this eroge really are beautiful... in particular, Sunao's CG's during the rituals are compelling, and the character models are attractive enough that the game is worth playing just to look at them. This game's atmosphere is as much dependent on its visual aspect as the plot.

Sound 7/10: Hrm... the music in this game is good but not particularly memorable. As generic as it gets, really. That isn't really a flaw though, since they use what they have correctly, which is the point of having music in games in the first place. The voice-acting is fairly good, and there were only a few times when a character's voice grated on me or felt like it didn't fit what was being said (maybe two or three times in the entire vn).

Overall 8/10: This is definitely a good mystery eroge, though from my brief attempt to conquer some more serious members of the genre, I know it is less in-depth than some. I can definitely recommend this to people who are into this type of eroge, and at the same time I can recommend it to those who are interested in the genre but don't want to go for heavy ones like Innocent Gray's games. At the same time, this is the first eroge I've played with a harem ending that actually has some meaning to it, which startled me a little bit. As such, simply for novelty's sake it is worth taking a look at.

Sacred†Vampire Review

Kiryuu Kazuma is a vampire. As a child he was filled with hatred and contempt for all the humans of the world and sucked their blood with joy. However, one day, he encountered a girl whose song quieted his hatred and swept away his lust for blood. While he lost contact with her after the church in which she sang burned down, he encounters her once again, as they end up in the same class at the high school he attends.


Plot 5/10: To be blunt, the plot of this VN is not paced very well. The story occasionally pretends to have deep insights but is so straightforward that a five year old could figure it out in advance. In addition, the protagonist is a self-hating vampire who constantly dwells over how he doesn't deserve to be loved, making things more than a little irritating. The strongest redeeming factors in this are his elder sister/heroine Kiri's hilarious lifestyle habits and the hilarious exchanges between him and his friends. However, in the end that is only enough to make it an average eroge at best.

Visuals 7/10: While the game is visually pretty, it is no more so than any number of other eroge I've played over the past few years. If I had to put up a good point it would be the backgrounds and cgs - which have a decent impact, for all that I've seen better.

Sound 6/10: Generally speaking, the soundtrack is fairly standard as eroges go, with the bgms for the most part sounding like they were recycled out of the giant eroge music-basket in the sky. The voices, however, are for the most part very well-done, with Seira's being the only one that is a bit annoying at times.

Overall 6/10: Unfortunately, this eroge turned out to be something of a 'miss', but then, I played it on impulse, so I guess that's no surprise. The only people I can recommend this to really are the vampire-obsessed, and I think even they would probably be disappointed.

fortissimo／／Akkord：Bsusvier delaying review

Having finished Fortissimo, I would normally be reviewing it now. Unfortunately, it looks like the game wasn't even complete when they released it!!! I guess I'll have to wait until the patch comes out in February.

Review: Lovekami

In the future of a slightly different Japan, the gods (kami) come down from the heavens to live once again amongst the people. However, the gods lack the basic common sense for living in the human world, so Amaterasu proclaims that they should be educated so that they can live alongside humankind. As a result, Souta's school becomes the trial case for the new program, and his school life takes a rather hilarious turn.


Plot 8/10: Really, I'm giving this score mostly because of Tsukuyomi's path and the sheer hilarity of this VN. As a break from my usual dark choices, this eroge was perfect. It's story is light and for the most part cheerful, without turning into a sex-romp like most games geared toward the 'megami-fetish' crowd seem to end up being. It's references to Shinto are fairly accurate, and for those who are interested, it explains some of the oddities that are hard to figure out using wikipedia and whatever random books on the religion end up in your local public library. The heroines and other characters have lively personalities that interact very well with each other, and the individual heroines' stories are interesting in and of themselves, even though there is definitely a level of absurdity to things overall. The protagonist is a hot-headed, dense type, though oddly it doesn't come across as painfully as most such protagonists tend to do. He's definitely an idiot, but he's also an idiot you'll end up liking despite yourself.

Visual 8/10: Hrm... what can I say about this? The appearance of this game overall is fairly good, with the chibis and chibi-cgs being outright hilarious just to look at. In addition, the other CG's, while not the best I've ever seen (considering the VNs I've seen in the past, that isn't an insult at all) are also good looking and definitely grab your attention.

Sound 7/10: In terms of voices, this VN did a very good of fitting VA's to characters, each one seeming to fit into their individual personality and body type quite well. In terms of soundtrack, the funny and cheerful tracks that make up the majority of what's in this game are good but sound exactly like you would expect to hear in any given light and cheerful eroge. The few serious soundtracks were once again somewhat generic but well suited to the scenes they were fitted to.

Overall 7.5/10: Overall, for those looking for a light game to play that isn't a sex-romp, and for those who have a thing for Shinto, foxgirls, and the like, this is a good choice. I can't recommend it to people looking for a serious or tragic experience, because this really isn't that type of game. At the same time, there are no real fight scenes and most of the game is seemingly constructed to make the player laugh until his ribs crack open. From that perspective, I could have probably given this a better score, but I'm reluctant to give that high a score to a game that isn't technically one of the best games I've ever played.


Note: Yeah, I figured I would go ahead and review this, even though I don't normally review the light eroge I play. I originally just wanted to play this to wash the rather nasty taste of Kourin no Machi (no fault of Akabeesoft there, I was just not in the mood for being depressed) out of my mouth, but this game turned out to be enough of a winner that I went ahead and played all four paths.

Review: Boku ga Sadame Kimi ni wa Tsubasa wo

In Boku ga Sadame Kimi ni wa Tsubasa wo, the struggle for power is split between two groups, fighting over holy relics that hold incredible technological knowledge. One is the Church, who says that the holy relics are a power beyond human abilities to handle and the other is RDA, a corporation that seeks holy relics for the sake of using the technology for the sake of the world.

Touya, the protagonist, is the son of a samurai family whose father died serving RDA's cause, and he too joins RDA in order to both avenge his father's death at the hands of the Church and succeed his father in RDA's holy relic recovery team.

Story 6.5/10- The first eroge to be produced by Akatsuki Works, it is easily the weakest I've played so far, story-wise. While the action scenes are up to Akatsuki works usual standards, in exchange the action-packed story moves so fast you don't really have a chance to get attached to the characters and the end comes before you have a chance to gain an emotional attachment to the outcome. To make things worse, a similar fight happens at the end of each arc against the same guy - though the people who oppose and ally with you depend on the heroine you pursued. On the plus side, for people who like dark VNs, the Church's blind belief in a predetermined future and RDA's hidden face are both creepy enough to give any sane person goosebumps, and that gives the story another facet that - while not really pursued to its full potential - is nonetheless compelling in its resemblance to existing and past organizations in our own world.

Visuals 8/10- Overall the CG's and backgrounds are well done, even though the contrast between the details of the characters' clothing and their somewhat less well-defined facial features are sometimes a bit of a put-off. Still, the style itself is visually pleasing for someone like me who is a bit tired of the over-smooth styles used by most eroge.

Sound 7.5/10- While the soundtrack is pretty good, with the action scenes having fitting music in particular, the sound effects are surprisingly weak, which made me deduct points, naturally.

Overall 7/10- Overall, this is a decent action VN with a number of near-fatal flaws to its pacing and visual style that can likely be attributed to this being Akatsuki Works first project. However, even so I still found it enjoyable enough once I stopped comparing it to the giants like Devils Devel Concept that came after it.

Review: Abyss- Homicide Club

'Sasayama Akira was born into a family of assassins and trained as a child to become one of them. However, due to psychological issues, his father decided to send Akira to a relative's house, to live a normal life.

Several years later, Akira gets asked by the student council president to investigate a rumor of a group called Abyss, a shadowy group of students responsible for abducting and killing students in a grotesque game.'

Summary borrowed from VNDB.com

Story 9/10: This is one of the better written VNs I've played, and it reminded me very strongly that Type-moon started out as a doujin eroge-maker as well. The writing and concept for the plot were truly excellent, the plot twists were well-designed, with tragedy and horror mixed in with bright moments that are often shattered in classic utsuge fashion. The humor is the story's only weak point, but that can't really be helped since the game's focus is on the serious part of the story. The characters in this story are compelling and the reason for the enforced playing order is evident from the start, as each playthrough adds more pieces of the puzzle, leading up to the final route which solves both the mysteries surrounding the protagonist and a good part of the ones surrounding the greater Abyss organization. There is enough brutality in this VN for the average blood-addicted fan, though probably not quite enough for those who revel in games like Gore Screaming Show. The protagonist is an interesting influence as well, with his actions being very characteristic of what you'd expect from his personal profile. Akira is not the strongest protagonist I've ever run into, but he definitely makes it onto my list of favorites. Overall, I felt myself to be satisfied with the last ending, which pretty much tied up all the loose ends from the other routes.

Visual 7/10: The style and level of the art is at about the same level as Tsukihime, very good for a doujin VN. I really fell in love with certain CG's, such as the one above. Other than that... the backgrounds were again similar to Tsukihime's (I almost thought that it was a tribute to the game) with faded out real-life scenes being the main.

Audio 9/10: Why am I giving this game such a high score in audio despite the somewhat low-budget music and the lack of voice actors? Perfect usage. The way they use the soundtrack in this eroge is truly magnificent, in a way that I haven't seen very often since the end of the psx era. Even though the soundtrack itself isn't always impressive, the way that it is used is a reminder of what is quickly becoming a lost art in the video game industry.

Overall 8/10: Overall, I can easily say that this game is one of the best eroge's I've played in a while and I'd recommend it to anyone who can stand the somewhat tragic tendencies of a horror-type utsuge.

Review: EXE

Synopsis: In a small city, a guy named Toya lives with his little sister Makina and his surrogate parent, Sayo, having lost his mother in a hospital fire ten years before. However, at night he passes a woman on the streets who looks exactly like his supposedly dead mother and follows her, joined by the transfer student, Yuu. When he catches up to her, she attacks and Yuu repels her with flames, only to be attacked herself by a girl with a katana.


Plot 6/10- To be perfectly honest, for a dark story-focused VN, this one lacks the depth that games like Devils Devel Concept and Dies Irae (or even Comyuu) possess, with the protagonist being your usual 'quiet, stupidly stubborn/naive, shounen' type. His personality, while rather straightforward, comes across as shallow in comparison to the depth of the protagonists from games like Dies Irae or even Draculius, where the protagonists' personality and drives were more clearly defined. However, the plot in general is interesting, with each arc having its own individual main antagonist (except the one 'peaceful' arc and the 'extra' arc with Sayo). The heroines are each distinctive personality-wise, with Kono Natsuki being by far the most memorable, both in appearance and personality in my opinion. If the story has a weakness, it is that it moves too fast and often lacks detail, skipping over parts where people die (though this is understandable, since Yuzusoft is normally a comedy VN maker). The real weakness, however, is in the lack of a real after-story for any of the arcs. Once the conflict of each individual arc is resolved, the rest takes little more than five minutes to read, leaving you still buzzing with the effects of the climax with no real tie-off to leave you satisfied.

Visual 8/10- Decent CG's, beautiful and unique characters, and some really good expressions (especially the psychopathic ones). Overall, it was one of the better looking VNs I've encountered.

Audio 7/10- The soundtrack isn't all that memorable, though the tracks are decent enough. If I had to point out a strength to the audio in this game, it would be the voices of Momiji and Kono. Momiji's sadistic personality hidden behind a flowery smile is well expressed in her speech patterns, making her one of the most memorable antagonists I've encountered in a while. Kono Natsuki's somewhat halting way of speaking does well in expressing her character's inexperience with human interaction.

Overall 6/10- It's sad when a story-focused VN's weakest point is the depth of its plot, but in this case it can't be helped. Despite that, this is a good choice to play if you like a supernatural/dark edge to your stories, but don't want to go too far in that direction/don't want to think too deeply. The character visuals and voices definitely pick up some of the slack from the story's flaws, but overall I can't give this one of my best ratings. I especially take off points for the individual endings, since none made an attempt at a serious after-story, even though they went out of their way to develop the heroines in their individual routes (to an extent that it made me seriously want to know what happened to them later).