otome-game-reviews

[otome-game-reviews]

Liar! Uncover the Truth (iOS/Android)

Overall Rating: 4/5

Date Published: October 3, 2016 Publisher: Voltage Inc Platforms: iOS and Android Price: Free to Play (pay to accelerate/binge) Duration: ~15 minutes of free play a day, about $1/min after Score Breakdown:

Visuals: 5/5 Writing: 4/5 Plot: 2/5 Characters: 2/5 Entertainment: 5/5

Keywords: Office Life, Mature, Working Lady, Investigation, Mystery, Comedy, Gameplay

This is not a game to make you go doki-doki, but it is entertaining, funny and worth your time to play for free.  It can get very expensive to binge.

When rating a game like this, I have to put it on a slightly different scale than how I rate visual novel otome games.  Liar! is not a traditional otome game in the sense that the story, the plot or the writing is supposed to be the major draw of the game.  These elements contribute to this game to a certain extent, but the main reason why this game is entertaining is because of the gameplay elements.

Otome with gameplay?  Yes!  Liar! is a mystery and logic puzzle game that features gameplay elements heavily inspired by the Phoenix Wright series.  Throughout chapters of gameplay, you will encounter phases in which you have to click around scenes to gather evidence (trivial, very easy to pass) and then use that information to make correct choices later on.  This creates a more interesting “game-like” experience that makes up for the frankly, lack-luster plot and one-dimensional characters.

An example of a logic puzzle in the tutorial of the game

Gameplay: 5/5

This game is fun and I look forward to using up my free play tickets.  Every day, Voltage gives you anywhere between 10-13 tickets, which will buy you about 10-20 minutes of free gameplay.  After that, tickets are about $0.75 a piece, which means you’re paying anywhere from $3 to $5 for 5 minutes of gameplay. Playing Liar! for an hour continuously could easily rack up to $60/hr, so this is NOT a game you can binge on.

At the start of every chapter, a theme is introduced and shortly after, 3 suspects are presented.  The game proceeds to evidence collection introduced through a very thin plot, usually involving going on dates with each suspect.  Evidence collection is more or less tapping on various points of interest on a scene or background, and also playing tap-tap-tap on an in-game “text-messaging app” and a “facebook-like app”.

The fun part comes at the accusation and deduction parts of the game.  Using the evidence and notes collected, you should be able to review them and come to a conclusion about who is most likely to be the perpetrator of the chapter. After your accusation is confirmed, a series of question challenges come up which require you to select right answers or present relevant pieces of evidence when prompted.

The logic puzzles are actually pretty fun, and not always super obvious, which makes it challenging in a good way. Sometimes you do have to make a few logical bridges and do some deduction, so it actually makes for a good time.  On the flip side, the game is extremely forgiving, there is no real consequence to messing up aside from the fact that you may have to take longer (more time/more money) to clear a stage.

Visuals: 4/5

Most Voltage games have very good art, some more detailed than others.  I’ve seen people complaining that the men in this game are uglier than some of their other games.  I definitely have to admit Voltage went with a different style, but I still find the men pretty handsome.  

Furthermore, there is a large variety of locations, backgrounds, items/evidence, so there’s a good deal of interesting and unique art.  Each chapter takes you somewhere unique, different locations, different situations. Playing otome games, we’re used to seeing the same few BGs over and over again, so props to Liar! for having a more interesting experience.

Writing: 4/5

A very solid and believable natural translation by Voltage Inc.  Props to their localization teams for doing a great job with all their games lately.  That aside, the writing is pretty basic.  The tone of the narrator is an office lady approaching 30, but she comes off a bit ditzier and less like than a “mature lady”.  That’s fine and all, but there isn’t much depth to the writing, so it doesn’t really make for a very emotionally or intellectually stimulating story, although it can get fairly comedic in some parts.

Plot: 2/5

Whelp.  This plot is pretty shallow.  Protagonist goes to a match making party, meets 10 men who immediately (within 5 minutes of gameplay) all declare themselves in love with her, and you have to play through 10 chapters to weed out 9 scumbags from the ‘true love’.  If it wasn’t for the gameplay, I wouldn’t give this app the time of day, to be honest.

In each chapter, a theme is introduced, ranging from gambling addition to infidelity/cheating.  Over the course of 30 tickets (3 days) worth of gameplay, three suspects are introduced (most of the time because they asked you out on a date), evidence is gathered against each person (over the course of said dates) and a Phoenix Wright-like battle of logic and wits weeds out the perpetrator of the chapter.  This man is then eliminated at the end of the chapter, where you can view 5 different endings or short stories about the guy and potentially what could have happened to you if you fell for his trap.

There is a small bit of plot in that there is a driving storyline of the protagonist going on dates, texting with her suitors and engaging in small talk and banter with them about this and that, but nothing really substantial.  Sometimes you learn about their back stories in their endings, but they’re not terribly interesting or sympathetic.

Don’t think too much into the plot, there really is very little.  Some parts are written fairly comedically, but I haven’t really gotten that many laughs out of it either.  But that’s not what makes this game fun or captivating, so it’s not a big deal if it’s not stellar.

Characters: 2/5

The characters really aren’t what you play for either.  For the first 3 days I was playing this game, I couldn’t remember the difference between three of the men, Keima, Itaru and... another dude I still can’t remember.  Why? Because it really does not matter.  They provide a very limited back story to any of the men, and more or less their roles are to be people that you eliminate over the course of a shallow plot chapter.  When characters get eliminated over the course of the game, it’s really hard to care because they’re just that-- shallow characters.

What I found somewhat interesting is the fact that 9 out of 10 characters will be eliminated for a major character flaw by the end of the game.  It is interesting to me to speculate (I am on chapter 5 right now) who will be the last man standing, so perhaps the plot may pick up some more later.

[otome-game-reviews]

Ghost Love (iOS/Android)

Overall Rating: 3/5

Date Published: January 24, 2017 Publisher: Hanabi Media Platforms: iOS and Android Price: Free! Duration: 1 hour per route x 2 characters = 2 hours Score Breakdown:

Visuals: 4/5 Writing: 4/5 Plot: 2/5 Characters: 3/5 Entertainment: 2/5

Keywords: Slice of Life, High School, Office Life, Supernatural, Time Travel

This game gets a solid 3/5 stars from me, mainly because the plot is thin. There are only two target characters in this game, and the plot decisions to get one or the other are very straightforward, so there's really no need for a guide, walkthrough, or even a brain to get the character you want. For a free game, it’s a good value for your time.  If you’re not as picky about plot as I am, this game is a good pick.  The writing, art and characters are all pretty solid. However, the plot is too rushed considering all the elements they tried to fit in the storyline. Some of the scenes felt very bizarre or underdeveloped, which is something that bugged me after I finished the game. A lot more could have been done to develop the concepts and relationships, but it seems like there wasn’t enough time?

Visuals: 4/5

The image speaks for itself.  It’s pretty, anime style coloring.  I feel like the guys could stand to be a little more handsome if I were to give it a 5/5?  Haha~  For me visuals are a pass/fail kind of thing.  If it gets more than a 3/5 in my book, it’s good enough for me.  This game is a pass on visuals.

Writing: 4/5

A group of people dance and clap together to the contagious beat.

Native english writing, no weird grammar or jarring word use and uses slang terms naturally.  The characters were given natural “voicing” in their dialogue that clearly differentiated each character from another.  The writing was clear and emotionally to the point, not terribly graceful with sensitive moments-- sometimes the writing felt a little juvenile (think high school level).

Plot: 2/5 I've heard in other reviews that there are issues with the pacing on this game, and I can totally agree on that. The prologue, the mid-section of the story is slow and somewhat uninteresting. They're trying to set up some character dynamics, some emotions, I get that-- but then the end of the game goes breakneck speed, plot-wise. It's almost like the scriptwriters got sick of writing or had to meet a deadline, so they wrapped up all the loose ends as quickly as possible.

I can see this game trying to delve into some interesting/philosophical themes regarding "regretting your decision", "what does it mean to move forward?", "should we undo the past or accept it and move on?", and I give the writers props for that. I just wish it had been better executed and given the proper length and depth needed to explore these kinds of heavy topics.

Characters: 3/5 The boys are attractive enough in their own right, not particularly tropey, and feel realistic enough.  But again, the plot doesn't do enough with them to make it better than average.  The protagonist has a clear enough voice that I can feel like she’s a believable person, but this happens less so for the boys. They try to do some heart wrenching details or backstories on the two boys that give them some depth, but it’s all just so rushed (each “hard issue” is given about 1-2 minutes of reading time) that it doesn’t really sink in.

Entertainment: 2/5 I really feel like this publisher was trying to do something, but in the end ran out of time or energy to pull it off.  The game didn’t end up being terribly fun or romantic to play.  It all happened so quickly and was so straightforward that there wasn’t much substance to enjoy.  It’s a free to play game, so I can understand not trying to shoot for the moon, but it could have had a little more entertainment value.