What a fabulous way to kick off 2018: the Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love English translation patch has been released

Eight months ago, I published a post that declared an English (fan) translation of Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love for the Nintendo DS was nearing completion.

Well, a patch containing that translation was released last night, just in time to close out 2017 with a wonderfully fabulous bang. (Download it now at tingletranslation.blogspot.com.)

I plan to start through it this coming week, and I'll do my best to share at least a few thoughts on the experience here by the end of the month.

In the meantime, those of you who are curious to learn more about the Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love fan translation should check out my interview with the guy chiefly responsible for getting the project off the ground.

Raise your hand (and leave a comment) if you want a copy of 2064: Read Only Memories for Vita

I recently interviewed MidBoss' Matt Conn about the just-released Vita version--as well as the upcoming Switch version--of 2064: Read Only Memories. (Keep an eye out for this one-on-one, by the way; I hope to publish it before the year wraps up.)

Shortly after he kindly answered my questions, Conn sent me four codes for 2064: Read Only Memories' Vita release.

Well, it's the time of year to give things to the people you love, so I'm giving these 2064: Read Only Memories codes to the folks who read (and especially comment on) this blog and push me to keep updating it.



All you have to do to win one of these codes is leave a comment (on this post) about why you're itching to play this version of the game. Oh, and leave that comment between now and midnight on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas day, I'll toss all of your names into a hat (really!) and the first four I pull out will get a 2064: Read Only Memories Vita code.

I'll announce the recipients here as well as on Facebook and Twitter that same day, so check out at least one of them on Dec. 25 to see if you're among the lucky winners!

Coming soon-ish to a DS near you: a fan translation of Irozuki Tincle no Koi no Balloon Trip

Most Nintendo fans know about two of the Tingle games the company published for the DS a few years back.

The first, of course, was the Zelda-esque Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, which hit the streets of Japan in 2006 and Europe in 2007. The second, Tingle's Balloon Fight DS, also was a 2007 release, although it never left the Land of the Rising Sun. (If you'd like to see some snapshots of the latter title's case, cartridge and instruction manual, by the way, you can do so here, here, here and here.)

Well, Nintendo offered up a third DS game to Tingle fans two years after Tingle's Balloon Fight dropped. Its name: Irozuki Tincle no Koi no Balloon Trip, which apparently translates to Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love.

Unlike its predecessors, this title isn't an action RPG or a rehash of an arcade classic. Instead, it's a point-and-click adventure game.

As if that weren't appealing enough (I don't know about you, but I've long been attracted to point-and-click games), the story that envelopes the gameplay of Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love is based, at least in part, on The Wizard of Oz.

Combine all of the above with a rather glorious art style (see screenshot on the right) and you've got a game that looks to be right up my alley--if my understanding of Japanese were in a more advanced state than it currently is, I mean.

Thankfully, I probably won't have to wait another year or two to stumble my way through Balloon Trip of Love's oddball story. That's because an English fan translation of the Vanpool-developed game is rapidly approaching its finish line.

Unfortunately, no one really knows when the patch containing Balloon Trip of Love's English translation will be offered up to the masses. Considering the most recent update on its progress suggested the project was nearly 80-percent complete, though, I have to imagine a release by the end of this year is a possibility.

In the meantime, you can keep an eye on how things are going by checking out the translation team's blog at tingletranslation.blogspot.com. (Threads devoted to their efforts can be found at gbatemp.net and romhacking.net as well, if you're curious.) Something else to keep an eye on: my upcoming interview with the person heading up this ambitious project.

See also: my Tingle's Balloon Fight DS review

My 10 Most Influential Games: The 7th Guest (PC)

It probably seems strange to call a game I've never mentioned here before one of my "most influential." (And by influential, I mean it was influential in shaping my current taste in video games.) The fact is, though, that The 7th Guest absolutely blew my mind back when I played through it on my family's PC as a teen.

If this is the first you're hearing of The 7th Guest, it's an adventure game set in a haunted mansion. To progress through its surprisingly adult story, players have to solve various logic puzzles.

Really, The 7th Guest is like a horror-tinged precursor to the Professor Layton series, although Level-5's games offer up many more brain-teasers than the Trilobyte-developed title discussed in this post.

Anyway, besides all of the above, The 7th Guest caused a stir when it was released in 1993 because it took up two CDs (unheard of at the time) and was chock-full of both live-action video clips and pre-rendered 3D graphics.

As much as my younger self loved this game's flashiness, the aspects that most impressed me, and kept me and my mom--a mystery and puzzle buff herself--coming back to it until we reached its ending, were its creepy backstory and its many tough-as-nails puzzles.

I'd never encountered the former in a game before I started The 7th Guest, while the latter opened my mind to the fact that digital puzzles (you know, as opposed to physical ones found in books and newspapers) could involve more than just letters, words or random shapes and blobs.

Of course, I'd also never encountered 3D graphics and live-action video clips in a game before I started The 7th Guest, so I guess I shouldn't discount how much those components impacted and influenced my taste in video games moving forward.

Certainly, The 7th Guest helped solidify my interest in adventure and puzzle games. Previously, I viewed both genres as something akin to second-class citizens and preferred to spend my precious free time with platformers and RPGs.

It also opened my eyes to the fact that games don't have to be depicted in a limited number of ways to be appealing or engaging. Until The 7th Guest came around, I pretty much equated games with pixels. I also generally thought of them as being two-dimensional affairs.

The idea of a game made up of three-dimensional graphics and video clips didn't sit all that well with me back then--thanks in large part to the fact that the few existing efforts I was aware of didn't seem to offer any real gameplay or even graphical improvements over the status quo.

That mostly changed after my mom and I dumped countless hours into The 7th Guest. Not entirely, mind you, as it wasn't until I'd spent some serious time with the Saturn's, PlayStation's and Nintendo 64's libraries that I fully got behind the notion that games with pre-rendered or pre-recorded visuals could be something other than crap.

Still, the "interactive movie" that is The 7th Guest started me down the path toward accepting non-traditional video games, and for that I'll always be grateful.

I'll also forever be grateful that it brought my mom and I together in a way that's rarely happened in either of our lives. Other than the time I helped her figure out how to play Tetris DS (and tried to help her play New Super Mario Bros.), we've played just one game together--The 7th Guest. And that's an experience I'll never forget.

Note: I was inspired to begin this series after reading through Rachel Simone Weil's similar one over at nobadmemories.com. Rachel's write-ups focus on the games that prompted her to start making her own. I'm obviously not a developer, so my posts will focus on the 10 titles that sucked me into this hobby and shaped my interests in it.

The Great Gaymathon Review #75: The Starship Damrey (3DS)

Game: The Starship Damrey

Genre: Adventure

Developer: Level-5

Publisher: Level-5

System: 3DS (eShop)

Release date: 2013

If you've heard anything about The Starship Damrey, it's probably that it doesn't last long. And it doesn't--my playthrough ended just short of the four-hour mark, while I've heard others have reached the game's credit roll just two-and-a-half hours after they started it.

Some people will tell you The Starship Damrey isn't worth buying because of its brevity. I'm not one of them. In fact, I think that in a world of 100-hour behemoths like Dragon Quest VII, this game's curtness should be looked at as a major selling point.

It helps, of course, that I purchased The Starship Damrey for a measly $2.99. (It's usually $7.99.) Still, considering this Level-5 release is at least as long as, and easily as compelling as, your average popcorn flick, I'd say it's well worth eight bucks, if that's what you have to pay to get it.

As for what makes The Starship Damrey so compelling, well, its setting--a derelict spaceship that calls to mind those depicted in the Alien and Aliens films--has a lot to do with it. Even better, the game begins with you waking up trapped inside a "Cold Sleep" capsule within the above-mentioned ship. And on top of that, it offers no explanation as to why you're there or what you're supposed to do to escape it.

From that point on, it's up to you to solve those mysteries by making use of the handful of "Assist Robots" situated throughout the craft and having them prowl its nearly silent interiors in your stead.

Thankfully, exploring Damrey's halls--from a first-person perspective, if the screens here don't make it clear--is both easy and intuitive. Your 3DS' directional pad controls movement (press up to go forward, right to turn in that direction, etc.), while its circle pad controls the camera. A press of the system's face buttons lets you interact with or investigate items in your path or field of view, like doors, bodies or other objects of interest.

It has to be noted, by the way, that you do all of the above while basically fumbling around in the dark. You also do it in almost complete silence. Some ambient noise, as opposed to an actual soundtrack, accompanies your journey through the Starship Damrey's claustrophobic innards, but only a smidgen.

Both aspects are sure to cause a certain percentage of players to wrinkle their noses in disgust--or at least annoyance. Although I'd understand such a reaction (to a point), I personally thought those design decisions helped solidify the sense of desolation and even dread that permeated my Starship Damrey playthrough.

In the end, I'd highly recommend this title, made by text-based-adventure pioneers Kazuya Asano and Takemaru Abiko, to anyone who doesn't consider first-person games set it dark, quiet and semi-claustrophobic environments to be deal-breaking turnoffs.

Just do your best to overcome any stumbling blocks without turning to a guide or an FAQ for assistance. After all, if you're only going to spend a couple of hours with a game, you may as well beat it on your own, right?

See also: previous 'Great Gaymathon' reviews

I am so ready to be 'Alone With You' on Aug. 23

Full disclosure: I've yet to play--or even buy--Benjamin Rivers' first game, Home: A Unique Horror Adventure. I've wanted to play it, though, thanks to its appealing graphics and intriguing gameplay.

The same could be said for why I'm planning to purchase another of Benjamin Rivers' titles, the upcoming Alone With You, around the time of its release on Aug. 23.

I'm interested in Alone With You beyond its graphics and gameplay, though. Specifically, I'm interested in the fact that it's being described as a "sci-fi-romance adventure." Who wouldn't want to experience such a thing?



If this is the first you're hearing of Alone With You, check out the launch trailer above. It should answer many of the questions you have about how this PS4 and Vita title looks, how it plays, and more.

I don't know about you, but between this game, 2064: Read Only Memories (out on Aug. 16 for both PS4 and Vita) and VA-11 Hall-A (supposedly coming to Vita in late 2016), my Vita's going to get a lot of love this fall and winter.

Are any of you also psyched about these in-the-works Vita (and PS4) releases? If so, let me know why by leaving a comment below.

Help me remain strong as I wait for the Vita version of VA-11 Hall-A to be released

I've been curious about Sukeban Games' VA-11 Hall-A, which the developer describes as a "cyberpunk bartender action" title, since I first became aware of it some time ago.

Considering publisher Ysbryd Games' finally made it available to the world yesterday, you might assume I'm currently feeling ecstatic. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong.

That's not because I've reconsidered my stance on this lovely looking visual novel, mind you. Rather, it's because only the Linux, Mac and PC versions of VA-11 Hall-A are able to be purchased at the moment.



The Vita iteration, the one I've been dreaming of playing since this deliciously retro title was unveiled, is nowhere to be seen.

Apparently it'll see the light of day later this year, if the word on the street is to believed, so in the meantime I've either got to sit tight until VA-11 Hall-A Vita hits both virtual and physical store shelves, or I've got to bite the bullet and buy the Mac release for a not-inconsiderable $14.99.

While I decide which path to take, check out the game's final trailer (above). Or, if you've already played some form of VA-11 Hall-A, share your thoughts on it in the comments section below.

As much as I love this new World's Longest 5 Minutes (Vita) trailer, I love the contents of the game's limited edition even more

Full disclosure: I've already pre-ordered a copy of this Japanese Vita game via the usual source.

The problem is, the version I pre-ordered a few weeks back was the regular edition. Here's hoping the folks at amiami allow me to switch it to the stunning limited edition.

Why? For a few extra bucks, it tosses in a two-disc soundtrack, a "daily flip tabletop calendar" and what I believe is some sort of art or guide book. (Please correct me if I'm wrong about that last item.)



Are you a World's Longest 5 Minutes virgin? No worries. It's an adventure game (aka a "visual novel") set within the confines of a pixel-filled, retro-tinged RPG. Or at least that's what I think it is based on all I've seen of and read about it so far.

Thankfully, this just-released trailer suggests my assumption's pretty spot-on. (I kind of wish that weren't the case, by the way, as I'd much prefer World's Longest 5 Minutes to be a straight-up, old-school RPG.)

Regardless, this Vita title is being made by smartphone app developer Syupro-DX, while Nippon Ichi Software is publishing it. Its street date is July 28, and the price tag of the regular edition is 3,980 yen. (I'm not sure what the limited edition will cost at retail, but amiami's selling it for 5,280 yen--or about $50.)

(Via gematsu.com)

Thanks to this trailer, I've now got my eye on the 'sci-fi romance adventure' Alone With You

You'd think that I'd be interested in Alone With You simply because it's being made by Benjamin Rivers, who also brought the world the highly acclaimed Home: A Unique Horror Adventure in 2012.

The thing is, I've yet to actually play any version of Home. In fact, I barely know a thing about it--other than a lot of people who have experienced it seem to have enjoyed it.

Of course, I also don't know a whole lot about Alone With You--other than it's a "single-player, sci-fi adventure game" that has a "pretty unique romance element." Oh, and that it'll be released for PS4 and Vita this coming spring.



The quoted portions of the above are from a recently published PlayStation.Blog post written by Rivers. Here are a few more of Rivers' words about the game:

"You’ll trek through beautiful, varied areas--which include a series of communication towers, the dilapidated Colony B, the workspaces and staff quarters of the facility’s agricultural operation, and the various components of the planet’s mining and processing centres. As you do so, you’ll be in constant communication with the AI, who acts as your lifeline and your tour guide. It’ll give you info on all the things and places you find, but it’ll also speak to you--asking you questions and responding to your answers. And if you’ve ever played Home, you’ll know: sometimes even the smallest decision can have unexpected consequences."

Are any of you fine folks looking forward to Alone With You's release as much as I am at the moment? If so, why? Also, have you played Home, and if so, what did you think about it?

Has any game ever looked as frightening *and* adorable as Nippon Ichi's Yomawari?

Seriously. Just look at this new trailer (below) for Nippon Ichi's Yomawari.

At first glance, it appears to be a cute, but dark, adventure game for the Vita. Then the enemies start popping around (around the 1:25 mark) and everything literally goes to hell.

As much as those hungry, toothy eyeballs scare the bejesus out of me, though, I'm going to do my best to play Yomawari as soon as my pre-ordered copy arrives on my doorstep.



That won't happen until sometime in early November, sadly, as the game doesn't hit Japanese store shelves until Oct. 29 and it'll take my purchase at least a week (if not two) to make its way to me.

I don't mind as much as I may be letting on, though, as the delay will give me plenty of time to figure out how I'm going to keep a grip on my precious pink-and-white Vita whenever one of Yomawari's adorable-yet-frightening baddies surprises me with its presence.

Are any of you similarly curious--if also a smidge apprehensive--about this upcoming spookfest? If so, please tell me why in the comments section below.

See also: previous posts about Yomawari

#ADecadeofDS: Hotel Dusk

Amount of time devoted to this game since I started playing it just over a month ago--Six hours, 59 minutes.

Most recent boss toppled, location reached or milestone achieved--To be honest, Hotel Dusk really isn't the kind of game that prompts you to celebrate reaching a particular milestone--or even recognize that a milestone has been reached.

Still, I'll do my best to recall my last "accomplishment." I guess that would be me finally gaining access into a pair of Hotel Dusk's rooms that previously had been off limits to me and the game's hunky (and often grumpy) protagonist, Kyle Hyde.

If that doesn't sound like something to cheer about, consider that the titular establishment houses just a dozen or so rooms, and only a few of them are explorable at any given time, especially early on.

Overall comments on the experience so far--Hotel Dusk is an odd game. Actually, some may not consider it a "game" at all. In a way, I can see where they're coming from, as if any title deserves to be called a "visual novel," this Cing-developed one is it.

Admittedly, a couple of the other visual novels I've played to date--such as Hakuoki and Sweet Fuse for PSP--are fairly book-like, too, but both of those titles are more like digital, gamified "Choose Your Own Adventure" paperbacks than the far more straightforward, yet still surprisingly interactive, Hotel Dusk.



What I mean by the latter part of the above is that Hotel Dusk tells a single, set story from start to finish. No matter what you do while you stalk the halls of this out-of-the-way inn, and no matter which choices you make while you talk with its odd cast of customers, you won't change the course of the central tale.

I can appreciate that to an extent, although I also kind of hate it due to how it often causes a Hotel Dusk playthrough to come to a screeching halt. That's because whenever you can't figure out what to do to advance this game's story, you're basically forced to wander around aimlessly, poking your nose into the corner of each and every room while also clicking on anything that happens to catch your eye (and even a few things that don't), until you successfully "pick up the scent" again.

Thankfully, that hasn't happened too often during my maiden voyage through this 2007 release--although I think it could be argued that even a handful of times are a handful too many. 

Anyway, despite that above-mentioned quibble, I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of Hotel Dusk so far. The mystery that serves as its centerpiece is only passable, in my humble opinion, but I still want to see how it wraps up.

I’m also pretty fond of the numerous guests who share the hotel with you. Each one has a distinct personality and all are surprisingly likable or dislikeable. (OK, so that’s not entirely true, as I just thought of one character who straddles that line due to how boring she is—but she’s definitely an exception to the rule.) My favorites: the saucy maid, the stoner bellhop and the old lady who sports an eye patch.



And then, of course, there’s the art style that’s so effectively put to use throughout Hotel Dusk. Specifically, I’m talking about the rotoscoped graphics that call to mind A-ha’s iconic “Take On Me” video, although that’s not the full extent of why this game’s aesthetics are so noteworthy. Also playing a role here is the game’s 1970s-tastic sheen, which helps make even the most mundane passages seem interesting from a visual standpoint.

Will I continue to play this game in the coming days, weeks and maybe even months?--Oh, I'm definitely going to finish it; that's not even in question. Will I enjoy it all the way to the end, though? That's far more in question, if I'm to be honest.

I say that because it seems like Hotel Dusk's more annoying traits are becoming more frequent, not less, the deeper I delve into its story. Assuming that trend continues, I can guarantee my final opinion of this game will be far less rosy than I initially imagined it would be.

Do I recommend it to others?--Are you a mystery buff? Are you also a fan of the 1970s—or are you at least not turned off by books or games or movies that are set in that shagadelic decade? If you're able to answer both of those questions with at least a tentative yes, you’ll probably enjoy your stay at Hotel Dusk--or at least you probably won't regret your purchase.

Even then, you're likely to encounter at least a few aggravating moments, but all of what I've said here so far should help steel you for them a bit.

Next up--9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors

See also: previous #ADecadeofDS posts

#ADecadeofDS: Contact

Amount of time devoted to this game since I started playing it just over a month ago--Eleven hours, 31 minutes.

Most recent boss toppled, location reached or milestone achieved--I can't believe I'm making this comparison, but the last boss I remember conquering (there are surprisingly few in Contact) actually reminded me of that pink whale that sits in wait at the end of The New Zealand Story's first stage. Here, however, the entity that you're sucked into and forced to battle from within is an Egyptian pyramid.

The most recent location I encountered, though, clearly was a take on Tokyo's famous Akihabara district. A particular highlight of this area: some of the "enemies" found on its upper reaches included refrigerators and vacuum cleaners that had been imbued with life.

Overall comments on the experience so far--I don’t know about you, but I’ve always found it “interesting”—and I don’t necessarily mean that in a good way--to finally play through a game I’ve had my eye on for ages.

There are all sorts of reasons for that, of course, but a big one for me is that it’s far too common for my curiosity in long-ignored titles to grow to such an extent that I wind up considering them at least a bit of a letdown after I start playing them.

Has that been the case with my maiden voyage through Grasshopper Manufacture’s Contact so far? At risk of sounding wishy-washy, I have to sheepishly admit that the answer is: in some ways, yes, and in some ways, no. That said, I’ve found the 11 or so hours I've spent with this dual-screened adventure up to this point to be more positive than negative, which is all most folks are going to want to know (especially if they're trying to figure out if they should follow in my footsteps and play it or not).

Some of the things that have made it a satisfying experience: its dual art styles (one of which harkens back to games like EarthBound, while the other recalls more lushly illustrated 16- and 32-bit titles), its eclectic and appealingly video-game-y soundtrack, its rather cryptic story and its overall "feel." (In regard to that last bit, I simply have a blast moving the protagonist around Contact's many gorgeous environments.)

As for the few aspects that have had me, at times, wanting to hurl my 3DS against the nearest wall in anger, they would be Contact's fairly hands-off battle engine (although if you're like me at all, it'll grow on you over time), its stiff challenge and its stubborn dedication to being head-scratchingly obtuse. (Let's just say I've had to turn to GameFAQs on more the one occasion to figure out what I was supposed to do next or how I was supposed to defeat a boss.)

Do I wish some of the above-mentioned pitfalls had been fixed, or at least partially smoothed over, before this intriguing DS title was plopped onto store shelves? I guess you could say that. Still, I've enjoyed this undertaking quite a bit despite its sometimes-off-putting quirks, so it's hard to rail against them too mightily.

Will I continue to play this game in the coming days, weeks and maybe even months?--I sure hope so. Normally I'd offer up a solid "yes," and without hesitation, especially since I seem to be fairly close to the finale, but that's just what I said about My World, My Way--a game I liked more than I've liked Contact so far--as well as a few of the other DS titles I've recently played, so I know it's far from out of the question that I'll continue the trend (of not living up to these predictions) with this Rising Star Games-published effort.

Do I recommend it to others?--Oh, boy, this is a tough one. If you're the kind of person who generally gets a kick out of playing RPGs that attempt to do things differently, I think you'll at least find this adventure to be interesting--especially if you can nab a rather inexpensive copy of it. If you're not the genre's  biggest fan, though, or if the only Contact carts you come across cost more than $30 or so, I'd probably recommend spending your hard-earned cash elsewhere.

Next up--Bokujou Monogatari: Youkoso! Kaze no Bazaar e (known in other regions as Harvest Moon DS: Grand Bazaar) and Penguin no Mondai: Saikyou Penguin Densetsu!

See also: previous #ADecadeofDS posts

I like pretty much everything about DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc's first English trailer except for Monokuma's voice

I've been itching to see the North American version of DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc in action ever since its release was announced a few months ago.

Am I still interested in this suspenseful Vita title, which will hit digital and physical store shelves in this part of the world sometime in February, now that I've gotten my wish (via its first English trailer, below)? Yes, I think you could say that.

In fact, my only qualm with DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc at this point is that the voice of its antagonist, Monokuma (he's the two-toned bear), doesn't seem quite evil enough to me.

What do all of you think? Are you still curious about this one now that you've seen a bit of it in action?

I'm *this* close to pre-ordering Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc's limited edition

And, yes, that's despite the fact that I don't yet own a Vita.

What can I say? I'm really interested in this title, whose gameplay is said to be part Ace Attorney and part 999. (Bonus: it sports a really cool art style.)

Making matters worse is that Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc's limited edition is just $10 more than the regular release (which will carry a $40 price tag), even though it includes an appealingly designed collector's box, a soft-cover art book and a jewel-cased soundtrack.

Thankfully, it seems I'll be able to hem and haw about this decision for at least a little while yet, as neither version of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc will hit the streets until Feb. 11, and at the moment more than 75 percent of the limited edition's stock is still available.

Have any of you already staked a claim to one of these beauties, or are you considering doing so at some future point in time?

Pre-order: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc limited edition and Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc regular edition

No joke: another otome game (for PSP) is coming to North America

And not only that, but it appears that this forthcoming otome game will be released both digitally and on UMD à la Class of Heroes 2.

The name of the title in question is Sweet Fuse: At Your Side, by the way, and it's being brought to North America by Aksys Games.

Here's a summary of Sweet Fuse's story as per Aksys' website:

"Saki Inafune, niece to legendary game developer Keiji Inafune, can’t wait to visit her uncle’s new theme park. She’s been invited to the opening day ceremonies, and is looking forward to a day of fun and excitement when suddenly Count Hogstein—a villain as corpulent and cliché as he is evil—blows up the Ferris wheel, takes the park management hostage, and declares the beginning of a deadly series of games.



"Desperate to save her uncle, Saki volunteers to be one of the participants in Hogstein’s games, and finds herself thrust into the midst of excitement very different from what she’d expected when she woke up that morning. She’ll need all of her cunning, determination, and exceptional insight to get herself and her fellow participants—all available bachelors—out alive and maybe, with a little luck, find love along the way."

As for when Sweet Fuse will see the light of day in North America: according to the folks at Aksys, it'll do so sometime this summer.

The Great Gaymathon Review #61: Rhythm Thief & The Emperor's Treasure (3DS)

Game: Rhythm Thief & The Emperor's Treasure

Genre: Music/Rhythm

Developer: Sega/Xeen

Publisher: Sega

System: 3DS

Release date: 2012

A few of the words I'd use to describe Sega's Rhythm Thief & The Emperor's Treasure: Ambitious, disappointing, dramatic (sometimes overly so), ridiculous and sweet. Oh, and tedious. Yes, tedious. As much as I hate to admit it, and as much as I enjoyed the Rhythm Thief demo, I found playing through the "real deal," so to speak, to be a chore.

That's not to say this Xeen-developed 3DS title failed to bring a smile to my face. On the contrary, I found certain aspects of it to be both charming and fun. The art style, for instance, is appealingly colorful and pleasant (although it appears a bit "cheap" at times). Rhythm Thief's funky, jazzy soundtrack--which harkens back to that of another Sega property, Space Channel 5--could be described in similarly positive terms. Also, it features the most unique array of control schemes I think I've ever encountered in a portable game.

So, why did I suggest in the first paragraph of this review that Rhythm Thief was disappointing and a "chore"? For starters, although the game is admirably ambitious, its many "pieces" never quite came together for me. You know how various folks have described this release as being "Professor Layton meets Space Channel 5"? Well, that's exactly what it is, at its core. Unfortunately, the mash-up just doesn't come together as well as I'd hoped it would.

Chiefly responsible for this, in my mind, is its story--or, rather, its ratio of story to rhythm games. If I were to guess what said ratio was, I'd say it's about 75-25 in favor of the game's story, and in the end it was just too much for me. I have to say, though, that I think I would have found Rhythm Thief to be a bit trying even if the ratio were closer to 50-50, as the story here--which is set in Paris and involves, among other things, a young guy who's leading a double life as an art thief and an older one who claims to be Napoleon--isn't all that engaging. Or at least it wasn't to me.

Another aspect that failed to engage me: The game's Layton-esque exploration element, or lack thereof. You're rarely at a loss for where to go or what to do next while playing Rhythm Thief, as the next plot point's quite literally pointed out to you (often by a big magenta exclamation point, no less). This game steals ideas from the aforementioned Level-5 series in other ways, too, although I think it would've been better off if its developers had refrained from doing so. In particular, the random tapping of background images--required to find medals (which allow players to buy items than can make difficult mini-games a bit easier), pieces of music and hidden scores--injects an additional layer of annoyance into a title that was annoying enough already.

Finally, it has to be said that although most of Rhythm Thief's mini-games are amusing, "have their heart in the right place" and all that jazz, a good number of them are downright broken due to awkward controls. (In fact, one particular mini-game nearly prompted me to give up on my playthrough altogether.) And even when they don't feel broken, they're often unforgiving to an unbelievable degree. All of which is too bad, as Rhythm Thief's best mini-games easily call to mind those found in such classics as Samba de Amigo and Space Channel 5.

Are those brief, shining moments--along with the others mentioned earlier--enough for me to recommend this quirky mutt of a release to anyone but the most diehard of Sega fans? (Do such people even exist anymore?) To be frank, no, they aren't. I guess if you can find a copy that's cheap enough, it may be worth picking up if you're really into rhythm and/or Professor Layton-ish games, but even then I have a feeling it's more than likely to disappoint.

See also: Previous 'Great Gaymathon' posts

I've fallen in love with a girl, and her name is Dove

Don't worry, folks, I haven't dumped my husband and gone over to the dark side. (I kid, non-gay readers.)

You see, the girl I've fallen in love with isn't real. Rather, she's the protagonist in an in-the-works "oceanic adventure game" called Sealark. Here's what Dove looks like:

As for who's working on this game: Chillicothe, Ohio-based programmer and pixel artist, Joshua Cross.

Sealark will be released for Windows, Mac and Linux sometime next year (July is the target, I believe) thanks to an enormously successful kickstarter campaign.

Said kickstarter doesn't end for 19 more days, by the way, so click on the link above if you'd like to join in (or if you'd just like to learn more about the project).

I pledged $10 myself over the weekend. I would have pledged enough to earn the "limited run physical copy of the game and OST" had it still been available, but it wasn't. Oh, well.

Anyway, to see even more of Cross' work, check out his deviantART page and/or his tumblr, Pigeon's Nest.

A somewhat gay review of Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (PSP)

Game: Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom

Genre: Otome/Visual Novel

Developer: Idea Factory

Publisher: Aksys Games

System: PSP

Release date: 2012

Please forgive me for being a bit crass, but I consider Aksys' Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom to be the gaming equivalent of "a grower, not a shower." What I mean is that, for me at least, it wasn't all that appealing at first. I think that's because I expected ... well, something other than what greeted me during the first hour or two of my playthrough of this PSP title.

You see, rather than being the kind of action-packed game most of us in the western world are used to playing, Hakuoki is a visual novel. As such, you can expect to spend a lot of time reading text and hitting your PSP's "X" button over and over again in order to advance the game's story--which follows a young woman, Chizuru Yukimura, as she and the Shinsengumi, a group of samurai who protect the citizens of Kyoto, search for Chizuru's missing father during Japan's Bakumatsu period (1853-1867).

Although you spend a lot of time reading while playing Hakuoki, that's not all you do. Sometimes, for instance, you're able to influence the story's direction a la the Choose Your Own Adventure books that many Americans devoured as kids. At the same time, you're able to influence Chizuru's future, as each decision brings her another step closer to (or takes her a step further away from) one of the game's eligible bachelors, romantically speaking.

Sadly, these moments of interactivity are all too rare. Not only that, but they're more than a bit confusing--especially if you're like me and you've never before played a visual novel or otome game--since it's often difficult to decipher how a particular decision is going to alter Chizuru's path. That said, the interactivity, even if it's a bit ham-fisted, is more than welcome amid Hakuoki's endlessly streaming lines of text.

The good news here is that those endlessly streaming lines of text are both well-written and, for the most part, quite engaging and compelling. Similarly compelling are the game's characters, each of whom are imbued with personality, and its graphics, despite the fact that they're static and more than a little repetitive. Although the word repetitive also could be used to describe Hakuoki's soundtrack, it never really becomes grating thanks to its relaxed nature.

Given all of the above, would I recommend Hakuoki to your average PSP owner? Yes, although with a few reservations. In my opinion, this title is most likely to appeal to those who are OK with playing as a girl, who don't mind games that include a dating component, who enjoy a good page-turner and who have at least a smidge of patience.

See also: Previous 'somewhat gay' reviews

Let's Play: 'Which Box Art is Better?' (Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward edition)

A little disclaimer before I continue on with this post: I'm really happy--ecstatic, even--that someone (Aksys) decided to bring Chunsoft's Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die to the North American market.

That said, I'm not as happy with the name they chose for this particular localization: Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward. (Pre-order the 3DS version here and the Vita version here.) A much more appealing one, in my humble opinion, would have been something like Zero Escape: Good People Die.

Another aspect of this localization that I'm far from ecstatic about: Its cover art. Why? Well, take a look at the game's North American box art:

And then compare it to the art that graced the cover of the Japanese iteration, which was released on Feb. 16:

As I said in this previous post, I consider the latter to be one of the best examples of 3DS cover art. The former? Not even in the same league--thanks in part to its scrunching of Kinu Nishimura's beautiful illustration and thanks in part to its use of, as the guys at tinycartridge.com call it, "the TurboGrafx-16 font."

All of the above is just my opinion, of course. What's yours?

See also: Previous 'Which Box Art is Better?' posts

Chunsoft's Extreme Escape Adventure (3DS/Vita) has some sexy cover art

I don't usually get all hot and bothered over game characters (despite what I've said in posts like this one and this one), but I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel at least a little tingle "down there" after catching my first glimpse of the cover art that was produced for Chunsoft's Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die (aka Kyokugen Dasshutsu Adv: Zennin Shibō Desu, due out in Japan on Feb. 16).

That's chiefly, if not completely, due to this 3DS and Vita game's main character, Sigma, who takes up the right half of said cover, of course. (Speaking of whom, more shots of Sigma can be ogled, I mean seen, on the game's official site.)

As nice as this game's cover art is, it's all for naught if it never leaves Japan, right? After all, Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die, like its predecessor--the DS-based sleeper hit, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors--is an "adventure game," which means lots and lots of text.

Unfortunately, no one has admitted to working on an English translation of the game at this point. That doesn't mean one isn't in the works, though; in fact, I'll be pretty shocked if Aksys Games doesn't lay claim to it sooner rather than later thanks to success the company had with the aforementioned 999.