November 2011 Eroge Releases

Lots of unique gameplay awaits players with ETERNAL’s Gin no Toki no Corona, Escu:de’s Kanojo wa Sora ni Inoranai, Arianrhod’s Yumemiru Tsuki no Lunalutia, Yatagarasu’s Tentacle Lord and Nitro+’s Sonicomi all coming out this month. The photo shoot mode in Sonicomi in particular is quite unique and fun to play. If you’re interested in something that takes less time, check out ALcot Honey Comb’s Shunki Gentei Poco a Poco!.

Pretty dull month, with few titles worth a second glance at for most people, those who enjoy eroge with RPG elements have more than usual to choose from at least. The rest of the lineup even when there may not be anything terrible, are simply too lackluster to brighten up this month. I would rather a month of completely horrible releases to comment on, at least then it is fun to make fun of the games, their borderline insane creators, and all of the plotholes and flaws that come along with them.

AngelGuard

Company: Athena
Game site: AngelGuard
Release date: November 25, 2011 Delayed to January 27, 2012
Comments:
This is the first title by Athena. Lisa’s father is the chairman of the military conglomerate ‘General Technics Group’, which plans to build an oil pipeline in central Asia with the backing of the U.S. government. However, they are opposed by the rival Russian financial group ‘Arsenary’ which will use any means to secure the deal. Ryou is an agent of the private military company ‘GMSS’ who is designated to protect Lisa with the help of fellow agent Reina. At the client’s request, he has to do this while undercover as a teacher at Lisa’s school Seika Gakuen.

Oil is serious business. The plot reminds me of AXL’s Koitate, so I wonder if there are bad ends where he fails his mission. And why is Russia usually casted in a negative light? It brought us many great bishoujos, like Kud, Katherine and of course, Puuchin.

Far too grandiose a story for a high school romance drama eroge.  If they changed the setting and he was her bodyguard while traveling and taking care of business and overseeing the construction of the pipeline this may have made a lot more sense. However forcing their story to fit in a high school environment detracts from the merits of this type of game, turning what could have been an interesting story that explores more varied settings and encounters into yet another high school based game with serious and or action overtones. I do enjoy a good bodyguard story, even more so when it involves a protagonist who is potentially competent so given that this month is rather devoid of anything special I think this may be the best choice of the month for something more than just high school drama.

Russia has been symbolic as an aggressor since the propaganda of the cold war, especially as Japan had been used as a bulwark for the west against communism in asia post WW2. Add in the corruption of the government and mafia ties that spread out over the world from Russia as well as being the only non western state with comparable technology they make an excellent antagonist for stories set in western nations.

Unfortunately (for you), most stories will end up with high school elements, as that’s what sells…

I just happen to find it ironic that for games supposedly 18+ they focus on high schools almost exclusively. I don’t mind it when the setting fits, but there is no need to force a high school into every single plot regardless of whether or not it matches the story or setting.

LEGEND SEVEN ~Shirayuki-hime to 7nin no Eiyuu~

Company: NONSUGAR
Game site: LEGEND SEVEN ～白雪姫と7人の英雄～
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
This is the first title by NONSUGAR, which is comprised of staff from the defunct TAILWIND. One day, the giant ‘world tree’ appeared and it was controlled by an organization known as the ‘Visioners’ who massacred innocents to achieve the end of the world. However, one girl and her soldiers stand in their way. They are Shirayuki-hime and the ‘seven heroes’ that protect her. Yuu is a normal student that has a high sense of justice who gets involved in this epic battle. Will he be the one that can lift the curse bestowed on Shirayuki-hime?

In their own words, it’s the ‘Snow White’ fairy tale with a modern twist. And quite a twist it is, as it’s now an overzealous exaggerated action story. Not sure if how it’ll match up to Schatten, but might be worth checking out if you’re into this type of ‘moe’. They also implement the DFTS (dramatic face trans system) where the character’s facial expressions in the left side of the textbox can change during a sentence. Not really the most groundbreaking idea. I’ve always wondered why include such a thing if you just see the same expression as the tachi-e?

I fail to see any connection with Snow White aside from the title itself and the seven heroes, so I can only imagine they are stretching the connection so thin it would probably be best not to even mention it. Also happens to be the first time I have seen a world tree based on a baobab, unique but hardly fitting. Nonsugar has managed to make a game that stands out for being unique, which is a good advertisement for a first game, however it seems they went a little too far with it. The plot is pretty nonsensical, the protagonist is more of the annoyingly standard fare, and the characters themselves don’t feel very special. As a whole this game feels almost pointless in its existence, there is little merit to be found anywhere for those who love action based plots nor those who only care for characters. Likely yet another underwhelming start for a new game company.

SHINY SUMMER DAYS

Company: オーバーフロー (Overflow)
Game site: SHINY SUMMER DAYS
Release date: November 25, 2011 Delayed indefinitely
Comments:
Overflow’s School Days series continue with a remake of Summer Days with a new heroine Inori who lives with Setsuna. It also includes the Strip Rock Paper Scissors game that was previously announced as an April Fool’s joke. Yes, Kokoro is among your opponents.

Another BL fandisk?

Strawberry Nauts

Company: HOOKSOFT
Game site: Strawberry Nauts -ストロベリーノーツ-
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
Seitarou is a new student at the boarding school Gokoukan Gakuen, which is located on a man-made island. However, there was a mix up and he was assigned to live in the girl’s dormitory instead. The administration told him that there were no spaces left in the other dorms and he resigned himself to be homeless. That’s when a voice called out to him. He looked up and saw a girl smiling back at him.

HOOKSOFT’s latest work focuses on how one falls in love, whether it is love at first sight or small feelings that gradually grow stronger over time. The key point is the first words between the main character and the heroines followed by ichaicha during their alone time. While HOOKSOFT isn’t known for their stories, I find them to be quite enjoyable with lots of ichaicha moments. If you don’t like seeing clichés left, right and center, then it’s probably best to avoid this one. For me… it’s full steam ahead to Yao-chan and Aoto-chan!

As someone who cares about more than whether a character has a ribbon or happens to have traits of a certain type, this sort of repetitive game has no meaning. Maybe not a terrible game, but certainly not one of those games that will end up being mentioned for years to come, this is one of those games that is only worth touching if you happen to have copious amounts of free time you have nothing else to do with.

d2b VS DEARDROPS -Cross the Future-

Company: OVERDRIVE
Game site: d2b VS DEARDROPS -Cross the Future-
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
A collaboration fandisk celebrating the 5th anniversary of OVERDRIVE, featuring a crossover between Kira☆Kira and DEARDROPS. Riho watches Kirari and Shouichi’s overseas performance on TV and sees that Shouichi is enjoying it more than before. She wonders if she would be able to beat Kirari. At that moment, she never thought that she would have a chance to do just that. Just a short if story, so if you liked either (or both) stories, you can check it out. Note that this is the packaged version; the download version was released on September 30th.

Fandisk for those of you who happen to actually care about such things.

Amakan Ecchi na “Love Icha” Tsumechaimashita

Company: PeasSoft
Game site: あまかん えっちな“ラブいちゃ”詰めちゃいました
Release date: November 25, 2011 Delayed to December 22, 2011
Comments:
Amakan is the fandisk for Ama Ane (Otome and Natsumi) and Kimi o Aogi Otome wa Hime ni (Hitomi and Rin). It also includes the standard version of Tsun na Kanojo Dere na Kanojo and an original story titled ‘Iinazuke wa Imouto-sama!’. Hayao lives with his true imouto Yuuna, but they don’t really get along. A beautiful girl who he had never seen before, Haruka, suddenly showed up and announced that she was Hayao’s imouto and also his fiancée. Yuuna opposed Haruka’s declaration since she had secret feelings for him. Neither would back down and it ended with Yuuna proclaiming that she was going to marry him as well.

Yeah, this is pretty much a nukige fandisk if you hadn’t noticed from the cover. I’m fine with imoutos and all, but there’s no plot here. Pass.

Never was able to get very far into Ama Ane, despite repeated urgings to the contrary, and seeing as how nukige are not for me in the first place, I shall pass as well.

STAR←IDOL

Company: abelia
Game site: すたどる！
Release date: November 25, 2011 Delayed to December 16, 2011
Comments:
The protagonist is the producer of the 5-person idol group ‘Cinq Doll’ and anticipated great success for them, however the group’s popularity remained low. He was convinced that this was because there was no clear leader among the group, so he decided on a leadership competition where they will tour the country and the girl with the most fans will become the leader of the group.

Let’s ignore the obvious similarities to ChuxChu Idol and The idolm@ster and focus on what new things this game brings to the table. There’s… a rhythm game where your idol practices sucking on a banana. Actually, never mind. The PV feels like something from the 90s.

Yet another game about pimping out teenage idols. I do have to admit the sea cucumber and banana BJ DDR made me chuckle, in a bad way. I suppose people who actually like idol games may rejoice over something coming out this month, but this is even more shallow than most in a genre that already scrapes the bottom of the barrel. There is little worse than a game that is just so bad that it doesn’t even warrant scorn.

It actually took me a bit before I realized that was a sea cucumber.

And just what did you think it was before that might I ask…?

A choco banana. And then I was like WTF when stuff came out of it.

The “Reward” for winning at choco banana DDR?

PV

Hiyoko Strike!

Company: イグジット (Ex-iT)
Game site: ひよこストライク！
Release date: November 25, 2011 Delayed to December 22, 2011
Comments:
The usual classroom. The usual boring lesson. Shin stared outside blankly and then suddenly a girl appeared… outside the 2nd floor window! She jumped in from the window and introduced herself as Utakata. Everything else was just as illogical: taking her clothes off while standing on the desk, sticking her finger up his nose, and having things that look like animal ears and tail. His head hurt from all this, but at the same time he was also a bit excited since the world that he knew became more vivid.

A random but cute game. I don’t think it intends to take itself seriously since one of the heroines is called ‘Classmate A’ since Shin never remembers her name. Shin’s blood-related imouto Hina looks like she could be a good amaenbou type. One thing I noticed is that the illustrator sure loves using glow effects. I don’t think it’s natural for a girl to be glowing like a firefly at night.

The main problem with this game is there is not enough direction to the story. So a strange girl comes along and brightens up his otherwise dull life is fairly standard, however where do we go from there? Sure I can think of plenty of outcomes, but it is sorely lacking a driving force behind the story and characters to make things interesting enough for people to want to buy this game. Still there is a lingering desire to fill in that huge blank, so given how boring this month is I may see what it has to offer, can’t be any worse than the rest of the monotonous high school based eroge.

I disagree with Micchi on the glow effects, i didn’t see any abusive use of glow effects beyond the illustrator paying attention to light sources and shades far more than the usual lazy or inept artists. Well that said I can’t say I agree with the style itself, as it does not suit my taste and I feel that the inking, lineart, and shading all seem to contradict and contrast each other.

Mashiro Summer

Company: mana
Game site: ましろサマー
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
Many years ago, it snowed even in summer. It was said that the snowfall can grant wishes, so the townspeople made lots of wishes and prayers. As time passed, everyone gradually forgot about that strange summer. Keiji is a normal student who wanted a peaceful school life, but he is surrounded by troublesome girls: his cousin Chihiro who’s only good at housework and nothing else, sports freak Aki, poor ojousama Sakuno, Mio who always seems to get herself wet and do-M stalker Natsuho.

I’m sure that the snowfall part of the story will show up later on, especially since it’s in the title itself, but there’s not much to else to this story without it. Just another normal guy wanting a normal life… if not for those meddling kids! Kai, who worked on CLANNAD, is part of the 4 scenario writers (2 new) working on this game. However, I’m hesitant to put much confidence in it as the heroines themselves start off as gimmicky. I like the OP “Pray’s Color -Link-” though (sung by KOTOKO). And as for do-M wanko-type chars, Pochi to Goshujin-sama‘s Chiwa is much cuter.

What is with wish granting games? It feels as though they put a bunch of random ideas in a hat, then pick one of them to come up with the next object to make an ero wish upon. Personally I would like to see a wish granting Yakuza that characters try to confess in front of for the sake of their happiness. A living being would add in extra significance since it is “Fate” if you run into him! Seriously though making wishes at frozen water molecules floating in the air sure is unique, to put it nicely at least. Another and more likely way to describe it would be stupid or any synonym thereof. Maybe next time someone is transporting a snow machine via air, these rural luddites stuck in the dark ages will do something more productive with their lives than wishing that H2O will grant them happiness. Misgivings about the silly snow aside… for now anyway, the story itself is pretty boring, after all its about a protagonist who wants to be boring. While the heroines themselves in stark contrast are an interesting hodgepodge of uncommon traits, which seems to be the main draw for this game. Perhaps I would be willing to put up with the irritating protagonist and water worship just to see something at least a little different, gimmicky though it may be. But then I come to my senses and realize no, no I would not want to bother as I cannot imagine someone capable of coming up with or writing about a wayward loli eskimo cloud’s oshikko scene as an object of reverence being capable of pulling off such a story and heroines. Maybe next time it rains you should pray to Poseidon, at least you would likely have better luck than this game.

You’re just pissed at the snow because it made you powerless.

Was it you who wished for it!?

(￣ー￣)

Yaya, Okiba ga Nai!

Company: あかべぇそふとつぅ (AkabeiSoft2)
Game site: やや、置き場がない！
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
This is the fandisk to Okiba ga Nai!, with 4 after stories as well as a new story. The giant pure-white robot Velaltoides was returning home from a mission when he was hit by a meteorite and crashed to Earth. Unable to fly, he was stuck in Africa until the repairs are done. In the vast land, even a large robot like him could live comfortably, but he was soon confronted by a major problem: it’s too lonely! Wasn’t interested in the original game, so pass once again.

Another fandisk to further brighten my day by lightening my workload for this post.

Sonicomi

Company: ニトロプラス (Nitro+)
Game site: ソニコミ
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from September. In this all-ages title from Nitro+ featuring their mascot character (designed by Tsuji Santa), you are an amateur cameraman who is skilled at taking pictures of inanimate objects, but is bad at portrait shots. Your teacher, who’s a big-name photographer, assigns you to be the exclusive cameraman for the newly debuted idol Super Sonico. There are many client orders to take care of, and her wardrobe gradually increases along with the variety of shots as you learn the craft. As you become more friendly with her, she might even give you some unexpected poses.

The game is comprised of an ADV mode and a photo-shoot mode. In the Sonicomi mode, you can talk to Sonico to better your communication with her. Be careful since the choices are timed. After deciding on what to wear for the shoot, you get to play a mini game where you have to take the best photos of Sonico while also making sure she doesn’t get worn out. As you build communication with her, you can get her to change poses too. You move using the keyboard arrows and aim your camera using the mouse. It’s quite a fun system once you get the hang of it.

While Sonico’s specs aren’t tailored to my tastes (you seem to need a certain size to be a gravure idol), there’s no denying that she’s pretty cute. I always love a girl who tries her best. One problem that I had was that I couldn’t seem to run the game on the highest spec and sometimes her hair comes out through the clothes. It seems like a fault among all 3D models. That being said, it’s interesting enough for me to give it a try.

Nitro+ just how far will you fall from your former glory? This is about as far away from what they built their brand on as I can possibly imagine, yeah their titles have been pretty lame for a while but wow this is a whole new level. This is a Key and Rewrite level atrocity. I never thought I would see the day when Nitro+ made a virtual doll dress up game. Thankfully I covered most of this issue with my Rewrite comment so I see little need to be redundant. However as a short summary, I feel that making a game this far outside of the image associated with the name of your brand is foolish to say the least. I cannot imagine most Nitro+ fans enjoying this game, nor can I imagine fans of the virtual doll genre enjoying other Nitro+ games..

Tentacle Lord -Waga Te ni Ochiyo Yuusou Naru Otome-

Company: Yatagarasu
Game site: テンタクルロード -我が手に堕ちよ勇壮なる乙女-
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
On the continent of Septentrio, there are tales of the past when heroes and demon lords fought against each other. There was a maou that ruled over the fertile Kingdom of Grüngard. The imperial family was quite adept at magic and lived much longer than humans. The neighbouring countries feared history repeating itself and attacked, but they were always defeated. Now the kingdom is ruled by the young but skilled Dune Angrojia Grüngard, who is well respected by his people. He has the special ability of being able to control tentacled creatures to defeat enemies. Due to an unfortunate accident, he was put into a deep sleep for many years. During this time, the Kingdom of Rindveld which is full of heroes declared war on Grüngard with the intention of defeating him. When Dune awoke, the attacking forces led by Aria Ashtein had already reached the city limits. He decides to unleash his tentacled minions to defeat them and reclaim his territory.

Tentacle Lord uses the same real-time 3D map battle system as their previous SRPG title Yamiyo ni Odore. However, this time you play as the maou and raise tentacles to capture girls and make them join your side. This should fare better than that sweet tentacle love game by XUSE, since this has them in their natural habitat and doing things that tentacles do. Don’t really care much for the 3D-esque RPG system, so skipping this. On a side note, I hate how ロード can mean so many things. I’d be fine with calling this ‘tentacle road’. There’s tentacles and a road in those screenshots after all.

This game almost seemed as though it may have been some potential to be interesting before it turned into a tentacle laden Rance quest type of game. I to this day do not understand why most RPG based eroge are so H laden, and focus more on capturing / raping against girls will, or at the very least providing way more H than necessary, than making a good story complimented by enjoyable gameplay. Of course there are exceptions to this, and I enjoy playing those exceptions from time to time, but I simply do not comprehend what people see in games like this. While not fond of their primitive battle system, I may have actually been inclined to play this game and others like it were it not for the silly tentacles, and emphasis on H scenes and rape. Ah well, saves me the trouble of trudging through the bad gameplay all RPG eroge share.

Hanachirutani Sanjinkou

Company: raiL-soft
Game site: 花散峪山人考（ハナチルタニサンジンコウ）
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
In the period between the two great wars, the city streets are lit up and buildings of iron and cement stand out in the cityscape. However, there are still many forests that have not been touched and there are many legends about them. Touya was an orphan who was welcomed by his adopted family and was prepared for a happy life with his fiancée. However, she was murdered and he became a soul with only revenge burning through this veins. Running through the forest, he searches for someone, something to release his grudge upon.

I always find raiL-soft’s settings fascinating and art unique, although I’m not sure what to think about a plot where revenge without a specific target is the main theme. It could easily end up with a bad end where the guy just goes insane and massacres everyone and everything around him. Actually, that’d be interesting too. Problem for me is I don’t really care for any of the heroines. I think this might be better if they just scrap the H since it’d be out-of-place.

I love the concept behind most rail games, but when it comes time to actually play them, I feel let down by poor writing, as well as poor concept and character development. My theory is that raiL-soft hates the people who buy their games and so does their best to troll them. As much as I want to follow our Nabeshin wannabe protagonist throughout his rage driven wanderings I have to question whether or not this game will end up a disappointment as past games have. Sadly the pacing of their writing allows much of the concept to slip through the readers fingers like so much sand, leaving a bad aftertaste while lamenting what could have been. Were this company to acquire a writer skillful enough to bring their concepts to life with a more balanced writing style capable of a pace that follows the flow of events these games would likely end up becoming memorable experiences of their own right, entitling them to the sort of acclaim and popularity few eroge ever achieve. This particular story looks interesting mostly due to the protagonist taking on a role usually reserved for anti hero antagonist characters, something rarely explored in eroge as most would prefer to stick to their standard justice loving, pointlessly and unrealistically kind, unintelligent, and dense “Good guy” protagonists. In particular how the story will and even can develop around a rage driven protagonist is an appealing bait for my story centric eroge palate. In a lackluster month such as this, I feel significantly more compelled to knowingly enter this potential minefield in search of the oh so rare diamond in the rough.

Kikouyoku Senki Gin no Toki no Corona

Company: ETERNAL
Game site: 輝光翼戦記 銀の刻のコロナ
Release date: November 25, 2011 Delayed to December 16, 2011
Comments:
The fantasy SRPG Gin no Toki no Corona follows ETERNAL’s previous title, Tenkuu no Yumina. Touka isn’t a normal student: he has the ability to sense and interfere in the purple-lit space known as ‘shinya’ (true night). One time in shinya, he met a strange girl named Tokino who also had the same ability as him. Then a woman named Murial descended from the skies and entrusted a small girl Corona to them. Even though she is an innocent girl right now, she is a dragon girl who possesses enough power to destroy the world. Murial tells them if they raise Corona right then they will be able to save the world from ending.

Corona uses a 3D map simulation and of course a vast array of skills during battle. Like in past games, the protagonist Touka is voiced. The scenario writers stay the same as Yumina, but the illustrators are new. Touka’s pretty chuunibyou. Pretty sure some people can’t wait for this to come out (and then spend many weeks or months playing it). Even if you didn’t play Yumina, you should be able to enjoy this if you like SRPGs.

I must say I preferred Eternal’s work when they were still Xuse, the eternity sword series in particular. Everything since going their separate ways has felt as though the concepts are lacking the depth to the concept and setting that made their previous games so good. This time we have an RPG version of 11eyes, which was certainly not the best game to mimic in my opinion. When the concept, story, and characters feel lacking something to stand out beyond the norm, I find it difficult to deal with the repetitive and time consuming gameplay required to complete their games. What I wouldn’t give for a “Skip all battles you have already won” button in these games so I only had to trudge through mediocre and outdated gameplay once yet still be able to read the variations in the individual routes.

Battle PV

Ima mo Itsuka mo Faluna Luna

Company: MANATSU_8
Game site: 現在（いま）もいつかもふぁるなルナ
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
This is the debut title of MANATSU_8. The magic world exists in parallel to the human world. After a while, it became possible to travel between these two worlds and humans started to be able to use magic. Kokoro is a new transfer student at the magic user training school Ougetsu Gakuen and for some reason, he always sneezes when he is around girls. However, the principal Artemis knows that Kokoro possesses great magic power that rivals even the imperial family of the magic world. He stays with his imouto Misaki at the school dormitory Tokino-sou, where there are many girls. He loves girls a lot, so much that he has always dressed up as one since he was small. However, will he be able to fall in love while dressed up as a girl?

Another trap eroge but this time the protagonist is a pervert who has the ability to make his delusional thoughts become reality. This is so going to end well. Moreover, I get the same vibe from this game as Natsuiro Penguin and Floating Material, which isn’t a good thing. Also this is not the way to promote your game. Not playing this. No. Never.

While this does appear to be a comedy centric title, there is far too much emphasis on ecchi comedy along the lines of “Tee hee _____ happened so I or everyone saw her panties.” which gets old very quickly. Were there more to the comedy and story of this game to dilute the redundant jokes and help push the story along these scenes may not have been such an issue. There being little chance of anything beyond copious amounts of very basic ecchi comedy I can’t say this makes a very good debut title. Of course there is the appeal of the main character being a trap and all but does not appear to have much significance beyond a device to help drive the silly, perverted, and repetitive humor.

Nanatsu no Fushigi no Owaru Toki

Company: etude
Game site: 七つのふしぎの終わるとき
Release date: November 25, 2011 Delayed to December 22, 2011
Comments:
Tomo is a student at Tokinodai Gakuen, a small traditional liberal arts boarding school that was built in the Meiji era. However, he has a secret – he has a clock passed down from him by his grandmother which allows him to control time – and he uses this ability to make his school life enjoyable.

One time, Tomo found out that there is a link between the clock and the seven mysteries of the school. If one obtains any of the seven clocks linked to the seven mysteries, they will be able to use various time-manipulating powers. His interest perked, Tomo set out after school to the old school building to begin his search. During his search, he meets various girls and together they unlock one of the seven mysteries. They arrive at a space where time has stopped and find a girl in traditional dress sleeping there. She used to be able to manipulate time, but now she has lost those abilities. Will they be able to find all the clocks, awaken the sleeping girl and return her to her time?

Playing with time is a dangerous thing. Seeing the sleeping girl in limbo should be a fair warning to them. However, everything’s bound to end up well, probably with some drama when the girl Nanaho has to leave them. The scenario writers were both sub-writers in Sugar Coat Faeries and it’s hard to judge their writing, but I think the story has potential. The art isn’t my taste, but maybe some of you might like it.

Another gimmick used to grant undue significance to stories of the mysteries in a school setting. Well I would let that slide were it not all so convenient for the plot, although even were I to put that aside there is the rest of this plot which screams predictable. With the goal being to awake a girl frozen in time, this almost becomes a club activity story with a premise leading to a type of “Fated meeting”. Given the mediocrity of the underlying story, aside from the time aspect which does not appear to develop the complexity one would expect of a time travel based storyline. Rather than someone interested in a unique or intriguing story, this game suits those who prefer cliches, club based activities, and exploration of various mysteries revolving around a school setting. In other words perhaps aside from the last part, a game for the Micchis out there.

Shunki Gentei Poco a Poco!

Company: ALcot ハニカム (ALcot Honey Comb)
Game site: 春季限定ポコ・ア・ポコ！
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
The third installment in ALcot Honey Comb’s mid-priced novel series. Even since his parents disappeared a year ago, Kanata did part-time jobs every day in order to take care of himself and his imouto Ai. He skipped classes and didn’t join any clubs even though he had entered the music academy with a scholarship, believing that music doesn’t help bring food to the table. However, it was natural that because of this, his scholarship was revoked. The granddaughter of the principal, Mana, gave him a second chance at his scholarship if he revives the legendary quartet. So, he picked up his cello for the first time in a year and was joined by bracon imouto Ai, my-pace and self-centered Sakura, and super cool beauty Natsumi. Will he be able to regain his scholarship, and more importantly, his love for music and lost friendships?

I ♥ AI! She’s definitely bracon to the max and everyone knows it. All of the characters carry their own charms that made the trial a joy to play through. Of course, there is a sentimental story part too and I’m wondering how Natsumi’s twin sister Haruka factors into it considering she was part of Kanata’s previous quartet. But be assured, I’ll be playing this for Ai. It’s fine if you’re not blood-related, Ai! No matter blood-related or not, I will still treasure each imouto! Hau~ omochikaeri~!

While I am quite well aware that these are mid priced games and you typically pay for what you get, I do wish they put at least a few seconds or even a few minutes extra thought into their setup. So it revolves around a classical music theme this time, which is fine on its own, but the protagonists situation and condition for regaining his scholarship are awkwardly worked into the story at best. Smoothing things out would make these games so much better and worthwhile for a few minutes of extra effort when planning it out, not a bad deal in my opinion. Still if you are a fan of the band type games may not be a bad game to pick up provided you don’t expect much more than a low grade copy to tide you over. Considering the unappealing method used to bring everyone together will annoy me to no end I’ll be passing on this game myself, despite my love of classical music themes.

PV

Seifuku Tenshi

Company: シャーベットソフト (SherbetSoft)
Game site: 制服天使
Release date: November 25, 2011 Delayed to December 22, 2011
Comments:
This is the first professional release by former doujin circle SherbetSoft. Even though Kento was fed up with the monotony of every day, he doesn’t do anything to make it better. His only joy is sneaking glances at the angel-like girl Shion who sits next to him. One day at dusk, he saw her with wings on her back. As she tells him about her ‘angel sickness’, they are attacked by the ‘angel hunter’ Hiruta. He helps her escape and avoid the clutches of a man who harbours great hatred for angels.

A mysterious disease that grows wings. A group of people who hunt down these ‘angels’. Gee, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Well maybe the story deviates after this considering the setting is different from Eustia, but it’s probably better to be fully original for a first professional title. The art by Kisaragi Myuu isn’t bad. Note that this is a low-priced game and features only one heroine, Shion. If you choose wrong, she gets caught and there’s a dark end (complete with H scenes).

Just when I thought I had escaped from the tragic mockery of all that is holy, Eustia, along comes a game that feels as though they copied August’s homework, changing a few things so the teacher wouldn’t be able to claim they copied, obvious though it may be. While better grounded than Eustia was, the story also lacks the otherworldly feel by relying on the stereotypical high school setting, this likely means a distinctive lack of prostitutes and homicidal knife wielding characters. I doubt there will be many drug dealing crime bosses to influence the events throughout their pris… school either, a pity that. At least we still have people with nothing better to do than randomly hunting down those who happen to be two winged angels. Thanks to these hardworking souls efforts to exterminate and judging by images such as the one above, rape our tragic winged heroine Shion, our protagonist has something to do other than be bored every day.

Hare Tokidoki Otenki-ame

Company: ぱれっと (Palette)
Game site: 晴れときどきお天気雨
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from October. It is believed that there are close to ten thousands gods in this world. Even though they do not seem much different from regular people at first glance, it is believed that they have the power to grant wishes and create miracles. As a member of the Minagi Gakuen student council, Yuuya attends the greeting event at the train station for the new god transferring to the school. However, she doesn’t show up at the entrance, but rather falls down from the sky on top of him. The townspeople all ask her to grant their wishes, but the dojikko novice goddess Kanae doesn’t know how to.

Kusukusu and NYAON are back after the Sakura Strasse series and Moshiraba. Since Moshiraba is one of my fav eroge, I am highly anticipating Hareten even though the trial did not wow me. I love pastel art, so of course this is a plus for me. Nazuna’s cheerful personality despite her physical handicap makes her a really endearing character for me. It’s not only because she’s an imouto. Really!

Shinto themes have a special place in my heart as the concepts at the core of their eight million gods allows for a rich and varied interpretation of the mythology as every area is entitled to their own god or gods all of whom have their own stories. Well that said this has to be of the dumbest interpretations I have ever seen, miracles and wishes, clumsy failure gods that the protagonist no doubt will be responsible for asserting their worth and boosting their self esteem all the way to the bedroom. Gee where have I heard of this before? Oh, that’s right the roughly ten thousand games prior with almost the same exact setting or only minor differences. You know maybe it’s just me, but I hate when games take the easy way out with wishes and miracles as a fallback deus ex machina for the plot. Even if it is not used in such a way the entire concept defeats the point in such a setting when a game is about the relationships between people. There is nothing touching, romantic, or even inspirational about taking the easy way out instead of a story about characters who overcome whatever problems bar their path by their own power. Sure not all of these games will involve using a wish or miracle to wrap things up or even drive the plot as more than a background concept, however the mere presence of such a theme often cheapens characters relationships as they can attribute results to things otherworldly, imagined or not. A wish is just another word for giving up on something before trying.

Kanojo wa Sora ni Inoranai -quantum girlfriend-

Company: エスクード (Escu:de)
Game site: 彼女は高天（そら）に祈らない -quantum girlfriend-
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
This latest title from Escu:de is a comedic yet serious fantasy battle SLG that is very loosely based on Japanese mythology. The fictional city of Kyouto-shi in Kansai is a traditional city full with history. There are many tales of first-hand encounters with gods and strange things. Wakahiko sets out to find the truth behind these rumours and three goddess appeared before him. He ends up being dragged into their affairs and is given powers to fight alongside the do-S queen of the heavens Amaterasu, ultra-sensitive god of war Takemikazuchi and natural exhibitionist Amanouzume.

Another SLG from Escu:de with a battle system that partially looks like Akatoki‘s, but with quests and free battles available at night. An important thing for these type of games is balance and in the trial, the enemies’ HPs were too high, so I wonder if they’ll fix that in the release. Even with goddesses at your side, you probably don’t want to play it on perpetual hard mode.

As much as I would love to see a do-S Amaterasu I cannot possibly see myself playing a game with such a poor story. The comedy is fine, characters seem interesting, but the story on the whole is a letdown, as is how these games seem to love to revolve around high schools.

Houkago Kitchen

Company: あてゅ・わぁくす (ATUWORKs)
Game site: 放課後キッチン
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from October. The cooking research club at Miyosaka Gakuen is in danger of being dissolved unless they can fill up the now-empty school cafeteria by the school festival. With not much time to spare, the club members (Yuna who is bad at cooking, the only daughter of a top hotel chef Ringo, first-year Maaya who likes sweet things a little too much, homely senpai and club leader Suzuno) try out new recipes after school every day in order to create dishes that will attract students to the cafeteria. Yoruhiko is a guy who eats a lot and even though he doesn’t have much experience in cooking, he ends up being enlisted into the club to try out their food. Will they be able to accomplish their goal and save the club?

There’s a ‘sweet decoration patch’ that comes with preorders that makes some changes to the tachi-e. I like food and I like bishoujos, but I don’t like food on my bishoujos. How does that even stay on? Why isn’t there any good cooking club eroge?

Yet another save the club plotline with some silly goal to reach imposed upon characters by the creators lack of imagination. I would almost give them credit for using a different club, however it is all the same when it comes down to it. As with every other save the club game, the whole club concept is mostly used as a device to bring the characters together, and give the story some direction. Because of this most read the same, and other than a few terms native to their particular choice in club, end up the same. So unless you have a fetish for H scenes in cooking clubrooms, there probably isn’t much here that you have not read a dozen times prior.

Food is always a good reason, unless you’re hungry. Hearing all the carbonara, minestrone, hayashi rice, etc in Sucre made my mouth water…

Maybe there are no other cooking club based games to avoid having to deal with fatass heroines…

Mahou Shoujo to Koi+

Company: DisAbel
Game site: 魔法少女と恋＋
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
There is a secret magic school on an island in southern Japan where only those people with magical talent are accepted. Normal people do not know about its existence aside from being an urban legend. It is the magicians’ task to help normal people secretly when strange events occur.

Tsukumo has lost his memories and wouldn’t have known his own name if not for the sole thing that he was carrying – a student card to the magic school. It seems that he used to be a magician, but somehow his memories were sealed. At the school, he is assigned to the special S group, which is full of problem students who possess great magical power. He notices that everyone at the school is female except him. Will he be able to recover his memories?

While not quite a SLG like Corona or Kanosora, Mahokoi also has a battle system where you aid the heroines during battle with evil beings. It’s a really primitive system based on rock paper scissors. Tsukumo has the special ability of boosting magical power, which is proportional to how close he is with the heroine. Art isn’t bad and the characters are interesting, especially the blindfolded Chizuru. However, I don’t have great hopes for the story.

Nothing quite like mixing half assed magical girls with a protagonist that has forgotten everything save his ticket to mahou shoujo H scenes. Add in a tedious “Battle” system that can only be an annoying detriment that gets in the way of enjoying what “Story” there is. Even by magical girl eroge standards this seems pretty bad to me, fails to appeal to the lolicons who usually enjoy this genre, has “Gameplay” nigh impossible to enjoy, and perhaps worst of all has no motivation for the typical tentacle rape scenes every mahou shoujo needs.

Yumemiru Tsuki no Lunalutia

Company: Arianrhod
Game site: 夢みる月のルナルティア
Release date: November 25, 2011
New release date after being pushed back from October. This is the first title by Arianrhod. In a slightly different future, there is an atmosphere on the moon and people study science and magic there. The protagonist transfers into a magic school on the moon aspiring to become an alchemist. His mahou shoujo imouto Satsuki, and classmates Asuka (swordswoman) and Enora (shaman), help him with attaining his dream. However, some residents of the moon find their adventures to be a nuisance and want them to leave…

The game is a mix of ADV and RPG dungeon questing, with card battles against monsters. You can use alchemy on the treasures you find. I’m not sure the specifics of the game system since there’s no screenshots or demo videos yet. I’d go to the moon if all the girls there had bunny ears! About the story…. well, it is written by Yamaguchi Noboru of Zero no Tsukaima fame and also the FrontWing games. I’m sure that should make the decision for you of whether or not to pick up this game.

Oh of course in a futuristic setting the moon randomly has an atmosphere for sailor moon to prance around giving panty shot service. This has to be the worst concept for an eroge in the history of the industry I am rendered speechless by just how many of my “Dear god this sucks” buttons this game managed to push. I imagine just because of the author many people will be trying the game given the popularity of some of his works, but not only do I not care if it was written by Hemingway himself but I feel Yamaguchi Noboru is extremely overrated to begin with. It is games like these that justify belief in false prophets claims of the world ending.

Yurikago Yori Tenshi Made

Company: 暁WORKS-黒- (Akatsuki Works Black)
Game site: 揺り籠より天使まで
Release date: November 25, 2011
Comments:
This fully voiced battle ADV is the first title by a revamped Akatsuki Works Black team. Hiro spends his days attending school without a goal in his life. Two years ago, he inherited an unworldly object known as the knight frame, which can cause great destruction at a whim. He is determined not to use these powers because they would be a disturbance to everyone else. Even though he hates himself, he believes that this is the best thing to do.

Along the way to school, he looks around after sensing a warning from the knight frame. There he saw a girl with a carefree smile, who quickly vanished before his eyes like an illusion. He then found himself in another world with a battle about to begin.

Just another chuunibyou game by rookie scenario writer Shina. Not interested at all.

Nothing quite like a lame plot based around giving a random emo teen an absurd otherworldly power to make him feel better about himself and the world around him. This game seems to be more or less a “Mahou shounen” game revolving around much the same style plot as your average magical girl story. One can only hope that Akatsuki Black personnel is shuffled around once again to avoid a repeat of this game.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Shunki Gentei Poco a Poco!
2. Hare Tokidoki Otenki-ame
3. Sonicomi

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. 　
2. AngelGuard
3. Hanachirutani Sanjinkou

SISCON CULTURE!

No, thank you.