Archive for the ‘Visual Novel’ Category

The Flower Shop Review

RPG, Sim, Visual Novel | Posted by Meg
Mar 12 2010


The Flower Shop, not to be mistaken with the sim time management game Flower Shop, is a visual novel with some simulation play on the side. Made by the same developer of Bionic Heart, the story about love, friendship and flowers is progressed with reading the dialogue among the anime characters. You are also in control of some of the conversation when given a choice. In addition to the “talk” in this game, you can direct the mood of each character with your decisions.

In this novel you are Steve, a young, spoiled college boy, finishing his finals after his first year of school and not doing well in his classes, but he is ecstatic about having the whole summer to laze around and see his girlfriend. This type of behavior is quite common among college boys. Not surprisingly his father is extremely angry and decides to send him to his brother’s farm to acquire some discipline. Once removed from the city and delivered to the farm in Fairbrook, California, Steve meets and engages with his Uncle Sam and the town girls.

In the midst of this visual novel, you play a dating and farming sim game. While developing relationships, Steve must weed, water, and keep the land free of insects. During this play you must work as fast as possible because the time is very short. You click on the plot of land you want to weed and then click on the clear button to remove the weeds. With growing the flowers on this patch of ground, you can earn money by selling the flowers. This will lead to an interaction with Susana the town florist and holistic expert on good health. There is a scheduler to plan weeks of activities for Steve. You must balance your schedule to raise your stats and spend time with the girls keeping their relationship gauges in the good rather than bad portions of the scales.

Having lived in California most of my life, I am pleased the game is based in that state. However, the scenery is very generic and I can’t pinpoint what big city Steve lived in or which university he attends. In addition, the small town in the demo is deserted until Steve enters an establishment inhabited only with girls. Also the buildings are all very tidy with nothing scattered casually around the room. For example, Uncle Sam’s kitchen is very modern and neat for an old farmhouse with only a man living there with his cat. I guess I’m being a little nitpicky but I think it would have drawn the reader into the story more with a few more details in the background.

The characters are all done well in the anime fashion, but like the Japanese soap operas have happy, sad (neutral) and angry looks to them. Even the beautiful girls get nasty facial features when they are unhappy with Steve. Perhaps later in the story there is a comedic relief and other young male individuals. It’s hard to say how the story develops because the demo is long and drawn out, setting the game up for future outcomes.

The Flower Shop is different from Bionic Heart where the action and drama opens immediately at the beginning. Since there is less action involved in this novel, I tend to focus in on the background more. I’m hoping the later chapters will bring around some vitality with action and comedy. There is a great scene with Steve driving down a dirt road and comes across a jogger. They should have had mud puddles and Steve splashes her with his truck then there would be conflict instead she is angry about his ogling.

The Flower Shop is more a melodrama than a suspense story and should be accepted as such. It appears this game is aimed towards young girls, but I think you should try it even if you do not fall in that category. The music is muted and appropriate, and the anime characters well done. The dialogue sometimes is funny with words like bummer interspersed. I do not remember the last time a college student used that word. With 9 different endings, depending upon your choices, it will bring about surprising stories in this dating and farming sim play in a visual novel.  Will Steve go with his politically aspiring girlfriend Jill, Susana the florist, Clara the opportunist jogger or the voluptuous librarian Marian?

Features of The Flower Shop:
-Visual Novel
-Dating and Farming Sim
-9 Different Endings in Your Control

Rating: ★★★½☆

Bionic Heart Review

Sci Fi, Visual Novel | Posted by Meg
Feb 21 2010

Bionic Heart9
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More than a sci-fi visual novel, Bionic Heart, is an interactive anime inspired movie with you controlling the plot and eventually the ending. The year is 2099 AD and it is raining in London. This is not an unusual scenario for London but now it rains every day in this modernistic, space age city with high rises spiraling towards the dark skies. The entire planet is wrapped in this rain soaked atmosphere. Global warnings so prevalent today were ignored due to greed and fighting so the earth became unstable with violent weather patterns (seen today with the current unbalanced meteorological conditions). The only lights in the city are artificial with solar panels placed around the planet for energy. A dark and murky beginning for an action-packed thriller involving humans and robotics to unmask many mysteries surrounding this story.

The hero or main character is Luke Black, 35, a bio-informatics expert and manager at Nanotech, a large corporate organization in the production of nanotechnology. There are many scenarios in this play from Black’s love life to his Bionic Heart6profession, his friendship with his co-worker and his involvement with a robot called Tanya. There are other characters who make their presence known from time to time in order to tie this suspenseful, futuristic tale of corporate espionage or is it? There are so many unanswered questions overshadowing this narrative that it’ll take hours to unravel and discover all the nuances of each conversation.

There is a holomap you can use to visit different locations in London and uncover information from either humans or robots you Bionic Heartencounter or just get data from different objects in a place. Some conversations will direct you to act a certain way or go to a different site, but a lot of the game depends on your choices.

Bionic Heart gets you involved almost immediately clicking on conversations and choosing different options to take. This play is completely foreign to anything I have played. Emerald City Confidential Mac sim game comes closest to this play. ECC also has great graphics, but is more like a cartoon feature while Bionic Heart is more like a full-length movie. Maybe someone will one day make a movie out of this game since everything is already here in this play. The voices in the scenes are professional and Luke Black’s voice sounds like the popular actor, Patrick Warburton of the recent TV hit show Rules of Engagement and the cartoon movie, The Incredibles. After finishing the intensive demo, you feel like you are left hanging and must complete the game to find all the answers to Luke’s complicated and soon to be troubled life. Will heBionic Heart8 marry his girlfriend, Helen Hughes? Is there anything between his best friend, Tom Sparks, and Helen? Who and what is Tanya and Bionic Heart7who is she hiding from? What is the connection between Richard Meier IV and Nanotech? Why did Tanya seek Luke out? Find all the answers playing Bionic Heart.

This is an adult rated theme with its sexual innuendos and harsh language. The game does give a warning at the beginning of the play. It states it is for kids 14 and up. Maybe it’s just me but I think it is for kids 17 or more years so you need to make your own decisions to allow kids to play this game. The only thing I didn’t like about this play is the constant clicking back and forth from one room to another (going from the bedroom to bathroom to kitchen and back) trying to find answers. Eventually you get to where you need to be and the game proceeds to the next scene.

The great draw to Bionic Heart is the suspense and thriller of this story and the fantastic anime-like artwork with interesting animation of a dark, foreboding future of planet earth done in by global warming gone haywire. Take a look into the future and discover answers to Luke Black’s dilemma.

Features of Bionic Heart:
-24 Different Endings
-High Replay Factor
-Interact with Humans, Robots, Objects and Environments

Rating: ★★★★☆