Recent reviews by ∀meliarate

Cute girls and board games, what's not to love?

Disclaimer: As of this review I have completed seven of the ten available characters, and reached stage 2 of 3 on the next two characters.

Waifu School is a match-three game where traditional match-three mechanics don't apply at all. The game utilizes an extremely punishing timer system that forces the player to rapidly play with little thought towards setting up future matches or making obstacles easier to overcome.

The game suffers a lot of issues which turn it into nothing more than an irritating slog where the reward is low-grade hentai which I believe was made using 3D Custom Girl. The most egregious issue with the gameplay is that the player is punished for thinking common match-three tropes work; cascades do not stop the timer counting down, but while they're happening the player cannot continue switching tiles. This means that cascades overall net you less points than general three-tile matches do. Similarly, cascades don't trigger 4 or 5-tile matches; too many times I've seen four of the same colour fall in a column, only for three of them to match and the fourth stick there awkwardly.

There's no real continuity between functions, either. Some tiles seem to add more to the timer than others, but they're never the same tiles. It occurs completely at random, which is a... unique... choice.

Some levels have additional obstacles designed to prevent progress. If you've played stuff like Candy Crush or any of the thousands of Facebook/flash game site clones of it, you'll know what I'm talking about. Frozen tiles that can't be switched, tiles you can only get rid of by getting them to the bottom of the screen, etc. As if it weren't enough to force players into a rapidfire clickfest where speed is rewarded but strategy isn't, the developers apparently decided to throw some strategy in there to trip you up. And as I said before, you can't really set up to destroy them because there isn't enough time to consider your options.

Speaking of functions, the game has a cute feature where it will randomly soft-lock, preventing the player from moving any tiles. So if you're on a good run and this hits you? Nothing to do but hit the reset button and start from the beginning. And speaking of the reset button... it doesn't always work. Sometimes it brings up a confirmation menu, sometimes it just resets with no warning, and sometimes it doesn't do a damn thing. Oh yeah, occasionally you can make a match and it won't count at all; it'll stay as a set of three tiles on the board and you can't do anything with it. Again, reset button time.

As far as the... "story" goes, there really isn't much of one. You're a new transfer student who is a legend for having sex with tons of schoolgirls, I guess? I'm not sure, the language barrier is one hell of a struggle. It's obvious that the developers aren't native English speakers, but there are some aspects that are extremely terrible and really shouldn't happen. Even such simple errors as names not being capitalized, 'I's not being capitalized... the most egregious, however, is the fact that multiple times the letter 'U' is substituted for the word 'you'. If you're going to shoehorn a story into a game that doesn't need it, at least take some pride in it.

In closing, if anybody is looking at buying this, my advice is: don't. Spend a couple of extra bucks and get HuniePop instead. If you're just looking for some cheap and dirty fap material... still don't buy this. There's plenty of sites that let you see better art for nothing, and you don't have to besmirch your Steam profile with this... thing.

After the first release flopped, the devs tried again. It too flopped, and they since filed for bankruptcy. The fact this is still allowed to be sold on the store is pretty awful.

8% chance of being the serial killer. Got to be serial killer 4 games in a row. Love it.

I want to preface this by saying that Highway Blossoms is not a visual novel, not in the sense most people would expect. It does not feature branching paths or story-bending choices; there is one route only, and you will not waver from its path. In this sense, it is more of a kinetic novel than a visual novel.

That is not at all to say that the game doesn't deserve to be played. It's a cute tale of love in the strangest of places, of heartbreak, and of a deep sadness. I found myself experiencing many of Amber's emotions as she did; the art and the writing combined to create a beautiful tale. I was profoundly sad when it ended, not because the ending didn't satisfy me, but rather that I wanted more. I felt an emptiness inside me because it was over and done with, and I'm really hoping AlienWorks writes a sequel. If not I may have to dust off the old fanfiction hat and give it a try myself.

My only real complaint is that the game could do with proofreading; there are a few instances of sentences structured incorrectly, or words repeated where they shouldn't be.

All in all, if you're looking for a fun tale and have a little money to spare, take a chance on Highway Blossoms. If you're looking for a well-paced yuri romance, take a chance on Highway Blossoms. If you're looking for a game where your choices matter, though, look elsewhere.

Date Warp is an entertaining mystery/romance visual novel by Hanako Games, whose other works include Magical Diary and Long Live The Queen. The player takes on the role of Janet Bhaskar, a chemistry student at Brooke College, Memphis. Having been set up on a blind date with a football jock, their night together begins the greatest, or worst, adventure Janet would ever have. What happens? You'll have to find out yourself.

The art style is crisp and cute, though you can see differences between it and Hanako Games' later titles. The music selection is mood-fitting, and the story is well-written. A novel feature is that, instead of merely selecting dialogue choices, you play a minigame which is similar to a maze of wires, which you need to connect in order to 'power up' the dialogue options. It doesn't entirely feel fitting, but it's certainly a neat distraction.

All in all, it's a game that will keep you guessing. With 12 endings to shoot for, there's more reason to replay and see how different choices will impact the story.

An enjoyable tactical shooter. Crisp graphics and responsive gameplay, combined with a reliance on working as a team. It's a strategist's dream, and can also result in many funny/sad situations. One example would be tossing a grenade to kill a large alien beastie... killing two of your squad in the process. Oops.

It has a couple of bugs, but nothing that will adversely affect your gameplay experience.

If you like co-op, big guns, and blowing up the alien menace, buy now.

It's quite good, if you're into choose-your-own adventures. I'd have liked more choice over things like your powers and whatnot, but for the price I certainly can't complain.

One of my favourite racing games. It doesn't get much better than this.

Amazing game. Its simplicity makes it simple to pick up and play whenever, but the difficulty from certain tracks makes it one of those "minutes to learn, lifetime to master" titles. My only qualm is that foreign characters display solely as ??????, making finding the correct songs is sometimes hard.