Despite what the box and also blurbs could let you know personally, hentaigame isn’t actually a game regarding piloting giant robots. I am talking about, sure, you can struggle massive swarms of all building-sized monsters hell bent on total destruction in an alternate-universe 1980s Japan at some points. However, these seemingly model-kit-ready metallic combat suits are merely a plot device, a cog from this narrative. Actually, hentaigame can be really a character drama: a twisting, turning sci fi epic jump through dimensions and time because it follows the lifestyles of its numerous teen protagonists. Missiles, Gatling guns, along with armor-crushing metallic fistcuffs are simply a side event to the everyday drama of high-schoolers who find themselves unwilling pawns in a larger game together with all the destiny of earth at stake. And you know exactly what? That is good. After the story of hentaigame sinks its hooks into you, then you want only to move together for that ride up before climax.
hentaigame can be a very unique, genre-mixing experimentation. It takes aspects of point and click adventure game titles, visible books , real-time strategy online games, and tower protection matches , mixing them with each other to create an adventure which is really unlike anything else out there. Things get rolling when young Japanese high-schooler Juro Kurabe is called on in order to fight a horde of dinosaurs in 1985, only to get the story to flashback to earlier this season, then again to youthful troopers at 1945 wartime-era Japan, then to 2 school-girls seeing a crisis in year 2025. You instantly fulfill a huge cast of characters round diverse eras, understanding which there is 1 constant: that the existence of Sentinels, massive human-piloted robot firearms who exist to protect the world from otherworldly creatures.
The match is put in to three components: a Remembrance style in which you find the story piece by piece, a Destruction mode wherever you use giant Sentinel mechs to guard the city from intrusion, and also an Evaluation mode which gathers each the advice and narrative scenes you have detected during game play. Remembrance is described within an episodic series where you explore and interact with several environments and characters to advance the plot. Destruction, by comparison, is a overhead-view technique segment in which you make use of the Sentinels to shield a critical Under Ground access point from invading forces.
The story strings of Remembrance constitute the good bulk of the match’s playtime. Every one of the 1 3 principal personalities’ specific experiences occurs at an alternative time and set, however every narrative eventually intertwines, using some significant activities playing through the perspectives of several cast members. Gameplay is fairly simple: You can walk round to speak with additional characters, stand out to watch the surroundings, and analyze particular things in an area. Periodically, keywords will soon be added to your character’s”idea cloud,” which behaves like an item inventory; you can ruminate on the topics using an interior monologue, bring up thought cloud topics to others, or even utilize physiological items. Progress comes about once you hit on the appropriate dialogue or activity.
You simply control a single character at one moment, but you can switch between characters’ stories because you see fit–however you could find yourself locked out of a personality’s path until you have built significant progress in the others’ storylines and also the mech struggles. Even the non linear, non-chronological story telling gift ideas you with many puzzles and puzzles which you have to slice together to have yourself a dilemna of what is in fact going about –and also howto save everything from absolute wreck.
hentaigame does a fantastic job telling an engaging story from several perspectives; not only does what fit together, however, the characters possess distinct, well defined backgrounds and characters to help avoid confusing the crowd. Every one of these 13 characters’ individual experiences is really a treat to unravel as increasingly more crucial functions, revelations, along with amorous entanglements come to gentle.
There is Juro, a nerd who adores obscure sci-fi B-movies and hanging out along with his very best friend after school. He stocks a course using Iori, a significantly clumsy girl who keeps dropping off to sleep during school because frightening fantasies keep her up at nighttime. Meanwhile, resident UFO and conspiracy nut Natsuno might have just uncovered the secret of a time-travelling alien civilization from girls’ lockerroom. She simply satisfied Keitaro, some man who seems to have already been lively right here from Deadly Japan, and also that might have something for her. Shu can be really a spoiled kid having anything for the school’s resident tough woman, Yuki, who is too busy exploring puzzles around faculty to watch over his advances. However, why is Ryoko bandaged up, always monitored, and steadily dropping her sanity? And why is Megumi listening to an talking cat ordering her to attack her classmates?
That is only a sampling of the many character mini-dramas you see throughout the game, whilst the lives of the kiddies become flipped upside down and also a massive, reality-changing puzzle unfolds. Fundamentally, however, the narrative works because the patient personality play is therefore done well, together with each character’s story enjoying a crucial role within the larger, Icelandic comedic storyline.
Additionally, it ensures that the narrative sequences in hentaigame are amazing to look at. Developer Vanillaware is popularly known for its brilliant, colorful 2D art in matches such as Odin Sphere along with drag on’s Crown. Even though hentaigame takes place primarily at an increasingly”real world” environment than those fantasy-based matches, the attractiveness of Vanillaware’s 2 d art remains on whole show. The environments are filled up with tiny details that truly make them come alive, even from your reveling drunken bench-squatters by the railway station entrance for the crumbling, vibration bases of destroyed buildings in the futures barely standing among the husks of deceased invaders. Character animation is likewise great, with many personalities featuring fun little body and facial movements quirks which bring out parts of the characters.
Maybe the largest problem with all the story segments, nevertheless, is they are especially more enjoyable compared to real-life plan portion, where in fact the gigantic Sentinels are supposed to truly sparkle. The Destruction part of the game is just a combination of quasi-RTS along with Tower Defense mechanics: You command upto six different Sentinel components at a usually-timed struggle to protect a defensive node from a protracted enemy onslaught. Every unit features a technical part (for example, melee, flying, support, etc.. ) and defensive and offensive skills, that is independently updated to your liking via”meta-chips” gained battle and by completing story episodes. In the event that you wipe out all the enemies or manage to support the fort to get a specific amount of time, you triumph.
These battles have their own moments. It is immensely pleasing to find a plan and also watch it perform –or even to opt to really go HAM together with your best weapon and also watch a couple dozen enemy drones explode at the same time in a flurry of fireworks (which can be enough to make a standard PS-4 version slow down). Finally, but the overall game stops introducing fresh and intriguing dangers, which makes these plan bits experience less exciting as you progress. The gorgeous 2D visuals and cartoon will be additionally replaced with a bland, blocky 3D map which isn’t anywhere close as pleasant to look at for long stretches of time. While there is a very good quantity of inter-character bantering and key narrative revelations ahead and then these combat sequences, you can not help but really feel as though they can often be a roadblock to appreciating with the more interesting story regions of the game–especially since clearing certain enemy waves in Destruction is vital to start portions of the story in Remembrance.
But ultimately, the main problem with hentaigame is a chunk of the match is only great whilst the bulk of this is out standing. The stories of these children and their giant robots absolutely absorbed me during my playtime, and now today, I am ruminating in excess of selected plot things, activities, and relationships, wondering when I should return through the archives to see what I’ve missed. Idon’t think I will neglect my own time in the hentaigame universe, and that I doubt you will, possibly.