Despite just what the box and blurbs might let you know , hentaigame is not actually a game on piloting big robots. I am talking about, surethat you do fight massive swarms of all building-sized monsters hellbent on complete devastation in a alternate-universe 1980s Japan at several point. But these seemingly model-kit-ready metal combat matches are just a plot device, a cog in the narrative. Actually, hentaigame is really a personality play: a twisting, turning scifi epic jump through time and dimensions as it follows the lifestyles of its numerous adolescent protagonists. Missiles, Gatling guns, along with armor-crushing metal fistcuffs are simply just a negative event for the regular drama of high-schoolers who end up unwilling pawns in a bigger game with all the fate of earth at stake. And you also know what? That’s fantastic. The moment the storyline of hentaigame sinks its hooks into you, then you need nothing more than to go together for the ride up before very climax.
hentaigame can be a specific, genre-mixing experiment. It includes components of point and click adventure games, visible books and real time strategy game titles, and tower protection matches and mixing them together to make an experience which is quite unlike anything else around there. Matters get rolling when young Japanese high-schooler Juro Kurabe is called on in order to battle a horde of alien invaders in 1985, only for its narrative to flash back earlier that year, then again to young soldiers at 1945 wartime-era Japan, afterward to 2 school-girls watching a crisis at year 20-25. You instantly fulfill a huge throw of characters round diverse eras, mastering that there is one continuous: that the existence of Sentinels, gigantic human-piloted robot firearms who exist to protect the planet from other-worldly creatures.
The match has been split up in to three different components: a Remembrance mode in which you find the narrative bit by bit, a Destruction style in which you use giant Sentinel mechs to guard the town from invasion, and an Analysis style that collects all the advice and narrative scenes that you have detected through gameplay. Remembrance is described as an episodic series in which you research and interact with various environments and characters to progress the storyline. Destruction, by comparison, is a overhead-view technique segment in which you use the Sentinels to defend a critical under-ground access point from invading forces.
The storyline sequences of Remembrance constitute the very good majority of this match’s playtime. Every one of the 13 main characters’ person experiences does occur at another time and place, however every story finally intertwines, with some important functions playing through the perspectives of several members. Gameplay is fairly basic: You can walk around to speak with additional personalities, stand out to observe that the surroundings, and also look at particular items in a location. Periodically, keywords will likely be added to your character’s”thought cloud,” which acts to be something stock; you could ruminate to the topics via an interior monologue, bring thought cloud topics into the others, or utilize physical products. Progress comes about whenever you reach the most suitable dialog or actions.
You merely control a single character at one moment, nevertheless, you can swap between characters’ tales because you see fit–though you may possibly end up locked from a character’s path until you have made significant advancements in the others’ story-lines and the mech conflicts. The non-linear, non-chronological story-telling gift suggestions you with many questions and puzzles that you have to slice together to find yourself a bigger picture of what is obviously going on–and how to save every thing from absolute wreck.
hentaigame does a excellent job telling an engaging story from several viewpoints; not only does what fit together, but also the personalities have distinct, well-defined backgrounds and personalities to help prevent confusing your crowd. Each of these 13 characters’ specific experiences is a cure to tease as increasingly more crucial activities, revelations, and amorous entanglements come to light.
There’s Juroa nerd who really loves obscure sci-fi b movies and hanging out together with his best friend after school. He stocks a class using Iori, a significantly clumsy girl who keeps dropping off to sleep during faculty because frightening fantasies keep her up in the night. Meanwhile, the resident UFO and conspiracy nut Natsuno may have just found the trick of the time-travelling mysterious culture in girls’ locker room. She only achieved Keitaro, some man who generally seems to have now been spirited here from wartime Japan, and also who also might have a thing for her. Shu can be a kid having anything for your own school’s resident rough lady, Yuki, who is too busy exploring puzzles around faculty to care for his progress. However, is Ryoko bandaged up, constantly tracked, and slowly dropping her sanity? And is Megumi listening to an talking cat buying her to attack her classmates?
That is merely a sampling of many personality mini-dramas you see throughout the game, as the lives of those children get turned upside down and also a gigantic, reality-changing mystery unfolds. Fundamentally, but the storyline works as the individual character play is therefore done well, with each personality’s story playing a vital role in the larger, cosmopolitan sci-fi plot.
In addition, it helps that the narrative sequences in hentaigame are amazing to have a look at. Developer Vanillaware is popularly famous for its brilliant, colorful 2D art in matches like Odin Sphere and drag on’s Crown. While hentaigame happens place chiefly in a more”real world” setting compared to these fantasy-based games, the beauty of Vanillaware’s 2-d artwork is still on full screen. The environment will be filled up with very little details that truly make them come alive, by your reveling drunken bench-squatters from the railway channel entrance towards the crumbling, shaking foundations of ruined buildings in the apocalyptic futures barely standing among the husks of dead invaders. Character animation is likewise excellent, with lots of personalities including fun little body and facial movement quirks which bring out parts of their personalities.
Most likely the greatest issue with the story segments, however, is they are especially more enjoyable than the real-time strategy section, where in fact the colossal Sentinels are assumed to truly glow. The Destruction portion of the match is really a combination of quasi-RTS and tower-defense mechanisms: You command up to six human Sentinel units at a usually-timed struggle to guard a defensive node out of a protracted enemy onslaught. Each unit features a technical role (such as melee, flying, support, etc.. ) and defensive and offensive abilities, which is independently updated to your liking through”meta-chips” gained in battle and out of finishing narrative episodes. In the event that you wipe out each one the enemies or manage to keep the fort for a specific amount of time, then you triumph.
These battles have their seconds. It’s exceptionally pleasing to find out a plan and see it play out–or even to opt to go HAM along with your very best weapon and watch a few dozen enemy drones explode concurrently in a flurry of fireworks (which can be enough to earn a standard PS4 version slow-down ). Eventually, however, the overall game stops introducing fresh and intriguing dangers, which makes these strategy bits really feel less stimulating as you progress. The magnificent 2D visuals and cartoon are also substituted with a bland, blocky 3D map which is not anywhere close as pleasant to look in for long stretches of time. While there’s a sufficient quantity of inter-character bantering and key narrative revelations ahead and after those combat strings, you can not help but really feel like they may often be considered a road block to enjoying with the interesting storyline parts of the match –notably since clearing certain enemy waves at Destruction is imperative to start portions of the story in Remembrance.
But the largest problem with hentaigame is a bit of this match is merely good whilst the bulk of it appears out standing. The tales of those kids as well as their giant robots definitely absorbed me within my playtime, and even now, I am ruminating around certain plot things, functions, and connections, wanting to know if I should return through the archives to see what I’ve missed. Idon’t believe I will overlook my time at the hentaigame world, and that I doubt one will, possibly.