Now it’s time for the first official review of this blog! I’m somewhat hesitant to call this post a review, since I’m still new to reviewing things, and this post will most likely contain way too much subjective opinion for the review to be objective. But as I’ve stated in the About page, my reviews contain entirely my personal opinion.
By the way, since Algester over here already did a review, I’ll only briefly go over the general information before going into what I think about it. Also, this is the first game I completed entirely in Japanese without the help of some translator program, like AGTH, so I might and probably did miss some details regarding the plot. Anyway, let’s get started!
Company: Lump of Sugar
Game Site: PrismRhythm – プリズムリズム
Release Date: May 28, 2010
Links: Getchu, walkthrough, seiyuu listing
A “tree and water” healing game by Lump of Sugar, PrismRhythm is a pure love ADV that takes place in an exotic land with 7 islands with Spring Snow, the tree that purifies the land, at the middle. Tokitou Kazuki, the protagonist, sneaks off into the sacred forest where Spring Snow is in search of fairies his grandfather was talking about. There, he meets the main heroine Caroline Marigold and talks with her for a bit. Then he sees her awe-inspiring dance, and is inspired to enroll into a prestigious school where the story begins.
Opening Theme
A catchy song by Sakura Saori of ave;new. It fits the theme of the game nicely, and I like it.
Scenario
Kazuki is absolutely fascinated by the fairies his grandfather talked to him about. Hence he decides to enroll into the Beltina school to get closer to Spring Snow, which is where the fairies were said to be found. The Prologue is all about how he got into the school and also introduces the various characters and lets you see glimpses of each of their particular traits, such as Lia’s overflowing energy and Gin’s ability to eat large amounts of food.
Then comes the common route. It consists of the slice-of-life story this genre is known for while setting up each heroine’s story. You get to know how life inside the Beltina school is like with bits of humor thrown in here and there. Not that I like to complain but, this part of the story bored me to sleep, literally once, as I feel asleep right in front of my computer. Maybe it’s because I’m tired after hours of playing, but I like to think it’s because how uninteresting the common route seems to me. The story drags on and on in a never-ending sort of way without getting into any significant plot points,and the jokes just aren’t that funny. But take solace in knowing that you only have to go through the common route once, as there are very few choices, and even less that matters all conveniently located at the end of the common route. Moreover, the trap never ceases to amuse me.
After the common route comes the heroine specific routes. Excluding the extra route which I consider the true route, it is a shame only 1 route, Elsterrier’s, has anything to do with the main faery theme. The other 3 routes focuses purely on the relationship aspect, with little sprinkles of drama.
I felt Lia’s route is the most well done route, and it’s not only because I love her character the most. Although it has little ties to faeries, the route itself was thoroughly entertaining.The route has the right amount of drama as Kazuki helps Lia find her way, and it is hilarious how they to plan to tell each other of their feelings with Lia botching her own plans multiple times but succeeded nevertheless. Lia has the perfect balance of brash and embarrassing sides; she says the most embarrassing phrases with a straight face then blushes the next moment when somebody else points it out.
The other routes in comparison, however, were not so well done. The drama in Els’ route feels slightly forced, perhaps because I don’t fully understand what her conflict was in the first place. Kasumi’s route disappointed me because it did not touch upon the fact they’re blood related, at all. Also, onee-sans aren’t really my type; I much prefer imoutos. Gin’s route feels somewhat lacking in substance. All I see is their raburabu lives together, not that I have any problems with that.
Finally comes the true route, or “extra”, as the game calls it. It is a short route showing pieces of each heroine’s feelings toward the protagonist. But mainly it is the route about Caroline who I consider the main heroine of this game. The truth is revealed and everybody lives happily every after. I feel there is a lack of impact, but again, maybe that is because I don’t get what they’re talking about half the time.
My route rankings:
Lia, Elsterrier, Caroline, Gin, Kasumi.
Graphics
Generally, the CGs in the game are pretty. While I am in no way an expert in the graphics department, I feel the liberal use of colors contributes to the overall cheerful mood of the game. The backgrounds are well done as well with ample variety and colors. The only downside seems to be the body proportions for Kasumi’s CGs. Too bad the ones that demonstrates the point are all H scenes.
System
Not much to say about the standard system.Straight forward title screen with a continue button for quick loading. Easy choices, plenty of save slots, and the backlog are all there. Things to note are a sprite viewer with a number of options. But other than that, the system is nothing special.
Music
Fairly standard selection of music. In spite of that, it conveys the game’s fantasy theme nicely and I would say it is one of the game’s better aspects. There are also 5 separate EDs, one for each route, sung by their respective CVs. They are of different quality, but I guess you can’t blame them for employing the CVs instead of professional singers. The OP, in my opinion, is one of the better ones I’ve heard recently and you can also replay the OP movie in the music viewer.
Overall
A fantasy slice-of-life story designed to give you diabetes in the sweetest way possible with adorable characters but a little lite in the story department, I would recommend this game for people seeking a casual stroll in eroges. This is at best an average eroge, nothing more.
Story: 4/10
Character: 8/10
Graphics: 6/10
Music: 5/10
Overall: 65/100 (not a total)
Next up on my list is Amamiso by Clochette. I’ll most likely do some kind of write-up on that game sometime in the following week. Now thats one less game on my list!
