A blog for reviews… that's really not much of a blog

Posts tagged ‘murder’

How will you Act when you Realize the Truth? Review of [161222] Shinsou Noise

Foreword: Without a doubt I’ve been slowing down. While there’s definitely my fault in this delay of finishing and writing reviews, I also want to place at least a portion of the blame on generic titles which I was simply not interested in or annoyed me to the point I put it off. Instead, I found myself going to doujin titles, games (admittedly, I played roughly 10-15 doujin titles between the last review and this one), and MMOs instead of galge, which is like one certain friend who went down this path (although for other platforms) much earlier than I.

For that reason, the bottom portion of this review (or where I place my “dropped games” explaining my reasoning) may be quite long. I still haven’t really figured out what I wanted to do with all these dropped titles because they’re now becoming rather increasing in number compared to actual review posts (wow much quality)

Let’s get to the review of the most recent game I played which left quite a bit of impression on me, I would first off say that as with a previous game I played, Senmomo, this game was actually rather fun. As that mystery game where you are required to use clues and various other hints to solve a crime or make various conclusions. It was almost like a puzzle game, which I really appreciated.

Obviously, however, this title wasn’t exactly the best ones out there, so I’ll be talking about the things that I found to be not-so-praiseworthy, which mind you, will take up quite a while. Let’s get started!

Please do note that this review may contain mild spoilers for this game! 

Title: シンソウノイズ (Shinsou Noise) [True Emotion Noise]
Producers: Azurite
Release Date: December 22, 2016
VNDB Link: https://vndb.org/v19684
Getchu Link: http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=916833
Game Type: Mystery/Suspense Novel with themes of Social and Human Psychology

Summary: Since he was born, Kazuma had a strange ability to hear the “inner thoughts” of people around him. These inner thoughts would never lie and always tell the truth, and would sometimes overwhelm the poor boy.

After being abandoned by his parents and raised by his grandmother who also had this ability, Kazuma learned to live his daily life by shutting himself apart from all his peers and refusing to associate with anyone. Despite how he was able to see the “truth”, it’s this very truth which pushed the poor boy into depression and despair as he saw the evils and trickery that humans were capable of.

It was around this time he meets Yukimoto Sakura, a mysterious girl who would often go to the rooftop of the school and simply stare at the sky. When looking at her inner thoughts coincidentally, Kazuma saw violent and gorey images of her death which at first made him almost want to regurgitate his lunch. However, this event also lead him to wanting to know more about this girl, as he stops her from committing suicide one day.

It won’t be long however, that on another certain day, Kazuma would hear a loud thud, and witness the death of the same person who was his first love, and the inner thoughts of someone who whispers:

“I Killed Her”

Scary!

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Meaning of Life and Death: Review of NOeSIS Series

Foreword: WOW. just WOW.

Holy smokes this game was awesome. Yes, this isn’t the typical “charage” you might be looking for, but this game is literally where I hit the jackpot as I search for a game “with a meaning”.
Dark themes encompass this title, but there is definitely some high-quality humor within the entire title; it’s even better than many of the commercial games out there (like the ones I’ve been playing recently), so this entitles this game to have a far higher score than other games.

Fair warning, however, that this game’s theme IS horror and suspense. Completely unfit for the weak of heart, I would rate this game 17+ despite not containing any form of sexual content because of its traumatic elements and psychological factors. In addition to this, that age range is probably necessary to even understand the storyline anyways…

According to Wikipedia, “Noesis” means “perception of the mind” in Greek. How fitting for this game!

Titles:
First Title– NOeSIS~嘘を吐いた記憶の物語~ (Usowo tsuita kioku no monogatari) [Lit. Trans: The story of lie-filled memories)
Second Title– NOeSIS02 ~羽化~ (Uka, translated into “Emergence”)
(Planned Release: Fall 2013) Third Title– NOeSIS03 -歌う影の戯曲- (Utau kage no gikyoku) [Lit. Trans: Requiem of the Singing Shadow]
Producers: cutlass
Release Date: October 30, 2011
VNDB Link: http://vndb.org/v11029 / http://vndb.org/v11858
Getchu Link: N/A
Game Type: Suspense Mystery Novel with dark themes of psychology and philosophy

NOeSIS Summary: Shigure is a student at an academy where a person commits suicide once a week. This rumor spreads so much that everyone just… accepts it for how it is.
However, he meets someone who doesn’t think it’s just a suicide; she has enough evidence to believe that this is murder, and is determined to find out the end of it.

With this student council president who can read people’s hearts just by looking at their eyes…
With a childhood friend whose family problems may be more serious than a normal person’s…
With an extremely intelligent younger sister who seems to be hiding something…

Shigure will delve into this mystery to its roots, and stop this chain of suicide in any way possible.
Why…?



He doesn’t even know himself…

NOeSIS02 Summary: Shigure suddenly wakes up to find his annoying classmate Nayuta poking him in the back and trying to get closer to him as always. This damn girl has been annoying me fo… … …

…?


Who is this…? Why do I have memories of her?

Damnit! Who’s been playing with my memory?!
Shigure shouts this as he runs to the student council office to find the person who can explain this madness.

But he will soon realize that he’s not the mad one, it’s someone else… and she might be closer to him than he thinks…



But is she, really, crazy?

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Mini Review: Leviathan the Last Day of the Decade

Foreword: Invited by Mark R., I didn’t get to this game until very recently, so I’m not sure if I can give a good review or not…

Nonetheless, I actually had some hope for this game, because most indie creators are pretty good at making games, in one way or another.
Turns out, this wasn’t the most thrilling game, both in its graphics or content. I’m very disappointed that besides some animations, this was your average kusoge (trashy game), which (sorry, Lostwood Games) is not worth the money.

Unless the game has some huge element that connects everything and performs a good resolution in a single last episode (or they can choose to extend it… either way, I don’t have good impressions on this game), this game will not interest me, and I’ll make sure it doesn’t fool anyone to fork over unnecessary cash just because it’s in English.

Title: Leviathan -the Last Day of the Decade-
Producers: Lostwood Games
Release Date: August 10, 2013
VNDB Link: http://vndb.org/v13124
Getchu Link: N/A
Game Type: Interactive Adventure Game with cyberpunk theme

Summary: Oliver is the only son of a relatively wealthy family. Because of this, he is sent to school like other kids, and has a “relatively” normal life…

That is, until his mom started to act strange and he starts to be bullied just because he hangs out with the school bully victim, Kael.

One day, Kael invites Oliver to perform a demon summoning magic, and provides him with the necessary materials. Oliver successfully casts the magic, but the demon starts attacking him instead!!
Finally calming the demon with soothing words, Oliver will now have the demon serving him as a master. However, this awesomeness doesn’t last for long; the demon informs that Oliver’s mother is lying to him about something… and Oliver sticks his neck into the problem too deeply.

Although he’s released with a scold from his mother, he will definitely regret it–His mother is killed the very same night by an intruder.

Years pass by, and Oliver is now a healthy teenager. Although he cannot prove it, he knows who his murderer is; the very foster father that adopted him after his mother’s murder. However, he can’t do anything against one of the most powerful man in the area, and spends every day trying to find evidence that his guardian is a sham; he is evil at heart.

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