Starry☆Sky~in the Spring~

Yesterday, I've had the opportunity to experience my first Otome Game; Starry☆Sky~in the Spring~. Since I'm a game n00b and all, installation and patching took ALOT of effort and probably half of my life haha but I managed to pull through.

Well I'm no game expert since I've haven't had much of an opportunity to experience /that/ many games throughout my years but this would be my review :D

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Starry☆Sky~in the Spring~

Gameplay / plot : ☆☆☆
Originality in concept : ☆☆☆☆
Dialogues : ☆☆
Characters : ☆☆☆☆
Art / Background : ☆☆☆☆☆
OST : ☆☆☆

Overall rating: ☆☆☆

Well since this is my first, I'm still not biased about it. As most know, I'm very critical when it comes to Shoujo materials; I tend to repel it if it's overly sappy or cliche. Or rather it depends on how cliche are the materials presented. I'm a firm believer of "Its not where the idea comes from, it's how it's used"

Overall, Starry☆Sky~in the Spring~ offers a tad more originality in the concept department than most Otome or Shoujo themed games (or materials) I've stumbled across so far. I love how the Constellations and Western Horoscopes are used to give the game a theme. I notice most Shoujo materials tend to deviate from the concept and theme once the shoujo scenes start rolling in and Starry☆Sky tends to keep those two well balanced.

In terms of characters, I'll give it slightly above average. There's so much you /can/ do I guess in terms of character building in an Otome Game. But at least the characters didn't reallly leave me saying "Ugh" or out in the cold so that's something. Usually I tend to barf in the sight of shoujo characters haha. I guess same can be said for the dialogues. In terms of originality the dialogues wouldn't be what I'd call original but I guess in terms of presentation, the cliche shoujo lines are executed in a manner that fits the given characters so it doesn't make you feel like rolling around in laughter or barfing yesterday's dinner haha. So props to HoneyBee for that.

Where the Artworks, Backgrounds are concerned, I'd give them a thumbs up. The backgrounds were stunning and character designs by the awesome Kazuaki were extremely drool worthy haha. Nothing for me to complain there. In fact I hope they'll have an artbook out so I can buy it haha. The art for the game is simply GORGEOUS.

Well over all I'll give this game 3/5 rating. It's pretty much sligghtly above average in terms of shoujo material for me. It's not below average either I feel, it just lacks the overall UMPH I usually look for in Shoujo material. After finishing the game, I didn't get that feeling of wanting to revisit certain scenes for it's awesome-ness or anything. I just felt like "Oh.... it's over" but that could be just me haha. Any previous games I've played with an Otome influence were often RPGs and all so the plot was heavier and longer. So probably that influenced my judgement in plot and whatnot.

But overall would I recommend this game? Yes I would. It's an awesome game to just sit back and relief stress from daily life. The easy feeling pacing of the game will help you relax and indulge in the graphics.

I hope to play the other 4 parts soon. Hopefully the different range of men in the other games will give me a broader perspective of the game. (￣▽￣)ノ