J-Mate

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Reviewed by Craxton Publisher: Peach Princess Japanese Publisher: Crowd Available at: J-List Cost: $39.95 Graphics: Very Good. Music/Sound: Adequeate, with appealing opening and ending themes. NPCs: Excellent Writing: Very Good Plot: Very Good Interface: Good Sex: Very Good. Kinkyness: Much straight sex, some oral, occasional anal sex or light bondage. Threesomes (F/m/F and F/f/F), and rape scenes (with appropriate negative consequences)

So here's the deal: You're Takayuki Yamano, and your family runs a traditional Japanese inn in the mountainous countryside. The inn has been in your family for generations, and it's expected you'll continue the legacy. So, after college, your parents buy a larger inn and move there, while you stay behind to take care of the old inn. Training, you see, for the day when you will inherit the entirity of the business. And so it goes, day to day. Assisted by chef Makoto, maid Ayumi, and longtime family friend Ume-san, you maintain the inn as travellers from all walks of life come and go. This is the story of one week in your life. A week like any other- travellers will come, enjoy themselves, and leave, perhaps too soon. Same as any other week... but with one important difference. For when someone comes to the inn, the story of their life intertwines, for the briefest of moments, with your own. And by this week's end, you will have intertwined someone's life story with your own inextricably, and fallen in love.

If, of course, you, the player, know what you're doing.

Since this is more or less a ren'ai (romance-sim) game, let's meet the cast of costars:
First, the aforementioned chef, Makoto. Your standard ren'ai tomboy: known the protagonist since childhood, picks on him constantly but really has a soft spot for him, and you don't want to pick a fight with her. Especially if she has a knife handy.

Second, Ayumi, the archetypal "shy, submissive maid." Cowers when yelled at, can't make requests of her superiors without blushing, does her work faithfully, and seems to be a magnet for lecherous assholes.

Third, forth, and fifth, the so-called "Schoolgirl Trio". Nanami, energetic and big-hearted young woman who nonethless seems to fade into the background when the others are around. Natsuki, bitchy lady who yells and screams about everything. And Yumi, childish girl who dresses and acts like she's in second grade, avoiding fights, charming Takayuki without even trying, and paradoxically being the most mature of the three.

Sixth, Mai, a somewhat shy but expressive and emotive artist who's painting a picture of the mountains in summer, and takes a friendly liking to Takayuki.

Seventh, Kyoka, frigid and introverted beauty who drinks heavily and seems to hate you for no reason.

Eighth, Yuki, aspiring swimsuit model who is solicitous from the get-go, and just as energetic as Nanami, in her own way.

Nineth, Misato and Keiko, two "debutantes" on vacation. Misato is a buxom beauty with a constant holier-then-thou air about her, Keiko is an equally buxom but more down-to-earth beauty. The two are never apart, which sets Takayuki to wondering.

Oh, there's also Ume-san, but he's a man, and thus doesn't count (or, apparently, deserve a voice).

In terms of presentation (graphics, sound, and so on) TCI... hmmm... well, let's say it stays the course. It's not especially good, but it's not bad by any means, and it serves the story well. Voice acting is a minor high point, fitting well with the respective characters protrayed, but Ayumi's voice is lacking, often coming off as too husky or sensual for a maid. And though the art is good, the artist's don't seem to think so... the CG gallery includes only the hardcore pictures, not the subtler ones such as the boat ride with Kyoka and Mai's joyous, smiling close-up.

What makes Tokimeki Check-In stand out is that it's a very well-written game. Befitting a romantic comedy, the text trips back and forth between the humorous and the romantic, never seeming incongruous or silly, and never letting it's sex scenes dominate the finer points of the story. The humor is not great, but it gets some chuckles. Takayuki's endless clashings with Makoto, his reparte with people he doesn't really like (you MUST lose a hand of blackjack against Natsuki at least once, that is priceless!) and his bizzare non-sequitar moments (my favorites: searching for mushrooms, and the line "There are no rules here! And if there were... they'd be MINE!") provide some worthy laughs. And the sex... ah, yes, the sex. Simultaneously, the assorted scenes are fairly standard and extremely varied. The writers dig deep into the thesaurus, finding distinct phrases and unique turns of tone and style for each of them. It's not exactly "art", but it serves to keep the game from being about counts and percentages, which is good.

Also commendable (well, perhaps not, but after my experiences with X-Change I'm inclined to bring it up) is the game's consistent attitude towards rape. While other games force a particular viewpoint on your character, or place him in situations that make him an unsympathetic character, here you're offered a choice. And the wrong choice ruins your chances with the victim, and sometimes your chances with others as well. Moreover, the crime is treated seriously, and actions have consequences. No one shrugs of a violation of themselves in this game.

Most importantly, this game has character. You get to know the women, to learn their secret torments and desires, to see what odd faces lurk behind the faces they show the world. The lavicious, teasing Yuki (who looks for all the world like Rei Ayanami with blonde hair), proves to be anything but what you'd expect once you get to know her better. Ditto the outwardly icy Kyoka, and the murderously headstrong Natsuki. Noone is quite what they seem, and each of these jewels has hidden facets to discover, and learn to love. Of course you have sex, sure. But it's orchestrated to seem more like a benefit of larger successes then the central goal. This is my favorite kind of erotic story- one not about pure sex, but about sex in the service of human emotion. I've said it before, and I'll say it again- aiming for the heart almost always produces more intense and lasting effects then aiming for the groin.

So with all this H-gaming goodness, it's something of a surprise that things eventually grind to a halt. As I mentioned above, Check-In somehow died on me after covering about half the game, and to tell you the truth, I'm not really sure why. I don't think it was a decline in overall quality- the plotlines I women I went after in this half proved to be more or less as rewarding as the previous, but something just wasn't clicking. It felt tedious, dull, even boring on occassion. It occurs to me that I was using the "skip ahead" feature a lot during the second half and the later part of the first, and that could perhaps be it. Partially on account of being a very story-centric game, Check-In can be rather unforgiving as a puzzle. Not so much as Snow Drop, which took the cake for draconian plot-advancing, but there is no room to hedge your bets- if you don't decide on and pursue one woman from the time she shows up to the end, you won't get her. Meaning once you've finished, you have to replay the entire game to get someone else. This isn't so bad by itself, but the scenes are written in a very verbose manner, and the plot constantly branches, converges, and rebranches, meaning some key scenes-notably the dinner scenes, are seen repeatedly, and will become very tiresome very quickly.

It occurs to me also that it might partially be me... You see, though the characters in Check-In are well developed, I hadn't been especially attracted to any of them at the start. There were a few that I was somewhat interested in, and I played for them. In the process, I found more and more to like about them as the game went on, and the ultimate experience was very satisfying. But this didn't work so well with the women I had no interest in, and it might have been unfair for me to expect TCI to exceed my expectations once again. That said, this feature is a good thing- it simulates what actually happens as you fall in love with someone.

But in the final analysis, It doesn't matter all that much. Although multiple playthroughs turned drab, my early games of Tokimeki Check-In were sweet and sensual, with convincing plotlines and compelling characters. So while I can't really call it one of the best games I've ever played, I can confidently declare it one of the better games on the market, and give it my heartfelt recommendation.

Conclusion: Well-written, graphically solid story-centric game which bogs down a little after a few replays.

Lord Craxton gives this game 4 out of 5 stars

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you