A remake, but localized for the US:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooktown_High
[ 06-01-2007, 01:02 PM: Message edited by: bokmeow ]
You know what? Straight from a source who knows people:
This whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
The goods and the bads are many for either path.
I have a question though: Where does the Tokimeki Memorial remake thing come from? My friend looked blanked at the comment and said it was commissioned through Backbone Entertainment - not an in-house Konami dev team.
Also I might add: Konami would have sold the game better if they directly said it was a remake of Tokimeki Memorial (as a marketing plot) - however they don’t. Seems they want to keep it distinctly away from the namebrand.
[ 06-01-2007, 01:51 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]
Konami obviously wants it to fail, since it’s released for the PSP instead of the DS. Fools.
Well the character designs to the game are utter shit.
Artists on 4chan pointed out, that it totally lacks the anime feel.
The image on the top, is how three girls from the game look. The image on the bottom, is how the three girls SHOULD have looked (it’s a Photoshop edit by the 4chan people):
Clearly Konami picked the wrong group to commission.
Took me awhile to find the official site for the game. For a moment, I thought Konami didn’t even bother to advertise it. Surprise, surprise… it’s on Myspace… yea… that Myspace. 
[ 06-01-2007, 02:54 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]
I have to wonder if this really is a remake. It looks far too different… More like an Americanisation of the game with style removed.
Where’s the option for none?
Edit: On another note: Our sister-site reviewed this game - http://psp.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=4281
I think the score is too high; even though I havn’t played it. I think Sprung looks a lot more appealing than this; though I never bought nor had any interest in playing that game either.
[ 06-02-2007, 02:14 AM: Message edited by: Mockingbird ]
…
Oh… I do not know about it. =/
I think that I may get it later. When I will find a job, I will get Sony PSP.
Not me…i found those backdrops more visually appealing than the characters…and they are pretty sad.
[ 06-02-2007, 02:55 AM: Message edited by: Jinnai ]
man, those chars are uglee.
Also, psp? Pfft.
(Don’t have one, so I don’t have to decide whether or not to get such a game. I’ve got a DS of course!)
[quote]
Originally posted by Nargrakhan:
[b] Well the character designs to the game are utter shit.
Artists on 4chan pointed out, that it totally lacks the anime feel.
The image on the top, is how three girls from the game look. The image on the bottom, is how the three girls SHOULD have looked (it’s a Photoshop edit by the 4chan people):
Was this remake also released in Japan? From reading the review earlier today that Mockingbird linked, I’m almost positive that this is a US-only remake of the game in ‘American style’.
Holy cow the game looks ruined! And the PSP? They must be purposely trying to fail.
It’s not a remake, it’s an entirely different game.
And I’ve seen people post about this on Japanese boards, and they’re laughing it up. Hard.
No idea why they actually think that ugly garbage like this would sell better than actual Tokimemo… geh.
(insert line about Americans having no taste)
I mentioned earlier that this game was commissioned through Backbone Entertainment and that it’s not an in-house Konami game.
I’m actually playing this game, coding HTML for a site design, and remote fixing network errors at my work office.
Multitasking… that or I’m insane.
On to the game. First fifteen minutes of play.
#1: It has voice acting.
Not every line is spoken… more like the first sentence to every conversation. The acting is cliche… the goth sound emo (that zero expression voice) and one blond is a valley girl (like, ya know?) - oddly enough it’s somewhat entertaining, if you’re willing to keep an open mind. Rather well done in terms of acting quality. Way better than I expected… to be honest, I didn’t expect ANY voice acting.
#2: Not so ugly.
Seems there was some MINOR face lifting to the character models, before the game was released. The girls aren’t all that great looking, however they aren’t all that ugly either. The game doesn’t zoom in as close as those ad screen captures show - and it actually helps. The models are also “moving” (breathing, blinking eyes). Not pretty… but not as hideous as I thought.
#3: Play as a guy or girl… not same sex
You can be a guy or a girl. Player has some minor customizing of their character’s look. Seems guys can only hit on girls… girls can only hit on guys… trying to do a guy on guy thing was rejected hardcore and I lost “cool points”.
Not that I play those types of b-games mind you… I just wanted to see if the game would let you do it.
10 guys… 10 girls… thus 20 date characters total.
#4: Mini Games
There’s some Dance Dance Revolution type stuff and various minigames. Losing those horribly, because I didn’t read the manual and I’m not too settled with the PSP layout (DS is soooo much easier to hold IMHO).
More to come later. Gotta code more HTML before a certain someone gets mad at me for slacking off.
EDIT
Anyone know of a way to hook a PSP to a PC and take screenshots and/or video? If it’s not too difficult or costly, I might post a few.
[ 06-03-2007, 08:30 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]
Whee! Triple posting!
Random Rants on the game… will cover more tomorrow… tired…
#5 Its a stat driven dater
Your character has four personal stats: Smarts, Originality, Charm, Athletic). These effect how the datable charcters react to you in general, and how heavily (or lightly) your interactions with them changes the “relationship meter”. Certain girls like Smarts, others like Charm… blah, blah… we b-game vets know this stuff already.
#12 Make out clips
Err… rather not spoil it. I thought they were funny - others might not think that though.
EDIT
Quick list of things I’ve found to dislike:
(A) No real story plot. Game kinda wanders aimlessly without real purpose.
(B) Gets repetitive fast. Mostly because the game engine is so simplistic and seems half assed at times… might be due to the creator’s inexperience though.
(C) Character development is limited. NOTHING like we b-gamers are used too. Limited quickie things… fourth rate stuff to be honest… but it’s there. Even if you have to fine comb everything to find it. :roll:
(D) Americanized to hell. Probably a positive for marketing purposes though.
EDIT 2
You can have more than one save, but you can’t have more than one save for a single character that you make. Thus I can have one save each for Elizar, Nargrakhan, and Narazazen - but not three saves for someone named Elizar.
EDIT 3
I’ve noted that many of the game reviews for this title, were made by people who seem to have never played a b-game before - or outright hate them.
[ 06-03-2007, 11:59 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]
And they should be laughing hard. I think we should all join in with them.
Well considering i don’t exactly care for either of them all that much…
Final Draft Review Entry
I’ve come to the general belief that this game isn’t as bad as the reviews make it. Some day I’ll write a formal review for it - although that won’t be anytime soon. Generally speaking however, I’d rate it as a 4 on a ten point scale. For the sake of simplicity and a smooth outline, I’ll recap what I’ve mentioned before.
Oh… and the game is best classified as a comedy romance… although the comedy is American (Canadian?) styled humor.
Visuals
Graphics are tolerable after the initial shock. Following an hour of playing, you really don’t care because the odd deformed look is offset by the smooth movement and facial expressions. They remind me of the leaders from Civilization 4, now that I think about it.
They could have been better – and hardcore fans of anime will never come to like them – but I honestly grew to like the unique look of them. Static screenshots don’t do the graphics justice… it’s their general movement/expressions that really sells it to me.
Plot
An overall story – or rather the lack of it – is this title’s largest weakness. Your goal is simply to make good grades, buy consumer goods, and date. Each of the dates have their own sob stories, but unlike most b-games, solving is not needed to complete the title nor is it a fundamental core of the gameplay.
Gameplay
Do good in school. Keep your personal stats high. Earn money. That covers the hard part… and that’s really a stretch to call it hard.
Dating engine is simple: You hit on the characters, go on a few dates, buy them goods, talk once in awhile (which may or may not reveal their hidden pasts), do some favors (sorta like side quests), and try to steal a kiss.
Main issue I have, is since the game has no plot flow, there’s a lot of repetitive events. Every date I had at the Garage with the Goth chick, was EXACTLY the same word for word. Of course there are more locations I can take her out too – but the Garage seemed to be a fave for her. This word for word stuff also happens at school.
Annoying as hell – and it reflects a lack of foresight from the creators. They should have written more lines and given the characters more depth. But since this is a first time for a b-game for them, I guess it goes with the territory…
The mini games are entertaining, but you don’t need to really master them to get a decent ending… well… for the most part. They seem to be in there to break the repetitive nature of the engine. However, I also believe it was because the designs didn’t think a “pure” dater would sell alone on its own merits – so they added these in to make it a dater AND a puzzle game.
Audio
Music doesn’t do it for me, but the music is alright. Lots of the songs have lyrics. I just cut it off though… I don’t like the style.
Voice acting is high quality – although rather limited. Only the first lines in conversations are spoken; not the entire script. The difference in voices and speech patterns fit each character concept perfectly. The valley girl is totally, like, out there. The nerd uses incredibly long words. The goth has that husky negative speech.
I loved the voice acting… and seriously wished there was more.
Character Development
Limited to the extent that you can end the game without knowing a thing about the person you dated. That really sucks to be honest.
Interaction between characters occurs quite often – if a bit random. Getting too close with another person, while your dating someone as a steady, will cause havoc… so there’s some juggling to be done.
My biggest gripe is the mood swings. I can see that the designers TRIED (strong stressing of the word there) to make the game seem more realistic, by having the characters be happy one day and be angry the next. As people, we aren’t always joyful. However these mood swings are VERY random and somewhat unrealistic at times. Thus it makes everyone in the High School seem like neurotic and psychopathic with tremendous emo issues. However that might have also been an intention…
Sometimes it’s amusing, but when it happens over and over again for three months straight (it’s all random) – the charm becomes tremendous frustration. On the plus side, the emo differs from character to character – so it adds some freshness here and there.
I might add that some of the dialog is witty.
Replay
Rather low. As said before, there’s no overall plot and the character development is optional and/or obscure. Thus you’re basically playing for the quality of the voice acting and seeing the unique emo of each character. The game is one of those titles that will seem fun for a week or two, but after than it seems iffy.
Seeing as how I’ve only had the game for little over a day, I’m still weighing it all. The assumption is just from my experience with other b-games.
Comparison to Japanese B-Games
It’s a watered down version of True Love with a touch of The SIMS, crude witty humor, and American rock music. Those who compare it to Sentimental Graffiti and/or claim it’s a remake will get shot. Do not insult a legendary series like that.
On the other hand, the game is not terrible to the extent that I consider it a waste of money. As the first serious attempt by Konami to release a b-game in the US, it’s interesting… but I think they could have done better.
I will argue that Brooktown was made by people who know about b-gaming, but are not hardcore fans of it. Had they allowed hardcore gamers to offer some opinions and/or feedback during the development stage – or perhaps some advice from Konami’s experienced Japanese dev team - then it might have been something truly breathtaking.
In the end however, Brooktown is merely a 4 (maybe 4.5 on a good day) – and this is mostly derived from the quality voice acting, American high school personality cliché, and the graphics from motion.
At the same time however, my rating might be influenced by the fact, that I’m impressed someone bothered to TRY and make this title. It really won’t help or kill the lack of b-game in the West IMHO… but this title will certainly bring new curious minds - those looking to find what everyone will tell them are better Japanese daters.
[ 06-04-2007, 09:38 AM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]