Hourglass of Summer

Written by Jason Young  on September 01, 2006

Rewind Review: If all the girls in my high school were this hot, I may have flunked.

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For most gamers, romance in games is usually a hit or miss; with most of them missing. Although there are several that excel in that department, such as Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy X, most of the time you'll receive something along the lines of the main hero falling in love with his sidekick for no other reason than the fact than it's a Сconvenient' relationship.

Princess Soft's Hourglass of Summer (2004) on the other hand presents the player with one of the most immersive romance games to be released. The player takes on the role of high-school student Kotaro Makimura who has a huge crush on his fellow classmate, Kaho Serizawa. Kaho is everything that you'd ever want in a girl: she's beautiful, elegant, and kind. I know that you're probably thinking, how could a game in which your goal is to Сdate' a woman be any good? However, this game isn't your typical Сdating-sim' in which you chase the girl and get her in the end. It's more than that. A LOT more.

The beginning of Hourglass of Summer takes place within the last week of the school year when Kotaro makes it his personal goal for Kaho to notice his existence, let alone going out with her. That night, he accidentally bumps into a mysterious woman, Lee Jane, who's holding a magical vial of Сsoap-powder' that breaks and covers him. When he goes to sleep that night, his vision becomes blurred and sees his world change colors.

The next day, he proceeds going about his normal daily routine of going to school thinking that it's just another normal day. Good thing for us it isn't. The next minute, his entire world is turned around as he discovers that it's the beginning of the next school year and that Kaho got involved in a fatal accident on the last day of summer meeting him. Over the course of the day he learns that he did go out with her over the summer, but it's their relationship that leads to her untimely death. From there, he discovers that he possesses the ability to travel back and forth throughout time and is presented with the opportunity to save herЕand no this game does not contain a cameo from Marty McFly.

The interesting thing about the story is that you don't necessarily have to end up with Kaho in the end; although it's always Kotaro's mission to save her. As he decides to stop the accident at the root of its source, Kotaro is presented with several other females that he wants to save: the boyish Mana, his childhood friend Ai, and the time traveler Lee Jane. You can even fall have Kotaro fall in love with his science teacher, Tomomi, without having to be persecuted by law. Score!!! Anyhow, each of the girl's personal problems are linked to Kaho's death and its Kotaro's role to save them, while the player chooses which one to fall in love with in the process.

Analogous to many of the great visual novel titles out there, Hourglass' strength comes from its well-written story, although the usual Hirameki translation errors are present. The game's narrative brilliant direction relies mostly upon time traveling through different days during the summer while ensuring that it makes sense to the player. Actions that the player is totally unaware of at a specific time is given deeper meaning as the game progresses and the player learns Сwhy' something are the way it is; preventing the game from becoming just a cheesy teenage romance novel.

Sure, the storyline isn't as psychological as Ever 17 or as gut-wrenching as Kana: Little Sister, but the game is still incredible in its own right. While the game relies on your typical Сchoose-your-own-adventure' -style gameplay, the game takes pride in instilling a sense of panic and urgency into the many decisions available to the player in the game. Every actions that the player takes controls what happens to the female protagonists, putting their very lives in the hands of the player. Often I found myself thinking about the possible consequences of my actions; with some of the decisions being incredibly hard to make.

While the story is brilliant the format isn't. The fact that the game was released as an СInteractive DVD' meant that there isn't any way for the player to save the game at any given spot. Instead the player is given an eight-character password that corresponds with each DVD chapter presented in the game. While this system may seem burdensome in the beginning, you'll get used to it. However, the medium presents even further amount of problems to the player due to minimal customization (no adjusting brightness, audio, etc.). It's amazing how you don't notice the little things until their gone.

As a result of the DVD format, the game plays more like an anime movie where you actually watch the game instead of playing it. Missed something that Kaho said in the past? Tough, there's no turning back after a line is read. Hence players may want to equip themselves with a sturdy pen and paper in order to get the Сgood' endings.

Graphically, the characters and backgrounds are crisp and drawn well. Out of all the visual novels I've played, Hourglass of Summer would surely rank at the top graphics-wise. In fact, I would say that the characters in the game are drawn a lot better than most anime. Despite the amazing graphics though, the DVD-format can only do so much. Character animation isn't as fluid as a pure console or PC release would have allowed for it to be. Additionally, the graphics at times appears choppy and the scene transitions, such as the use of TV noise, don't come through as well as they could have.

The DVD problems plague the game's audio as well. For a game of it's scale and magnitude, the volume of the background music is simply too low. In fact, I had to pull out my $75.00 headphones just to hear the music. Other than that, the audio in this game is top-notch quality. From Kotoko's opening theme СWent Away' to classical Chopin the game's audio is simply amazing. So amazing that I ended up importing the soundtrack from Japan. For those gamers on a budget however, simply inputting СBGMMODES' at the password screen brings the player to a soundtrack selection screen. Music aside, the voice acting is absolutely grande as well. Considering that the player has to listen to every line in the game, the inclusion of poor voice actors would have detracted a lot to the game.

As with most visual novels, the game has loads of replayability. Each storyline takes roughly six to eight hours to complete, meaning that there's sixty-plus hours of possible gameplay. Although you actually have to read lines over and over again, which isn't actually as bad as it seems considering the amazing story. Be sure to get an actual working DVD control for the game as you'll be pressing the Сnext' button quiet a bit. I personally found that the PS2's DVD player worked best with the game as the buttons for advancing a scene, making your choices, and navigating through the menu/choices seemed appropriately placed.

Despite the slight format annoyances, I found myself simply in love with the game. It shows that you do not need any hentai images in order to make a good dating-sim. Although there is a PC version in Japan that does include it. Just don't expect that version to hit our shelves anytime soon.

Personally, I found myself engaged with Hourglass more than any other visual novel I played, perhaps even more than Kana (although Kana outdoes it in the emotional department). While I admit that I enjoy my share of gaming romance, almost anyone that enjoys well-written stories will love the game. Everything from the characters to the images are simply outstanding. It represents the best aspects of a dating-sim, throws it in a blender, and produces a game that's accessible to anyone; regardless of whether or not you own a console.