Erokawa Reviews: Sweet Fuse

Title – Sweet Fuse: At Your Side

Author – Otomate/Aksys Games/Idea Factory
Style – Otome Visual Novel (interactive)
Rating - Teen (Language and Mild Violence)
Trial – No
Price- $29.99 (PSP)
Buy! - http://store.aksysgames.com/products/sweet-fuse-at-your-side

Story- The protagonist goes to the opening of her uncle's theme park. Great so far, but then a giant hog appears on every screen and declares reign over the park. Count Hogstien as he is called takes some hostages, including the protagonist's uncle. The only way to free them is to beat the games that are part of the original theme park. Of course Saki (the protagonist) jumps in to save her uncle! She and her new 6 other and the theme park actually happens to be based on games that the protagonist's uncle designed. The group of characters have to beat 7 attractions in 7 days. Oh and their lives are in danger too, what a horrible pig!

After the third day the story divulges into the path into your chosen guy's route. All of the paths come to a realization that they were not just chosen to be victims at random but because of a more sinister secret. There are 14 different endings with 8 main endings, so you will find some variety in the game. There is of course the “main” path which explains the most and is the most in depth of the endings (Subaru Shidou's route). I was never a big fan of here is the main guy so take his route to get the game to make the most sense, but that just might be me. 9.5/10

Graphics- This game was much more anime style than any of the other otome games I have played. It was a refreshing change of style, after all you do want your game to stand out. Although I was a bit disappointed in the event cgs. I thought they were a little too plain and boring. They didn't make me go: Yes! I can go back and look at this! It was more like a: that's cute reaction picture but I didn't feel the strong need to go back and look at them in the gallery. And if I can put my own two cents here, all the kissing scenes are rather lame. 8.5/10

My version of a good kissing scene. More contact!

Music/SFX- I like the variety of music, I think the music fits the mood of the sections of the game well. I really liked Count Hogstien's music theme. One of the tracks that is just standard background music sounds like it came out of Hakuouki (was far too generic and I think that the flute sounds like it doesn't belong in this game) and I thought it was very out of place in this game. But other than that track, I liked the music a lot. It was not too standard and was different enough to make me want to listen to it out of the game. Also each ride had its own theme song which was nice to set the mood for that game. There are also some tracks with hilarious Engrish for all you English speakers to enjoy! 9/10

Voice Acting- The voice acting is good as I have found of all Otomate games. I think they hire good voice actors and they can get the character across well. I thought Kouta Meoshi's voice actor did a good job of making him sound super embarrassed which fit his character so well. Kimimaro Urabe's voice actor is very good at the soothing, relaxed type but has versatility for later interesting turns in the story. I thought that all the voices were fitting but I didn't feel like all the characters had voices I wanted to drool over (not sure if that's a good thing.) 9/10

Characters- The one thing that really stands out to me is the characters. After playing quite a few games I get a general feel for what character types they tend to put in otome games. The standard characters such as playboy type, quiet shy type, cold emotionless type, kind and gentle type etc. I thought that Sweet Fuse really took the characters to a new level of originality. True some of those types are in the game but they are expanded on and defined which makes them all the more interesting. For example Kouta Meoshi is the quiet shy type but he is also a very nervous hikikomori and game otaku that doesn't really know how to act around other people. There is also Ryuusei Mitarashi who is the buff host (as in a host club, women paying for time with handsome men) who is constantly taking hits for everyone. Each character has their own quirks that make them more unique than your standard characters. 10/10

Setting- A theme park based on video games that turns deadly. Each stage is quite different and interesting and have different challenges to overcome. The rides are not all the same and the genres are all different, quite a nice variety. At first I thought they didn't even go to all the rides, but the first two routes I chose both neglected the same two rides and used the same ride to the end, but they do! I just hadn't played all the routes, turns out some skip some rides and other skip other rides so you do actually get to play on all the rides. 4.5/5

Originality- I think that this is a very strong point of this game. The best is the part with a hot tempered heroine! Saki is not just gonna lay down and take your shit, you are getting yelled at until you are reasonable, you dumb men!! Ok, the guys aren't that bad, but all of the characters need a good yelling at sometimes. With the different characters and a much different game play I can safely give a perfect score for originality. 5/5

Game play – I think one of the great parts of this game is that the game play is different than a standard otome game. I also like the fact that the main character gets super pissed sometimes and can yell at a character for being stupid or unreasonable. I LOVE this feature of the game, I can yell at the characters when they are being stupid! You don't know how many other times I wish I had that function in other games. Of course there are choices which guide the story. But there is also a cute word game where you have to pick the clue that everyone has overlooked and gain Explosive Insight! The only thing I would say is that mini-games could be added because there are puzzles but that's being nit-picky. 4.5/5

Extras- There was the standard extra on the game. A gallery with the ability to go back to the scene and a music box. I love music boxes so I'm always happy when they are included in the extras. But pretty standard for any visual novel/otome game. 3.5/5

Overall- If you are looking for a different otome game, I would say that this is a game to definitely get. It also has a good comedic tone at parts making it a cute and fun game.

Score- 63.5/70 - 91% - So much variety from your standard otome game, I rated it very high! If you like otome games, don't miss this one! GO GET IT NOW!