Snow Sakura

In this game, you play yet another faceless male lead trying to bang a harem…. Not.
Actually, this game is very character heavy. Your character gets stuck in Northern Japan living with his hot cousin and interacting with friends and your airhead teacher. The entire game spans months of daily interaction that ranges from funny conversations like playing mahjong or talking about porn to well, more funny conversations. The reason why I say that it’s character heavy is that the story flows good enough to lift the character set from its 2d nature. In fact, it makes you think that the characters are really your friends. No kidding. The plot is its strongest value.

The characters themselves are pretty clichéd. We have the hotfuck cousin, the shy one, the stalker, the senior and the ditzy teacher. However, the development makes up for the seemingly mediocre set.
The story does not have the sheer emotional power of Crescendo nor Kana: Little sister nor the introspective coming-of-age appeal of Yume Miru Kusuri, but it stands on its own. If I were to describe the plot, it’s a slice-of-life comedy mixed with occasional slapstick. There is no real plot; however, the daily interactions between the characters move the story (Yes, the everyday “waking up” or “lunch break” scene do a lot).

The sex scenes were sparse and only appear during the late part of the game, but I did not pay much attention to them. The rich character development made the characters seem more than mere fuck dolls. One girl actually bleeds. She bled… down there. However, this is not unusual in eroge. The ero part is not its strong point. However, I like the concept of building up the character then letting her get fucked until she bleeds… I like ;-).

I have only one gripe about the story. The character becomes a dad after fucking one girl. I HATE it when such a disaster happens. It takes the fun out of the game. Parenthood is really the “bad ending” in adventures like these, but it isn’t portrayed as such in here. Next time, I hope they use condom-wielding male leads to avoid disasters like this. This is the second game where I encounter a male lead ending up as a dad. I am not amused with the trend.

The game engine is quite neat. It gives the player an option to see dialogue logs just by scrolling the mouse wheel upwards. Saving and loading the game is easy too. Right clicking is a thing of the past. The music is well, soft and befitting of the atmosphere.

This game will be well received by those looking for a lighthearted comedy with rich character development. Those looking for a fuckfest must avoid this game. No, the fuckfest fans must stop playing eroge entirely. They contribute to the proliferation of fuckfest ero games which I avoid like the plague.