A hidden gem that merges dating sim elements with strategy rpg elements with a successful result.
It all starts when you are transfered from the japan division of stars to the New York division of stars, an elite group that lives to protect the city from evil Mechas (robots) that constantly attack it. As you go on you will meet all of your team mates and have to prove them that you are worthy of being in the team. It is not easy at first because they dont really want you in their team but still you will try. This is most likely an interesting setting that anyone that wants a different kind of story will be pleased. Plus the story is divided into chapters and every chapter has something new and interesting to see.
Gameplay is divided into 2 parts, the first is the actual dating sim and the second is the srpg. You need to know that this is a text heavy game with tons of dialogue and you need to read everything because the first part of the gameplay comes in the middle of it. As the story progresses you will have to interact every now and then and you have like 5 seconds to answer and depending on what you say people may become your best friends or angry ass hell with you. But its not limited only to answer stuff, there are also mini game situations in which you will have to do what they ask. For example a woman asks you which part of her body you like best and you will have to point where, or a building collapsed and you have to help a person in trouble.
I know that there will be plenty of people that dont like this kind of thing, but if you give it a shot you will not be desappointed. Of course theres plenty of text to be read that could go on even for an hour long, so theres a bit of patience required, but the great story will keep you coming back for more. But not only that, whatever you respond has actual consequences some of them hilarious, like the woman that wants you to point what part of her body you like, and of course you pick her breasts, then all you can do is laugh at the same time shes calling you a sick perve.
Theres many different situations and all of them with different things you can say and even different outcomes that you will want to explore on multiple playthroughs. It is important to say that you have to bond with 5 special ladies that you use in battle because the better your bonds are the stronger attacks will get. Theres no experience or leveling, only you and how well you can decide your best answer to any given situation. At first it is hard because some dont like you and they have different personalities, but once you study them you will know whats the best way to go.
The second part of the gameplay is the actual battle and you can easily say this is a good strategy rpg. You have 7 points to use for every charater in each turn. You move using those points, and attack and do all kinds of functions. Some of them are healing, special attacks and the like so you need to carefully plan what to do with them. Theres an hp bar for life and an sp bar for mp used in healing and special attack.
Theres so much to talk about the battle system that it could take me forever to explain but ill try to write some of it. You have the ability to defend, joint attacks that become stronger deppending on the mood of your teammates, theres airborne fighting that adds another layer of depth in the battlefield, you can move to different areas in battle and so much more. So dont worry, not everything is about reading dialogue, theres also plenty of fighting with lots of depth and battles can carry on up to an hour or more of action with intense battles.
The story is presented in nice 2d anime like character portraits and plenty of incredible looking cutscenes. The actual battles in the game look pretty neat but could be better. Theres also plenty of VO but it is sad that the wii version has only english. Ingame music is pretty good, all of the themes are very varied and will lighten up your mood.
There are some lows in the game, like the english VO that is ok except for a few character voices like the cowboy girl with a Texas accent, Rosita with her weird spanish accent and even a russian woman which you can imagine. Also it fails to take advantage of the wii controls and even make the existing ones feel clunky, like changing the d-pad for an analog stick in some minigames, though there is classic controller support.
It will take you about 12+ hours to finish the game but there are multiple endings and you will want to play it plenty of times just to try the many different responses and actions you can take and their consecuences.
So ok most of the VO is embarrasing but its very bearable and its not a real reason not to buy this great game. This is a game that may strike as weird for some but it is impressive in many ways. It combines dating sims and srpg and what comes out of it is nothing but greatness. Also if you are into anime and japanese culture you will like it though i cant fully recommend it to gamers that dont like reading much and want more action than anything.