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Sprung DS
“Sprung: The Dating Game Where Everyone Scores.” With a name like that, what could possible go wrong? Well, as it turns out, pretty much everything. Sprung follows the romantic exploits of Becky & Brett as they meander around a posh ski-resort.
Becky is coming out of a bad relationship and just wants to have fun, while Brett just wants Becky. If it is starting to sound like your typical teen comedy, that’s because it is… As far as launch titles go, there’s not much about Sprung that showcases the superiority of the DS over the Gameboy Advance. The game is basically an unholy cross between a “choose your own adventure” book and a teen soap opera. Actually the “choose your own adventure” comparison isn’t quite right, as in this game it is a case of “choose the only right answer, or fail.” It doesn’t help that the right answer isn’t always the most logical one and most scenes come down to pure trial and error. If you are a fan of these types of clichéd characters and situations, the game might hold your interest, but the linear progression and flat characters failed to do so for me.. The game is set in and around various parts of the ski resort like a club and Jacuzzi, but since the only indication you have of where you are is the flat background picture, it doesn’t make much of a difference. Even a tiny bit of movement or animation in the backdrops would have gone a long way. Characters fare slightly better with some good animations that actually reminded me of the “Broken Sword” games. The amount of characters are limited, however, as are their animations, so you’ll soon grow tired of the lot. While playing, your character is shown on the bottom screen and the person you are having a conversation with on the top screen. This is a nice touch, and makes the visuals look clean and uncluttered, but like I said, variety is seriously lacking. The game is also not nearly as risqué as it would want you to believe, so don’t expect to see anything interesting happening. While two characters with their own paths through the game might sound like double the fun, that is not the case. The terrible humor and dialogue, coupled with characters that couldn’t be more boring if they tried, and the whole thing just becomes a chore. Your path through the game is very linear and often making the wrong choice will abruptly end the game and send you back to a distant checkpoint. This is not helped by the fact that often all the available choices look wrong. In such a case, picking the most illogical choice works more often than not. Treating a woman like dirt to get her phone number, for instance. To break up the monotony there are some pointless mini-games between scenes. They usually have no bearing on the overall story and feel completely out of place. Oh, and by mini-games I mean more “pick the right sentence from a list to proceed” gameplay. During a game you can amass a collection of inventory objects, but very few of them ever see any use. The audio is ok, and while there are no voice-overs, I consider that a good thing, judging by how annoying and stereotypical the characters already are. There’s a few catchy tunes here and there, but the sound effects are a bit lacking to say the least. It is possible to select your dialogue choices with the stylus, but playing the game by using the d-pad and “A” button, works fine. “Sprung” clearly takes its inspiration from the visual novels and dating sims that litter the Japanese market. It ends up playing out like a bad romance novel, so if that is your kind of thing, there is some enjoyment to be found here. Everyone else will just find a boring, non-game that tried to make a quick buck by being available at launch. |
TAGS: Sprung, Visual Novel, Becky, Brett, Ski Resort, Flirt
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