Your 2017 retro game of the year?

Brandish 2 is a top down dungeon crawler, which focuses on intense difficulty with zero hand holding. It was first developed and released on the NEC PC-98 in 1993 by Falcom. Later in 1995, Falcom had Koei port Brandish 2 to the Super Famicom. There were some enhancements made to the SFC version. Much better music for one, a livelier color palette with more detailed graphics, and even SFC mouse control. The SFC version also contains many cutscenes and well drawn character portraits. It's certainly no slouch.

The player once again plays as the legendary swordsman Ares. At the end of the first Brandish, Ares acquired a powerful sword known as the Planet Buster. This sword is so powerful, it supposedly has the ability to cleave a planet in half. Unfortunately for Ares, while traveling he collapses in a desert due to heat exhaustion. Ares is captured by servants of a King, a King who is quickly convinced Ares is the hero spoken of in a prophecy, a prophecy which says a wandering swordsman will one day kill the king himself. Fearing this prophecy, the King has Ares thrown into the kingdom's deepest darkest prison, and the Planet Buster sword is taken from him. However, Ares is able to escape thanks to his best frenemy, Dela. Of course Dela wants something out of the deal (as always). And so Brandish 2's entertaining plot begins.

If I were going to describe Brandish 2's gameplay simply, I'd say it's a top down dungeon crawler with the principle game design of a first person one. Like Brandish, Brandish 2 rotates the world around the player, rather than having the player rotate within the world. (This sole aspect is often the immediate deal breaker for most new players.) You must move methodically and slowly, carefully searching for hidden doors or breakable walls, avoid concealed pitfalls, and discover cleverly tucked away treasure chests. Deadly traps are everywhere, rushing is the fastest way to a Game Over screen. Even something as rudimentary as shop keepers are rarely easy to find, often squirreled away in forgotten recesses.

Finding all the gold and items in the world won't help you if you can't fight. And fighting takes an even bigger precedent in Brandish 2. Enemies are smarter, faster, stronger, and generally more ferocious than before. There's a lot of variety to enemy types, and just as much variation in their attack styles. The designers often group enemies together that work well as a tag team. Say an enemy type that will freeze Ares, while other types work to surround him while he's incapacitated. Bosses are typically large and wickedly deadly, making short work of Ares in two or three hits. Thankfully Ares now has the ability to optionally dual wield weapons, giving the player new types of tactical advantages based on weapon type. However doing so means Ares doesn't hold a shield, making him all the more vulnerable.

Surviving combat is one thing, surviving the dungeons themselves is another. The player must become highly proficient at using the mini-map to make any progress at all. Graciously this time around, Brandish 2 on SFC includes the mini-map onscreen. This means unlike the original Brandish on SNES, the player can successfully navigate the twisting world without becoming hopefully confused. Navigation is one thing, but the constant barrage of puzzles and byzantine riddles are another. There are cryptic hints available which are often not much help honestly. (This being a Japanese game, there isn't much in the way of English walkthroughs available either. There's a partially finished one on GameFAQs, that's all I saw.) Some puzzles are switch based, some block based, and others are item based. In general Brandish 2's puzzles are more complex than its predecessor. The biggest hurdle of all is simply item management. You will always be juggling dozens of crucial items at a time with very limited item slots in your inventory.

Most of what I've described sounds quite the same as the original Brandish, and that's because Brandish 2 is very similar to its predecessor. And yet Brandish 2 consistently manages to outshine the original game in sheer scope. Brandish 2's enemies are bigger and badder, its puzzles more complex, and the dungeons are often absolutely mammoth in size. Many dungeons also include special elements all their own, such as trick treasure chests that explode fatally, paths that can only be traversed while walking backwards, or dastardly rooms full of conveyor belts. Aesthetic variety in dungeons has improved immensely, sometimes Ares will be outside in a jungle, or navigating rooftops, or even walking the shore of a forgotten isle. When it comes to dungeon design, Brandish 2 is top notch stuff.

If I haven't made it clear yet, let me do so now: Brandish 2 is a brutally difficult game. And that's a huge part of why I love it. I'd go so far as to say Brandish 2 is the single most hardcore SFC/SNES game I've played. What truly blows my mind, is that Brandish 2 received an "Expert" version release! I have no idea how much harder the "Expert" version is, but only an utter masochist could wish for such a thing. Still, I deeply appreciated the challenge of the original Brandish 2. It's a tremendous dungeon crawler, perhaps the best on its platform. This is an extremely well made experience, with deep gameplay, an astounding OST, and consistently impressive graphics. Brandish 2 also has one of the best endings I've seen in a 16-bit game. Yes folks there were times I wanted to snap my gamepad in half, but in the end I absolutely adored Brandish 2: The Planet Buster.

Xanadu Next is a sequel in a long and storied series of games created by Falcom. It's a commemorative rebirth to one of the best selling PC JRPGs of all time; Xanadu. Both games are part of the historically significant DragonSlayer series. Xanadu Next has many callbacks and direct ties to previous games in the DragonSlayer lineage, making it feel well vested in its franchise. Even so, as a Windows PC Japanese action-RPG, Xanadu Next manages to come across as fairly unique given a confluence of great inspirations. As part of the DragonSlayer series, yes there are dragons. XSEED has published an English localization of this game for western release.

Xanadu Next almost feels like a console action-RPG, except it's designed for mouse control. Left click to attack, right click for special skills/magic, and the mouse wheel controls the camera. It works well, albeit this gives the gameplay a bit of a Diablo feel. The influences hardly stop there, there are traces of Zelda, Ys, and even Brandish in the mix. Although given the historical context, one could argue these influences were influenced by Xanadu Next's own originators, giving a bit of an Ouroboros influx overall. Let's just say if you enjoy action-RPGs and crawling dungeons, you'll feel right at home with the gameplay.

Xanadu Next's world takes place on an a vast island filled with ruins. The navigation of such is designed in a "metroidvania" format, with the sole town serving as a central hub. Dungeons throughout the island become intertwined through the use of special item usage, and eventually a portal warp system opens up as well. This sort of fast travel is a necessity, given the large amount of backtracking the player must endure. However the largest impediment to travel by far is locked doors. Keys are the most precious commodity for the player, being acquired through finding them, making them, or buying them. The deeper into the game the player gets, the more expensive and rare keys become.

While Xanadu Next is designed to be fully mouse controlled, its interface is fairly complex. Sliding panes bring important items/spells/equipment into accessibility. However, while the player is interacting with this intricate inventory system, the gameplay does not freeze. This is very problematic when the player is surrounded by enemies, or fighting a huge boss, and they simply wish to grab a restorative or change spells. Assignable hotkeys exist to map important things to, but these hotkeys are quite limited in amount. It would have been far more intuitive to simply have the gameplay pause while the player is navigating the inventory system.

Core gameplay revolves around navigating the overworld (island) and underworld (dungeons), destroying enemies to level up and collect gold. Gold being used to buy better equipment, which is wielded more competently by higher levels. Many spells are available for combat use as well, ranging in power by their own level. There are skills to learn further enhancing combat potential, and unique Guardian cards offer their own stat boosts in turn. All of this adds up to a complex battle engine which mastery of will be required to overcome leagues of fiendish enemies and brickwall bosses.

Surely the reader has noticed I haven't mentioned squat about the plot yet. The reason being, is that despite Xanadu Next containing a robust story, told through animated cutscenes, real time dialogues, and collectable journal entries, I was never drawn into its tale whatsoever. It's all fairly generic fantasy fluff, serving as a conduit in which the game's real meat is delivered; its excellent gameplay. I should also note that the OST while decent enough, is quite below normal Falcom standards. The music is more generic and atmospheric than it is bombastic or tuneful. Graphics are pretty good, definitely good given their date of origin.

Xanadu Next did not try to reinvent the concept of the action-RPG, or dungeon crawler for that matter. But acting as a conglomerate of good ideas from other games in those genres, Xanadu Next became a greater sum than its parts. Being more difficult than any 3D Zelda or modern era Ys, but not as hardcore as Brandish or King's Field, Xanadu Next fits nicely into the "just right" level of challenge. Any PC gamer who also enjoys Japanese RPGs should certainly check out Xanadu Next. It's an all too neglected gem even by fans of Falcom's more popular series.

When Everblue 2 released in 2003 to the USA market, most reviewers didn't know what to make of it. Unlike their luckier European counterparts, USA gamers had missed out on the original Everblue, and thus didn't have the same frame of reference. Perhaps even if they had played the original Everblue, USA reviewers still would have scored Everblue 2 low (as nearly all of them did). Unfortunately the concept of an action adventure RPG hybrid all about SCUBA salvaging didn't excite the average 2003 reviewer. Perhaps it was the total lack of violence and killing? Whatever the case, Everblue 2 is a great game, albeit not without some qualms admittedly.

Once again the player takes on the role of Leonardo Delfino, the protagonist of the original Everblue. Yes indeed, Everblue 2's plot is a direct continuation of the original Everblue. This time Leo ends up shipwrecked on an island he's never heard of, and loses all his gear. Having to start all over again is easy enough, as Leo's quickly indoctrinated into a local diving club. From there he begins meeting more of the indigenous townsfolk, forming friendships and bonds. Eventually his club ends up fighting against an encroaching corporation that's more interested in ruthlessly stealing artifacts than preserving marine sanctuaries. Ultimately this rivalry gives way to an accidentally awakened elder legend, a dangerous force which must be quieted or else everyone on the island may end up dead. The plot is pretty interesting overall, with plenty of likeable characters and intriguing dialogue.

Like the first Everblue, most of the gameplay focuses on salvaging. Typically you're required to find a long lost wreck, dive to it, explore it, retrieve an object, and safely make your way back to surface again. This is made more challenging by limited HP, always dwindling air supply, sometimes confusing environments, and occasionally dangerous aquatic fauna. While diving the game is all polygonal and the camera is first person. But when you're on land, the 2D island town is represented from a bird's eye view, and interaction is done in a menu fashion. Whether it's conversing with locals, shopping for new gear, or hitting up the auction house, everything is menu based. Honestly the island town simply acts as a hub interface rather than an immersive experience, and that's fine. The meat is the sumptuous diving, and that part is always super immersive.

Outside the main story missions, there's lots of optional sidequests, collectables, fish finding, and other such alternative gameplay. If one were to choose to do all of it (including the copious post-game content), it'd likely stretch the ~10 hour completion time into ~30 hours. You will also find your HP leveling up the more you dive, and seeking better diving equipment is a constant goal. That said, I want to point out that Everblue 2 is a significantly more accommodating experience than the original Everblue. Wrecks are smaller with designs more linear and confined, finding lost wrecks is more intuitive, environment puzzles are simpler, salvaging rare synthesis items is easy, and running out of air is almost impossible unless the player is totally careless. It's quite obvious Arika tried to make Everblue 2 more accessible than the first. Personally I think Arika went a little too far, and Everblue 2 is a bit facile. I never had the same sense of dread or panic as I often did with the first Everblue.

But that's not to say I didn't enjoy my time with Everblue 2. I absolutely did. Exploring the ocean floors, navigating spooky ships, uncovering ancient mysteries, and just having laughs with the locals was well worth the investment. Any gamer looking for a unique experience should give the Everblue series a try. It's an all too rare treat to play something as delightfully idiosyncratic and well made as a game like Everblue 2. It's a crying shame this game was tossed out to sea by reviewers, but there's still a few copies floating on the waves for you more daring treasure hunters.

Dancing Eyes is an arcade game that was released by Namco in 1996 only in Japan. It was conceived by Masateru Umeda. You control a small monkey walking around a grid placed across a 3D model while breaking the "tiles" (usually clothing, but can also be boxes, barrels, curtains, etc.) off the grid while avoiding enemies. The 3D model is generally an attractive young female (but not always!), rendered incredibly well given the very limited technology of the time. After you clear the stage, the model usually dances while you pan the camera around for camera angles that please you. Dancing Eyes is incredibly fun and extremely unique. If you can appreciate a game like Super Monkey Ball, you could enjoy this. At fifteen stages with multiple paths through, there's plenty of replayability. Chock full of charm, goofy humor, and eye catching ladies, Dancing Eyes is as Japanese a game as you could ever hope to play.

I have no idea what possessed Capcom to make a spinoff from Mega Man Legends starring Mega Man's greatest nemesis from said game; Tron Bonne. But bless Capcom for doing so. While technically a prequel to Mega Man Legends, The Misadventures of Tron Bonne makes for a better experience if one has already beaten Mega Man Legends. The familiarity with the Bonne family will go a long way to endear the player to Tron and her crazy relatives. But even if just played on its own, The Misadventures of Tron Bonne is still excellent. Sadly far too many gamers passed over this oddity back at the turn of the millennium. Their loss then, our loss now.

The plot quickly? Well, Tron Bonne's older brother Teisel has gotten himself in trouble with a loan shark, and has been kidnapped as punishment. Tron decides to pay off her brother's debts to said loan shark, hoping to free him. To do so, Tron begins to take on a variety of (mostly criminal) missions to generate zenny (cash). When she's not out doing missions, Tron plots and plans from her home base, or rather home floating airship. Aboard said airship are her mechanical underlings, the Servbots. Tron will train and use these Servbots as needed to accomplish her goals. If the Servbots get out of line, Tron can torture them in the Torture Room. No really, this game has a torture room and encourages the player to use it. Other rooms with other uses unlock in the air ship as time passes. The Lab is especially useful for developing new equipment to aid in adventuring.

Okay I'll describe the various Mission types. There's a mode where you explore a vast ruin, fighting tenacious monsters and mini-bosses while collecting treasure, complete with a nasty big boss at the end. This "ruin" mode is most similar to the original Mega Man Legends gameplay, except Tron fights in a giant pink gorilla robot. There's also "heist" mode, where Tron and her Servbots rob banks and steal livestock from farms. Yes, you use a gorilla robot to steal cows and fight a kung fu cop. Then there's the dreaded "container" missions, a series of ever more difficult turn-limited puzzles, in which you load cargo into a ship (a ship named Wily no less). Many people give up on the "container" missions, because the final few are Mensa level mental gymnastics. And next there's the "RPG" mode, which is my personal favorite. In "RPG" mode, you explore a vast series of caves in a flying pig shaped drone called the Finkel. While you explore the caves, you solve puzzles, avoid traps, converse with other miners, and eventually suss out a haunted mystery. It's great fun. Lastly, there's a series of levels and boss fights that begin and end the game, which play out in more traditional Mega Man Legends style. That is to say, lots of shooting and dodging and the killing of crazy bosses. Also robotic ducks with bad attitudes. Seriously, shoot one of those wacky quackers in the face for me.

There's more to Tron Bonne's game than just her money making missions. There's a research and development aspect, where you can power up your gorilla bot (you'll need to for the final boss, trust me). You can also train your Servbots to be more intelligent and useful. You can simply converse with them and even go so far as to personally name each and every Servbot. You can send Servbots out on scouting missions to find money and rare items for Tron. Ultimately the player does not have to complete each mission in the game. Your main goal is simply to make a certain amount of money to pay off the loan shark. That means if you can't handle the dock puzzles or ruin bosses, you can simply focus on the other mission types. However, if you choose to complete each and every mission, you're still not looking at a ton of game time. I finished every single mission without a walkthrough, and my clear time was 9 hours 53 minutes. And that was taking my time!

Yes, I took my time with The Misadventures of Tron Bonne. That's because her game is amazingly charming and consistently fun. Aside from the varied and engaging game design itself, the many humorous cutscenes are a joy. Primarily because almost all dialogue is voice acted, and voice acted very well. I also adored the eclectic OST, composed of spunky upbeat tunes. And "upbeat" is a term I'd use to describe the general aesthetic of Tron Bonne. Her game is quite cheery and lighthearted. (And wow does this prequel have a great ending!) The Servbots especially are deliciously goofy (BTW I'm nearly sure Despicable Me ripped off the Servbots for the "Minions" design). Ultimately I find it sad that The Misadventures of Tron Bonne was a flop, barely registering even with fans of Mega Man. I think perhaps they saw the cover art and got the wrong idea.

I assure the reader there's plenty of hardcore Legends style action in Tron Bonne's game, but there's also so much more than that. Tron Bonne herself is one of the greatest anti-heroes to ever grace the medium. I wish Tron's game had gotten more traction and generated further sequels. But alas, this is a long lost game from a long lost era of gaming. A delightfully (mis)adventurous venture from a very different Capcom than exists today. All the same, if you are craving a unique, fun, and consistently uplifting experience, you'll find Tron to be a great companion. And hey, if you get too frustrated on those dock puzzles, you can always just torture some Servbots.

Powerstrike II (AKA GG Aleste II) is a GameGear shmup, developed by Compile, and published by SEGA in 1993 (Japan) / 1994 (Europe). (This is not to be confused with the Master System game of the same name.) Powerstrike II does everything its predecessor (GG Aleste) did, but does nearly all of it better. The same fantastic shoot 'em up gameplay continues, the difficulty has been kicked up a notch, the OST is even better, but now the graphics are amazing. We're talking AAA graphics for what the GameGear could produce. My only complaints are the bonus levels aren't as fun as GG Aleste's, and there aren't as many stages as GG Aleste had. But those complaints are minor versus how awesome Powerstrike II is. Great stage designs, killer weapons, wicked bosses, everything a shmup lover could want. Seriously, if you own a GameGear and you enjoy shoot 'em ups, you simply most own GG Aleste II / Powerstrike II.

Skyblazer is 1994 action platformer developed by Ukiyotei, and published by Sony in Japan, Europe, and USA. The story concerns a guy named Sky trying to rescue a sorceress from a big baddie. He does this by marauding through stages killing enemies and bosses. There is plenty of jumping over pitfalls as is expected of the genre. However Skyblazer's design is a bit more advanced than standard side scrolling games of its era. For example, Sky can cling to vertical walls, and he gains the ability to use all kinds of offensive magic.

During some stages Sky can fly, both in shmup shooter style, and in bonus rounds a rear view Mode 7 style (think Pilotwings). Sky's main attacks are punches and kicks, as his magic uses a pool of limited quantity. Parts of Skyblazer can be tricky, and death is not a rare occurrence. However, extra lives are very easy to find and farm in this game, so it's no big deal. In addition, passwords are available to save the player's progress.

I'm kind of surprised I haven't heard more folks talk about Skyblazer on retro forums. Skyblazer has impressive graphics (loved the backgrounds) with absolutely killer special effects, an above average OST, and really strong stage layouts. I enjoyed the impressive variety of each stage's design, as every area is unique, with new concepts popping up all the way to the end. There's a lot of stages too, Skyblazer's breadth of content is larger than your average SNES platformer. The controls are tight and simple, and the special powers Sky gains are fun to use. There's a fair amount of enemy types to fight, and lots of vexing bosses. There's even a bit of non-linearity in the way Sky can approach stages, thanks to a nice overworld map.

Honestly I think Skyblazer is a bit of a hidden gem. That's not to say Skyblazer is perfect, mind you. I didn't appreciate the loose hit detection, super short melee attack range, nor the way Sky automatically sticks to walls (I'd rather hold a button down to do that). But those are minor gripes in an otherwise surprisingly strong SNES game. If you enjoy Demon's Crest, ActRaiser, or Mega Man X, I would certainly recommend Skyblazer. It's not quite as good as those seminal classics, but Skyblazer's a lot closer than you may expect.

Steam-Heart's is a Japan-only shmup developed by Giga and published by TGL. Steam-Heart's appeared on three platforms; PC98 in 1994, PCECD in 1996, and Saturn in 1998. Each iteration of Steam-Heart's has differences, but the core experience remains the same across all platforms. This review concerns the PCECD iteration.

The base experience of Steam-Heart's is a standard overhead vertically scrolling shmup. Despite having the name "steam" in the title, the theme here is bog standard sci-fi, not steampunk unfortunately. The player has one button for firing, and the other button allows their ship to do an evasive quick dash maneuver. This quick dash maneuver is necessary to master, in order to avoid rapid enemy fire. The player flies through stages, kills enemies, gains power ups, and fights bosses. Nothing groundbreaking there.

However, Steam-Heart's incorporates two elements that make it unusual for its genre. One is a copious amount of voice acted cutscenes, there's a LOT of talking going on. I can't understand Japanese, so I didn't understand what the plot was going on about. However, I researched the plot, and let's just say it would not be family friendly for me to explain the premise. Secondly, every time you defeat a boss, its female pilot is shown in varying states of undress, with strong sexual insinuations occurring between her and Steam-Heart's two protagonists. So I guess that bit is where things get "steamy".

Despite the raunchy undertones, the base experience of Steam-Heart's flies on its own merits. The PCECD version of Steam-Heart's has excellent graphics, great music, tight controls, and a stern challenge level. Sprite work is crisp and clean, with ships and backgrounds very professionally rendered. During cutscenes, talking pilot heads animate in convincing emotional portrayals, which brings their dialogue to life. The OST is appropriately high energy, mostly rock oriented in nature. While there are only seven stages, every stage is difficult, with bosses that are fun to fight, and quite ferocious to defeat (you'll have to memorize their tells to win). The last boss in particular took this gamer more than a few tries to destroy. Thankfully players get unlimited continues per stage, although using one puts the player back at the beginning of said stage. If I were to complain about anything, it'd be that weapon variety isn't great. There's also no mega screen-clearing special attacks like many shmups have.

It is true the PCECD is hardly hurting for quality shmups, rather the PCECD (and PCE) is legendary for its numerous excellent shmups. Yet Steam-Heart's risqué design, crazy plot, and high level of polish place it in the upper echelon of the bunch. It's not often that if you remove the ecchi from an ecchi laden experience, the left over gameplay is still worth engaging with. Steam-Heart's is one such rarity.

When adventure fans think of CiNG, they may remember fondly such classics as Hotel Dusk or Trace Memory on DS. It's not likely said fans would think of Glass Rose though, an obscure PS2 title which was only released in Japan and Europe. Glass Rose is actually CiNG's first adventure game, although it was co-produced with Capcom's "Capcom Production Studio 3" department. I wish I could say that Glass Rose is a hidden gem, a lost treasure of CiNG's early years. Unfortunately I cannot say that, because Glass Rose is not lost, it is rightfully forgotten. While it's true you can see some of CiNG's ideas coming into fruition here (Hotel Dusk's isolated location and deep dialogues, Trace Memory's metaphysical elements, for example), to call Glass Rose "growing pains" would be a severe understatement.

Before I go deeper allow me to set the stage of the story. You play the part of an investigative reporter, who is working on a story concerning murders which occurred in a mansion back in 1929. You arrive on the scene of the ruins of said mansion, along with the great granddaughter of the mansions former owner. Upon arriving, you both fall through a time portal, with both of you entering alternate dimensions which occur in 1929. Now the reporter is mistaken as the son of the former owner of the mansion. It's up to you/him to figure out what caused these murders, who the killer is, and figure out how to get back to his own present time of 2003. You will spend the entirety of your time in the mansion, talking to tons of residents and visitors. This is made easier by the fact that your character now has ESP abilities and can read the minds of people he interviews, as well as see past events by touching objects. If this all sounds ridiculous, it's because it is.

Before I explain why I hated Glass Rose, let me say at least a few positive things about the game. You can play this game with a mouse! Yes this is one of the few PS2 games that support mouse input. The mansion itself is exquisitely realized in total Art Nouveau style. It is created in rendered static images but with enough detail to sell the atmosphere convincingly. Secondly there are many CG movies that tell parts of the plot, and this CG movies are well made. The in-game polygonal character models are decent enough as well (although animated poorly). Voice acting rangers from decent to good, and the localization itself of such a volume of text is well translated. And that's all I have to say positive. Unless you consider it positive that the game's protagonist is portrayed by the drummer from the band Tokio. No, I don't know why Masahiro Matsuoka plays the lead character in Glass Rose. I bet he regretted it though. Speaking of music, Glass Rose has some decent little tunes in its OST. Unfortunately its OST consists of about five tracks in total. And you'll be tired of hearing those same five little tunes before the end of the first chapter.

For the negatives it's hard to know even where to begin. I mean when the funnest part of an adventure is its tangram mini-game, you're not doing so hot. One could write a thesis on how Glass Rose epitomizes everything wrong in how to create an adventure game. First and foremost would be the conversation system. Often as you interact with NPCs, the game displays their dialogue as text on screen. You must highlight portions of their text and press a button, and attempt to expand the conversation by doing so. This soon turns into a tedious game of hunt and peck just trying to advance the conversation. You also have the ability to use "Divine Judgement", which is simply highlighting words and pressing a different button. This attempts to use your ESP to uncover hidden secrets in said text. Whether you get it right or wrong, using Divine Judgement costs you mind points.

Ah yes, "mind points" which are actually your health points. If you run out of health points, you will basically die and have to restart the current chapter over again. This can potentially cost you hours of real life time if you didn't save often. There are shoddy quick time events which can also cost you mind points. Chapters themselves are divided into predetermined hours. Every hour has key events which must occur to advance to the next hour. If you fail to activate all these key events during an hour, the hour resets. When it resets it costs you mind points along with simply wasting your time backtracking to where you were before the hour reset.To recover mind points, sometimes magic butterflies appear randomly throughout the mansion. Clicking on these butterflies before they escape will add some points back to your mind point pool. I swear to you this is really in the game. Speaking of random things appearing, there are also "crystal tears" which sporadically appear throughout the mansion. Supposedly these are crystallized tears left behind by your partner as she wanders the mansion seeking yourself. The game tells you the more of these tears you collect, the more effect it will have on whatever ending you get. Collecting the tears soon becomes monotonous and you'll likely stop bothering with it before long.

As for the key gameplay, it consists of you wandering around the mansion, desperately searching rooms for NPCs to talk with. Rooms sporadically lock and unlock, you never know which rooms are open at any given time, unless you constantly consult your map. Furthermore NPCs may or may not appear depending on totally random requirements. You may need to speak to an NPC, but they won't appear because you didn't click on a shelf in a room on the second floor, and then click on a table in the basement, and THEN go in the room they are supposed to be. Or you might miss an item because despite the fact you examined a dresser ten times before, the item only appears at 8pm in that dresser AFTER you talk to someone about gardening. Nonsense like that is the rule not the exception. The way the scripting and key events works in Glass Rose is absolutely byzantine and ludicrous in the extreme. Glass Rose is simply the most unintuitive adventure game I've ever played, it takes random guesswork to an all time low. The developers clearly wanted the player to spend their time endlessly wandering the mansion, randomly searching rooms over and over, and clicking on every object they come across endlessly, until finally the next scripted even actually occurs. The mansion is huge, there are tons of rooms, and hundreds of objects to search. The odds are against you having fun, believe me. Another example of Glass Rose's brilliance... every time you change a location (which you do constantly) you are presented with a splash screen showing the location's name. You then have to click to leave the splash screen and go back to the game. You will do this hundreds of times. That's just a small example of how keen Glass Rose is to waste its player's precious free time.

What about the plot you say? Surely the plot makes up for this terrible "gameplay"? Nope. Sorry. Rika Suzuki failed miserably in producing a tale which intrigued this player. I've been a big fan of her work in other CiNG games, but Glass Rose's plot is nonsensical junk. Good luck keeping track of the motives of 25 NPCs at any given time. Yes TWENTY FIVE characters you're supposed to remember who's who and how they are related to the grand scheme. I'll go ahead and tell you it's not worth the effort. This game's ending has an insane plot "twist" that you couldn't see coming even if you tried. And that's because the ending is illogical. Perhaps you could have found some entertainment in the reams, and reams, and REAMS of endless diatribes all those NPCs have to say. Except for the fact you have to spend so much time meticulously dissecting every word they say, in an attempt to initiate the next scripted plot event to advance the story. Also in-game cutscenes and dialogue itself unravel at a snail's pace. And strangely despite Glass Rose being localized in English for the UK, the grammar is all Americanized and the voice actors are all American as well. Make of that what you will.

I know I've typed an awful lot, yet I still don't feel like I've adequately portrayed how terrible Glass Rose is. I have played a tremendous amount of adventure games in my day, but never one as wretched as Glass Rose. The incompetence of its game design simply boggles the mind. How in the world anyone involved in this game's production could have imagined it would be fun... I simply can't fathom. This is the most tedious and boring adventure game I've ever played by miles. Even when you throw your hands up in anguish and just start playing with a walkthrough, it's still not fun. You're probably wondering why I bothered to beat Glass Rose. Well it's simply because I wanted to say I'd beaten every adventure game CiNG was involved with. Well folks, now I have. And I find it deeply strange that my all time favorite adventure game, Hotel Dusk, was made by CiNG. And now my all time least favorite adventure game, Glass Rose, was also created at least in part by CiNG. Considering CiNG's track record though, I'm going to just write this one off as Capcom screwing it up. Or rather, Capcom Production Studio 3 that is. Glass Rose is simply a pile of miserable failure. Every rose has its thorns, but this is a rose entirely made of thorns.