Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi Review (PS3)
Visual novels aren’t exactly a well represented genre in the west, with otome games being even rarer. While the Hakuoki series has being going strong for many years in Japan and North America, only now can European gamers experience the violent, and romantic, tale of Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi.
In Hakuoki, you play as Chizuru, a young girl headed to Tokyo in search of her missing father. Once there, certain events transpire that lead to her being involved with the Shinsengumi, a group of samurai that protect the city. With the influence of the Tokugawa shogunate waning, the Shinsengumi have an uncertain future, and Chizuru’s appearance is just another problem to add to the list. Further complications come in the form of furies, violent warriors that stalk the streets of Tokyo at night, who seem to be linked to the Shinsengumi in some way.
Being a visual novel, most of your time spent with Hakuoki will be reading through the story, making various decisions at certain points in the story. These decisions determine your relationshipswith the members of the Shinsengumi, along with which endings you can get. Should you choose poorly, you can also be killed, so make sure to save often. You can save and load at any point in the game, so you can save before any choices that you have to make that may lead to a bad end. Buttons or the touchscreen can be used to advance the story or select dialogue options, though tapping A is usually the most preferable option.
There’s an interesting story to be told in Hakuoki, though you wont get the full picture until you’ve played through each characters route. Dialogue that you have already seen can be skipped, making repeat playthroughs less tedious. It’s worth going through again though, since each route allows you to fully understand each character and the world they inhabit. Further props need to be given to the excellent localisation, which takes thing futher than most I’ve seen. While I usually wouldn’t be happy with a game’s story being altered during localisation, Chizuru’s character has been made much more interesting in the English release. Considering that she’s the main character of this tale, it’s a welcome change, and it make the game more enjoyable as a result.
One thing that surprised me when I played Hakuoki is that the romantic elements take a backseat most of the time. It honestly feels like an otome game that’s trying to aim outside its usual playerbase at the same time, which it succeeds at. It’s the perfect series to introduce this genre to the majority of gamers, though that’s not to say that fans of romance will be left out. Each possible love interest is unique, and has their own charms, making each route an enjoyable read.
Being an updated version of Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom, Memories of the Shinsengumi adds in a few extras for its 3DS debut. Memories mode presents you with a few short stories, available from the get go, that shed a little more light on each character’s lives. They’re a nice addition for those that have played the original PSP game, but they don’t add much to the overall story. There’s also the option to take pictures and add frames to them containing the various love interests, which is only worth giving a quick try and nothing more. Moving on to more worthwhile features, there’s an ingame encyclopaedia that slowly fills with information as you progress though the story. It’s a handy resource, giving more insight into real life events and characters that are related to the story. Also available is a gallery of images you have unlocked, if you want to view them without having to return to a particular chapter.
Graphically, Hakuoki is decent. Character art is nice, as well as the images mentioned previously, but they suffer thanks to the 3Ds screen. Text can also be a little hard to read if playing on a regular 3DS, though this is unlikely to be a problem on an XL. Unsurprisingly, the 3D feature of the 3DS adds little too the game, since you’ll mostly be looking at at static characters and text.
While an otome game at heart, Hakuoki is the perfect game for those those that enjoy a good story, regardless of their gender. As long as you’re fine with having little control over the story, this tale of samurai and romance is sure to keep you hooked for many hours.
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