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 Welcome
to snow bunny heaven! Where the ladies are hotter than the tubs and
the guys… well, you get the idea.
Sprung is a quirky Japanese dating game which comes
as a launch title for the NintendoDS, a little unusual in itself
since not many games like this are released outside of
Japan
- especially into the mainstream audience.
You
begin your journey by selecting your character – playing as
either Becky or Brett - and get given a brief storyline as to
exactly why you go on a skiing holiday with your friends.
The object of the game is, of course, to date many people on your
holiday and eventually find the man/woman of your dreams. The
Levels progress in Scenes; small objectives to complete dispersed
with some pretty cool comic book-esque artwork. There is no
variation in how you play the levels, it’s pretty much just
select what you wish to say on the Touch Screen, trying to choose
what the game deems the right response - which is a little
disappointing seen as its closest competition, Project Rub -
also a launch title - is much more varied and puts the Touch Screen
to better use. Many of the Scenes you are presented with become
little more than infuriating; trying to get all 4 girls numbers on
one of Brett’s’ missions for the tenth time in a row often
makes you question why you carry on playing, and any sense of
achievement you get from it is overtaken by more of a relief that
you’ve finally, finally managed to get all the phrases you
say to all the girls in the right order - whilst others give enough
variety in-so-far as the tasks you have to complete without the
title getting too boring or repetitive. Occasional Scenes are
genuinely funny - the cat fight competition in particular is
fuelled with laugh-out-loud moments, seeing you attempting to make
your opponent cry!
There
is a selection of bonus Scenes which don’t directly affect the
story but if you do well you can earn extra items or artwork from
Scene Endings, which look really good in themselves. The
characters, both those you play as and those you interact with, are
well rounded and very different; ranging from super-slut Kiki to
bumbling geek Erica, and the pictures
you get at the end of the Scenes reflect that. Some sketches just
give the player more of idea to what’s going on whereas others
give you an insight into what the characters think or how they see
themselves.
While
many may instantly be dismayed by the two-dimensional stylings and
lack of interaction within the Scenes, the graphics perfectly
convey both the characters emotions and your own sense of
progression. Some may feel that their new handheld processing
power-house is deserving of far more, but Sprung feels
perfectly at home within its own parameters, and defiantly conveys
a sense of originality.
The
title is an enjoyable game to play, but it certainly wouldn’t
appeal to everyone. If you want a lot of action or adventure from a
game I would have to say that this probably wouldn’t be your
thing, or at least you wouldn’t give it long enough to get into
it properly and I must say I think even someone who enjoyed playing
the game wouldn’t love it so much to play through it again to get
all the unlockables. But if you’re stuck for something to play on
a rainy summer day you could go far worse. Who knows, you may even
pick up some pretty good chat up lines!
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