Heartstring Bugs

Heartstring Bugs (Free, by Unbroken Hours)

After a disappointing first year of high school, Elly (name changeable) has decided to break out of her shell. This is help, or hindered, by an alien life form giving Elly the ability to see people's emotions. This alien virus, Vi by name, is also staying at Elly's house. However, most people cannot see Vi...

First I'd like to start by saying I do not like raising stats games (unless it's by Winter Wolves, but different subject) and this game illustrates exactly why I don't like these type. While I do appreciate the fact that the creator gave us plenty of time to get the stats where they need to be for the best ending, however we were given too much time I believe. To get the best ending for a guy, you have to get a selected stat above three hundred, and a secondary stat above one seventy-five. Playing the game in a relaxed manner, I was able to get all the stats (four of them) above three hundred.

The game is spread out over nearly three full years - it starts in September I believe and ends in June - and, really the only important date-y stuff happens from the third Halloween and on, as long as you are dating. There's four different meters you need to increase to get the full story cycle of the guy, however, three of them practically fill themselves. I usually had those three filled by the second Christmas, so I spent almost a full year with little to do.

The good news is there is a skip function on the game, one where you do not need to hold the 'ctrl' key down to skip. However, if you skip through conversations with your two friends, you won't know which guy they are talking about when you need to give your opinion (the way to increase that fourth pesky little meter) and also, you won't know whose birthday you're shopping for and run the risk of buying them an inappropriate gift.

One the good side of things, this was a very realistic feeling school game. You were immersed in things like clubs and arguments and - slightly unusual for these type of games - the guys you didn't chose to date keep popping up. Just as they would in a real high school.

Also, each guy had a very unique personality, they were all vastly different from each other - behaving in different ways. It was very nice to see how well thought out the characters were.

My favorites (in order of favorite to least) are: Blaze, Huang, Lucas, Dimitri and Chase. I didn't hate any of them, but - without a doubt - Dimitri and Chase did little for me in the way of romance. Dimitri would be an awesome friend to have though. Chase, even if I thought I was going to like him, when I got to his story arc, I was left laughing hysterically. I do understand why the creator did what she did, but for me it didn't work. I do know that Chase is one of - if not the - most popular guys, so it might just be me.

If you've got a lot of patience and some free time, you could do worse than this game.

Official Website

A bit more information

-Amy