I never thought I’d ever play a dating simulator in my life, especially not a second instalment like "The Fame Game II: L.A. Heartbreaker" (you can comfortably dive in even if you’ve never played the first one). Yet here I am, probably due to that persistent urge to engage with unpleasant things that often flares within me, or perhaps simply for masochistic reasons: let me leave that choice to you. The reality? I’ve never felt so thoroughly mocked by a video game, by its laziness and its absurdity, especially when I expected at least something pleasant to watch and follow. But let’s take a closer look.
Warning: the game is rated 16+ due to various explicit references and scenes in which the girls are semi-nude. In the review, I will make no reference to these situations, but I feel it’s important to mention this.
Plot
The title of Interactive Films takes us into the shoes of He Shuhan, an international student from a modest family with a dream: to become rich and surrounded by many beautiful girls. This dream comes true when, after risking a collision with a limousine, the said vehicle emerges Ayaka, who will mistake him for her fiancé, whose name is the same as the protagonist at this point, Shuhan is forced to play along and pretend to be what he is not.
Facing a premise like this, one might expect anything from six chapters: why doesn’t Ayaka recognise her own fiancé? Or how will our protagonist lie, having no knowledge of the world he’s been thrown into? None of that. None of these questions deserve an answer. Because, despite the charming opening, the game focuses primarily on introducing the girls, without truly justifying their presence, their intentions or proposals. In short, we’ll be completely at the mercy of the game and its developers’ wild ideas, something that, in me, has caused a lot of boredom mixed with discomfort. In particular, there are some subplots that made me roll my eyes, but we’ll talk about them later.
Characters (SPOILER)
-
The girls we will meet during our story are exactly five, distinguished by acting skills worthy of a YouTube video from 2012:
-
Ayaka, described as the '"mafia heir"', is the first girl we meet. Ignoring the fact that it’s never explicitly stated why she should be a mafiosa (though it’s implied solely and exclusively by the presence of two bodyguards, as if the mafia were just this). She is kind and innocent, and she is our first choice the game offers;
-
Mia, our personal assistant who knows something about our past (it’s unclear what) and oscillates between manipulating us with this secret to do what she wants and protecting us and covering for us when we need it. Her subplot is one that annoyed me, so SPOILER: her vulnerability is the male touch, so if the protagonist touches her, her skin becomes blazing hot and she faints. Therefore, Ayaka, Mia and the protagonist arrange to desensibilise Mia by blindfolding her and touching her in turn. I swear I’ve never heard a worse excuse to touch a girl;
-
Camille, the model tosta e vendicativa interested in our main character’s inheritance. She is nearly marginal, but even with her something happens to me that feels absurd, and indeed particularly unsettling if ever introduced by more prominent production houses. Again SPOILER: since Ayaka, Mia and Camille were bored at home, they decided to play a game together, namely a kind of Dungeons and Dragons. Which wouldn’t have been a problem in itself, if only the entire sequence hadn’t been generated with artificial intelligence. The result is, clearly, a mess constantly out of focus, horribly ugly to watch. It’s pointless to dwell on the scene’s analysis because it wasn’t made by them, but they merely wrote a prompt and treated it as good enough;
-
Claudia, the girl boss and NOSTRA SORELLA MAGGIORE NON BIOLOGICA for the week. Is there any need to explain what bothers me about this character? I believe it’s clear. She also has a subplot utterly stupid and perfect for those who enjoy the infantile sister kink, but I’ll skip the spoiler for you.
-
Li Sisi, our ex girlfriend sent by our parents to keep an eye on us, whom Camille happens to meet and uses to manipulate us. She’s also nice and affectionate, but has a serious issue: despite Li Sisi speaking Chinese, Camille (like all the others who speak only English) can understand her during conversations and even intervene, creating this utterly unjustified and inconsistent mixture of languages for the plot.
-
Gameplay
On gameplay, being more of an interactive film than a game, there’s not much to discuss. Fundamentally, the choices are trivial and absurd, having no significant impact on the plot, and there are only two genuinely interactive moments. However, highly appreciated is the ability to control the storyline whenever we pause, along with the freedom to replay all the segments we’ve previously experienced. Additionally, there’s a sort of "feelings archive" where we can review our statistics with the girls and their thoughts about the story we’re pursuing. Depending on how much time we spend with the girls, we’ll obtain 3 types of ending: the perfect ending, which also includes a bonus video, the terrible ending, and the "middle path" ending. That’s it.
Table of Contents
"The Fame Game II: L.A. Heartbreaker" is the result of Interactive Films' laziness, starting from the unconvincing plot, overly obsessed with overwhelming the player with events rather than explaining itself, and ending with overuse of artificial intelligence. The actresses' performances are the tip of the iceberg, the stereotypical mafia references the cherry on top. But hey! Pretty girls! What's the matter, really?
Conclusion
In conclusion, even for those who love the genre, this title is a dud. You’ll only experience boredom, confusion, and a bit of annoyance after 4 hours of gameplay. So, save yourself these 12.25 euros and play something else.
About the Author
