October 2, 2011

First impression: Uta no prince-sama ♪ Repeat

Made by: Broccoli
Genre:
Otome, School, Romance, Mini-game
Summary: Haruka gets accepted into Saotome Gakuen, a school for gifted people to become idols or musicians. Her life long dream is to become a songwriter and she gets paired up with one of the boys for the next year to try to aim for the top.

Note: First impression means I've only finished a few routes and not all the endings. I've also only seen the 4 first episodes of the anime, so please go easy on me  ^^;

Final Score:
Story 5/10

So I only played Otoya, Masatos and Natsukis route, the reason being was troubled by the story. You can't really call it story either actually. The game plays out over a whole year, which is way too long and it ends up not feeling cohesive. To me it felt more like seeing random events with the guy of your choice, playing mini-games and collecting points at the same time.
Not boring, but it loses its charm after the third time.

UtaPri Repeat is a very silly game and I recommend not trying to take it too seriously: The principal, Shining Saotome (voice by the amazing Wakamoto) jumps through/into walls/roofs/windows, flies around in a helicopter spying on the students, ties Haruka to a rocket and threaten to send her off to space if the idols doesn't cooperate and even more crazy things that I even can't explain. The characters are very likable but the they often turn into shojo-manga stereotypes when you get later into the game. The classic "I'll scare you off because I like you/can't be with you"-situation takes place and the heroine runs away crying "Noo! You're not yourself! It's a lie! No!" which made me go ( ´_ゝ`)

Otoya is the classic happy-go-lucky guy and probably my favorite too (I honestly wouldn't mind having such a sweet guy as a boyfriend). Saotome Gakuen have rule that the students can't fall in love, and in Otoya's route he and Haruka try to prove the principal wrong, love is just as important as music.

So Masato is always competing against Ren, another rich guy from the S class (Everyone mentioned up untill now goes in A class). Masato's dad own a big company and Ren is his rival since way back. When Masato's dad one day shows up and yells at him for wasting his time with music, he looses all confidence. The rest of the route is about how Masato tries to become his own person and not be his fathers puppet anymore.


Music 7/10 
While the background music wasn't anything that made a impression, the songs for each guy that you learn through playing the game was very nice. The mini-games consist out of 3 challenges; Button pressing, song writing and a music quiz. I had some trouble with the music quiz at times, but manged to get an A or B at least orz. (If you have trouble there are always guides online).
I'm a hardcore fan or rythmn games and I have to say that Utapri was very well done. It's not Project Diva, but for an otome game, I really enjoyed it. I wouldn't have minded a little more variety though, and I was a bit sad to find out Maji Love 1000% wasn't in the game.

Art 6/10
After seeing the art in UtaPri Repeat compared to the original, it's a huge improvment. That being said, I can't say I enjoyed it very much. The sprites got very heavy shading and looks very anime-ish. The background on the other hand got a totally different style and so does the CGs. This all together makes the game feel a bit lacking in the visual department.

Voices 8/10 
Miyano Mamoru ,Suzumura Kenichi, Terashima Takuma, Wakamoto, the list could continue. The voices are great to put it simply, and one of the game strongest points.
 
Total: 7/10
Uta no Prince-sama is best described as an easy-going, fun and light-hearted game. The characters are likable, even if they end up being cliché at times. Mini games and collecting points are two big factors in this game which I enjoyed a whole lot. It's the type of game you play while your waiting for the bus or taking a break.

2 comments:

Usagi said...

"The classic "I'll scare you off because I like you/can't be with you"-situation takes place and the heroine runs away crying "Noo! You're not yourself! It's a lie! No!" which made me go ( ´_ゝ`)"

Oh yes, I remember how hard I face-palmed at that scene. (= . =)''

"UtaPri Repeat is a very silly game and I recommend not trying to take it too seriously: The principal, Shining Saotome (voice by the amazing Wakamoto) jumps through/into walls/roofs/windows, flies around in a helicopter spying on the students, ties Haruka to a rocket and threaten to send her off to space if the idols doesn't cooperate and even more crazy things that I even can't explain."

I think Cecile's route deserves a special mention in that topic too. xD It's just WTF all over the place lol. (> n <)||

Yumii said...

@Usagi-tan
I know right? After Masato's route I thought "Oh, glad I got that out of the way" but then the same thing happened in Natsuki's route and later Tokiya's too.

I tried to describe Cecile's route (only read the beginning though) but I ended up removing it before posting the review, it's just so random lol.

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