| skysenshi (06.16.2004)
Looooooong
Another bishoujo game set amidst a flurry of high school angst.
I was, of course, ready to dismiss this as one of those boring
ones that have nothing substantial to offer beyond beautiful
graphics. For one thing, some paths tend to get hideously
long, not to mention many of the characters are cookie-cutter.
But let’s take a closer look, shall we?
Audiovisuals
Hands down, Private Nurse boasts of exquisite artwork and
stellar voice-acting performances. The CGs are all wonderfully
rendered. There really isn’t much to say; words are
nearly meaningless when it comes to describing such beauty.
I only have a couple of complaints in this department. One
would be the jagged edges on the character drawings, as if
they had been cut up haphazardly and pasted on the backgrounds.
And the other one is that the uncolored sketches look better
than the CGs. I’m talking about the breasts in particular.
The women’s CGs have boobies so large, they look awfully
imbalanced. It’s a good thing they featured rough sketches
of the characters, though. They provide an air of surrealism
to the entire package.
Story and Characters
Characters? Typical. What we have here are a sickly geek, a
nurse who doesn’t have much of a personality, and a
childhood friend who has Akane tendencies. The girls have
already fit the mold of your typical anime heroines. Heck,
even the concept of a mysterious woman with supernatural past
has been rehashed over and over and over again in numerous
bishoujo games that I wasn't surprised anymore. There is nothing
new in terms of characterization, although I must say I'm
a bit more sympathetic towards Ayano.
Now this girl is where most of my entertainment came from.
I was expecting to hate another Narusegawa/Akane,
at first thinking that she would be the generic tomboyish/violent
girlfriend. Instead, I ended up crying over her situation
when I realized she isn’t as selfish as the first two
popular anime bitches I mentioned.
Another interesting character to note is the one I ended
up with on the first try. Nope, she’s not mentioned
at the back panel of the CD-ROM cover, but I guess this immature
adult, who discovers self-worth at a very late age, is a fresh
change from all that bubblegum teenage angst we’ve all
been subjected to. Hehe, I’ll just leave you guys to
guess who she is, since spoilers would be out of the question.
Overall, the story isn’t fresh. I mean, the sick kid
routine has been used countless times already. Thank gawd,
a few quirks here and there helped keep me awake from time
to time. Just a bit of a warning: Private Nurse is looong.
Not as long as that infernal Divi-Dead, but it can whisk you
off to Dreamland if you aren’t in the mood.
Gameplay
Well, compared to the newer bgames that came out in the market
recently, Private Nurse doesn’t really have much to
offer besides that uber useful Skip Messages
option. The Save System is a bit frustrating, as it loads
for the Day/Chapter, not at the exact time you actually saved.
So if there are multiple choices within the day, expect to
take the choices again when you load. I felt most annoyed
everytime I lost the RPS (yes, there’s a silly little
mini-game in there) and would have to go back to the beginning
of the day.
You can’t use the keyboard (space bar or enter button)
to skip to the next dialogues, which means you’ll be
literally mouse-clicking through the entire thing. So annoying
for someone who eats breakfast while she plays, especially
when the said person would have to use her left hand to do
stuff that her right hand usually does. But that’s just
me being cranky and all.
For beginners, I would suggest acquainting yourself with
the habit of right-clicking. That’s where all your preferences
lie, from the voices, to the BGMs, down to which messages
should be skipped. Oh and, yes, that’s how you save
your game.
Hentai Scenes
One big object of dissatisfaction for yours truly. See, there
are 30 days all in all, and you wouldn’t be getting
laid until about the 20th or so. Not too shabby for those
who are after the story, but I’m pretty sure you’d
be miffed, too, once you realize that the h-scenes for days
21, 22, 23, 24 (or something like that) were actually just
the same scenarios equipped with different dialogues. Those
who got the Maria ending would prolly agree that they had
gotten the better deal since Maria offers variety. (Gawd,
I sound like I’m selling garden fresh vegetables here.)
Either way, I’m not satisfied. As a hentai fan, I demand
more, especially from a game of Private Nurse’s length.
Update: My friend, Rowena
Lei, told me a tip about the hentai scenes. It seems that
you have to reload the h-scenes to get a different CG everytime.
Apparently, I was rather unlucky that the same frames loaded
for me.
Extras
Aside from the usual CG Galleries and Music Galleries, Private
Nurse has this new feature called The After Diaries.
Basically, it contains sub scenarios that weren’t included
in the main storyline. I think those who really want to get
to know the characters better would find this pretty nifty.
On the other hand, those who are after the sex alone wouldn’t
get disappointed either because there a few hot sequences
in the diaries, too.
Experiment with the game and see where it leads you. You
might even notice the Random Reaction and Comic
Display that the Help Section proudly introduces. According
to the Help Section, Comic display is, and I quote: “A
new evolution in event scenes! You'll get an extra kick out
of viewing small graphics simultaneously on your screen. We've
chosen some of the best graphics and scenes, and have put
them together like a comic book. You might even think you're
seeing movie film!”
Random Reaction on the other hand makes you, and I quote
again: “…enjoy different reactions from the
heroines everytime you play the game. Especially at sex scenes,
the reactions of the heroines change, depending on their experiences.
You'll never get bored with these sexy girls. Get ready for
passionate temptations!” Not that I actually noticed
these two while I was playing, but then again it might be
a different experience for other people.
On a side note: Private Nurse was one of those fortunate
bishoujo games that were ported to the Sony Playstation 2.
If you get a copy for the PS2, however, do not expect hentai
scenes. |
