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MetalPredat0r:
Hey guys. Just wanted to try something out. I want to be some sort of a reviewer in the near future, and feel that I can practice with these text reviews. I'll review games of any console/handheld/whatever as well as games of any generation, whether it be NES or PS4. These may or may not be iM@S -related, hence why its on the General Chatter board, so I can be as off-topic as I want. I will also review various movies and anime and even delve into some comic books and manga from time to time. I hope you all enjoy and give feedback if you want. As for me, my first review should be up shortly. Btw, nothing will be given a score because I feel that the review itself should speak my thoughts. I'll try my best to add images and humor so that reading walls of text don't seem at all boring. :P

MetalPredat0r:
The Judgment of Love Live! School Idol Festival
Played on a Samsung Galaxy S4 Smartphone
Developer: KLab
Publisher: Bushiroad
Release Date: April 16, 2013 (Japan); May 12, 2014 (North America)
Platforms: iOS, Android
Genre: Rhythm
Age Rating: N/A
The 2010s can easily be considered a Golden Age for Western Fans of idol anime/video games. We have multiple great things such as The Idolm@ster 2 coming out for PS3, making it more import-friendly, the Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F games being released to the West, officially translated versions of the Shiny Festa games for iOS platforms (even though they cost an arm and a leg each) as well as Hyperdimension Neptunia Producing Perfection coming to the West. It’s fantastic for us idol fans. One other idol franchise that has some western exposure recently is Love Live! School Idol Project.
For those not aware, Love Live! (exclamation point is part of the spelling) is a multi-media franchise co-developed by ASCII Media Works' Degenki G's Magazine, the music label Lantis, and the anime studio Sunrise. The basic premise is about nine high school girls from the ficitional school Otonokizaka Academy who form a school idol group whose main purpose is to gain enough popularity for their school to prevent it from shutting down. It’s a neat little concept and the anime series expands on this plot rather well, but we’re here to talk about video games here.

So, this game has essentially fallen under my radar for the longest time until I hear of this news.


Two million players in just under a year!? Jesus christ, many games DREAM to have those numbers! Then I heard that this game was getting an English release and, as a newcomer to the Love Live! universe, I decided to download it and give it a shot. How does the game hold up? Let’s find out Right now.

Story
The story revolves around you as a………Producer?... Student?... Administrator?... The game is never truly clear as to who you are. You’re simply just the protagonist that Honoka entrusted to….well, everything! Because the main characters do EVERYTHING!


Yes, Umi, you DO need my help in that area. And EVERY area. Do you want me to pick up your laundry too?

Story Mode in itself is…lack-luster. Really, its just a tutorial for the player character as almost every scene will end with the characters giving you advice on how to handle your job as Protagonist which translates to tutorial expositions. In addition, Story Mode has no gameplay to it and is just a means to unlock more content, such as music, money, etc., so it feels like a waste of space, imo.

Graphics
I have to say that the character images in story mode are rather….bland. I mean, they emote, but not as much as you’d want them to. Especially given the fact that the Love Live! anime LOVES its facial expressions.




Kinda makes this

look a bit on the lackluster side by comparison. I dunno, maybe I’m just sounding a bit nitpicky in this area…….
In addition, the overall game in itself doesn’t look very…….presentable as shown in the screenshot on the Gameplay section. I mean, its not ugly, but not very flashy either. The central game screen consists of a static background with buttons that contain pictures of your group members as buttons you have to press. Again, not hideous, but leaves a lot to be desired.

(Continued on next post)

MetalPredat0r:
Sound
The music for the game is pretty catchy. Of course, I’m talking about the songs that are played during the game’s Live Shows. The only problem I have, and this is just personal, is that Start:Dash!!! Isn’t playable until you beat Chapter 11 in Story Mode! COME OOOOON! That song is awesome and you guys know it! *sigh*
Where the sound truly shines, imo, is with the voice acting. The entire cast of the Love Live! anime series reprise their roles as the members of Muse and the Love Live! fan in me can definitely appreciate this, espeically for a small little mobile game such as this.

Gameplay
The game, at its core, is a rhythm game. However, let it be known that, for Android users, you must have both a non-rooted device as well as SOME sort of connection. The game will just refuse to work on rooted devices and you need a connection as the game likes to update and download software at a constant basis.

You will see this screen a grand total of three times in the first 15 minutes of the game.

Once you actually get into the game, you will first witness that your song selection is rather limited to just one song. To unlock more songs, you must clear chapters in the games story mode, which isn’t hard since Story Mode boils down to reading text. The core gameplay lies in the Live Shows.


The live shows act as a rather standard rhythm game. You touch the button at the corresponding moment, you hold down certain buttons, you tap two at once, etc. Now, I’m not too big on rhythm games, mainly because I am just AWFUL at them, but this game is at the very least easy to grasp and understand, even for the newbie like myself. There are other features within the game that allow you to customize your group, have them “Practice” (really just a spotlight flash with a drumroll) as well as allowing you to level up your bonds and skill for each idol. You can also gain more group members that are original to this game……… and they’re just that: group members. These girls do not have any character AT ALL outside of physical appearance. It would have been nice for them to at least have text box introductions, but nope. They’re just….there.

Million Live this ain’t………

The overall game is structured well, but I have to say…..it doesn’t keep me invested for a while. I mean, I have not touched this game as much as I’d like to and I just can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe it’s the lack of visual flare? Maybe its my lack of interest with rhythm games in the first place? I’m not too sure on that but School Idol Project is a game that I only play for about half an hour, stop, then move on and play something else. I mean, not that the game’s bad, its just……..not too engrossing for me.

Final Verdict
Love Live! School Idol Festival is a game that is nothing but a small little distraction for me. I may play it whenever I’m bored with nothing to do in class, but that’s about it. There are so many more mobile games that I can (and have) invested my time in.

Why, hello there, precious!

I will cut the game a bit of slack given the fact that it IS free-to-play. My expectations aren’t very high when it comes to these games as I usually expect nothing much from games of this caliber. All in all, give School Idol Festival a shot if you’re a fan of Love Live! or just idols in general. Otherwise, there are better games that you can get on the App/Google Play Store.

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