Brooktown High: Senior Year

One of my fondest memories of visiting Tokyo when I was 14 was looking through the number of games that, sad to say, would probably never see the light of day in North America. From a long list of role-playing games to horse racing titles, it was interesting to see the differences in tastes when it came to game genres. One interesting genre was the dating simulator where you took your avatar (be it boy or girl) through a series of scenarios in an attempt to win the heart of a cutie of the opposite sex. Therefore, it was such a thrill when I heard about Brooktown High for the PSP, a game that places you in the role of a high school student trying to find love in the hallways of an American school.

You start the game by picking a gender for your avatar and then selecting a very slim number of character options that range from hair to pouts. You then go through a quick survey that’s suppose to determine what type of person you are and where you’ll fit among the various cliques in school. If you’re more prone to do things physically, for instance, you’ll obviously fit right in with the athletic group. If you’re the rebellious sort who doesn’t care about popularity and school in general, well, you’ll fit right in with the misfit crowd of Goths (albeit a prettier version of a Goth … which I’ll call Goth Lite). Then again, it doesn’t matter what your personality is like because fitting in is just a question of figuring out what everyone is interested in and that’s not a hard thing to do … but I’ll get into that in a moment.

Your room is the place where you’ll spend most of your time and it is here that you can keep track of everything from your study habits to selecting a school club to join and finally where you will do most of your shopping. That’s right; you won’t be hitting the malls with your BFF (darn!) and instead will buy all your clothing and accessories from your computer. Wouldn’t it have been cool to spend the weekend hanging out at the mall, shopping for clothes and meeting new people? This is but one of many missed opportunities that Brooktown High misses out on since the characters in this game all seem to talk about a mall we never really get to see.

You’ll meet most of the game’s few characters on a school week and even then, you only have a very limited amount of time to make an impression. The object of the game, of course, is hooking up and if you do manage to make a first good impression with the object of your desire then you’ll have a chance to add him or her in your cell phone so you can chat with them during the weekend in your room. Hooking up with the cutie of your dreams is a somewhat lengthy process where you’ll engage them in a conversation. You’ll be given a short list of topics to talk about and it won’t take you long to figure out that different characters have different interests. The reason it isn’t hard to figure out each character is the fact that they’re all bad stereotypes. Biscuit, for example, wears a bikini and visor and plays on the school’s volleyball team so she’s obviously interested in sports. Then there’s Nigel who is the artistic type so he’s obviously more likely to enjoy a conversation about painting.

There’s more to the game than just dating, though. You’ll have classes to attend to but don’t expect to be wrapped up in cool Bully-styled mini-games. Here, you’ll just head to class on time (or risk getting tazered by the campus robot) and find time to study when you get back home. There are mini-games here but sadly not a lot of them. One mini-game is a poor rip-off of Dance Dance Revolution while another is a kissing mini-game where you control a pair of lips. They’re fun, yes, but you’ll still feel as though there could have been more to this game than simply waking up, go to school, stop and chat, hit the books then go to sleep. Really, no matter what gender you pick the game seems to play the same with very little surprises along the way.

Graphically, Brooktown High has its own unique look and the character models (while sporting some big heads) are detailed wonderfully. You won’t see many facial expressions, though, but you’ll know when you hit a sour note with a potential hook up. The environments look good as well, although you won’t see very much of the school until you activate main events such as the prom or a beach volleyball game. There are some amusing moments in the game when you make out with your chosen hottie but instead of seeing a whole make-out session, we’re treated to some occasionally hilarious footage that gives you the idea of what the couple is doing.

The game comes complete with a number of licensed music from artists like Damone or Dashboard Confessional and it’s not bad if this type of rock is your cup of tea. There are some sound effects that will fill your ears but it’s the voice acting that will sound a bit grating. Fortunately, there’s not a lot of voice acting here and you’ll find it good since most of the stereotypes featured here sound like, well, stereotypes. In fact, the lingo sounds pretty dated as if this high school was stuck in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Brooktown High is wasted potential that would have made for a truly interesting and enjoyable title that fits on the palm of your hands. Instead, we get a convoluted story that doesn’t really rise above the simple gameplay design that makes conversations so drab. I like a good dating simulator and this game has all the right pieces that should have completed the game but with nothing much going for it I can’t see myself recommending this game to the pre-teen crowd and beyond.

Gameplay: 5.5
It doesn’t matter how many times you play the game, every character you encounter seems to say the same thing. If you’re a boy or girl, courting the opposite sex is simply guessing what each stereotyped character liked to talk about (here’s a hint: the jock likes to talk about fitness and sports).

Graphics: 7.5
The character models are actually pretty cute in their own unique way and the environments are nicely detailed. The bad news is that there are very few clothing options for your character and you’ll be seeing the same environments throughout the experience.

Sound: 6.0
The licensed music is not bad at all if you like the style of rock served throughout the game. The voice acting is limited to a few sentences only so the rest is left to text dialogue. Speaking of the dialogue, the lingo feels so 1990s.

Difficulty: Easy
Very little skill is needed to make out with that hottie and figuring out what character is interested in what topics isn’t difficult at all. Even getting a good grade in physics is a breeze so the only thing you have to worry about is being on time for class.

Concept: 5.0
Oh my God, like, isn’t Brett a total cutie? Hooking up in this high school isn’t innovative in the way most Japanese dating simulators are and that’s a shame. The ability to play as a guy or girl is great but the clothing and accessory options are slim. I wish there were more mini-games because the ones here are, like, so totally killer.

Overall: 5.5
Sadly, Brooktown High for the PSP just doesn’t manage to bring us an innovative dating sim that’s not just interesting but fun as well. This is actually too bad since the setting feels right and so do the situations but the overall execution makes this a game that had a lot of potential of being an enjoyably different title worth the money.