Collar X Malice - PlayStation Vita

This game was awesome!It did exactly what I wish all otome games would do, each route was different enough that it never felt repetitive. So great job.I really liked the art, the characters were interesting and different enough, and I really like that the focus was on solving the X-Day mysteries rather than the romance. The bromances in this game were unexpected, but really appreciated. And Hoshino even gets female friends, sure they mostly talk about her romances, but they also talk about meat and like getting drunk. It was pretty fun hanging out with them.But I will admit I ended up zoning out a lot during explanations about the crimes, mostly I focused on the empathy moments, and I would've liked a little more romance.In the first playthrough you are able to get three of the characters' routes, in the second playthrough you can get Shiraishi's route, and after you get all four routes you can get Yanagi's.I played Enomoto/Sasazuka /Okazaki/Shiraishi/Yanagi, and I'm glad I did. Enomoto & Sasazuka's routes reveal the least, while Okazaki/Shiraishi actually introduce you to higher ups in Adonis and show you a hooded Zero (the main bad). Yanagi's route reveals who Zero is and touches on the other characters overcoming their traumas through friendship rather than romance.There are a lot of bad ends, I was pretty surprised and after I got all the main ones and a few extras I ended up just looking up a walkthrough to get the rest.Of all the guys Sasazuka's interactions with my brother were the funniest, I really liked how similar they were and how Sasazuka treated him like a kid.But, personally Okazaki was my favorite, not just because I loved him, but he and Hoshino really work on their relationship. They fight, they make up, and they change each other.Which brings me to the things that could be improved. I really wish otome games would have an option were you just speed jump to choices rather than having to fast forward through so much dialogue, Collar x Malice has long chapters which was nice but not so nice when I went back to get bad ends. It got pretty tedious. But I do like that you can jump to different chapters and choose whether your affection is high or low.I feel a bit complicated about Zero, once Zero is revealed and we get to hear journal entries and monologues I honestly thought it was going to be revealed that Zero was suffering from a brain tumor, that's how crazy Zero came off.There are some translation errors, words missing from sentences or words added to sentences or dialogue being credited to the wrong character, but it's not distracting or overly prevalent so no big deal.There were some irritations, like one character's past is mentioned but it never goes into as much details as I wanted. I left pretty unsatisfied. And I would've liked some context for how a character was spoiler by a character so much spoiler than him.Yanagi's route was the least romantic, and I was fine with that, got some nice friendship scenes between him and Shirashi, but his whole connection with Hoshino felt a bit cheaty. Sure it's hinted in the prologue he knows Hoshino, but their past is never mentioned outside of his route and is directly responsible for his trauma. He also reminded me of a more sexy mature version of the childhood friend in Amnesia & Period Cube. I liked him as a boss, as a friend, but as a lover I just felt meh. But moving on.Also some of the bad ends don't happen instantly, so there were times I didn't really I was on a bad end route and just thought I only picked the wrong choice to raise up the romance target's affection/trust. Part of why I missed out on some bad endings.I really liked this game, the routes never felt repetitive, Hoshino had relationships outside of her romances (like with her bro and superior and the girl friendships) and I enjoyed most of the endings. Just a warning, Enomoto & Sasazuka main bad ends aren't really that bad, but Okazaki & Shirashi's are dark, really dark (but I actually really liked them...). Yanagi's bad end, I'm not really sure how to view it. I guess it's not as dark as the really dark ends but it's not as light as the light ends. I also wish Shirashi's good ending was better, but it's not like it could've ended any other way I guess.Wish there was a Zero route, there's a Zero ending that you need to get to unlock all the CGIs, but a Zero route could've been fun even though Zero is definitely crazy. But when I think of all the potential bad endings I can't help but get excited.

Spoiler Free (though I do reference several other Otomes)Okay, so, I have to say, after the Period Cube release, I didn't have high hopes for Collar X Malice and considered canceling so many times. I'm really glad that I didn't cancel though because I haven't enjoyed playing an Otome as much as this one since Code Realize (which is still one of my favorites but has been knocked down to number two on my list.)Pros:Amazing StoryLong Routes with little repetitionInteresting Main CharactersBeautiful ArtworkInteresting AntagonistCons:Spelling Errors and Occasional Poor Localization.So, as mentioned above, the story itself is amazing, which is why immediately thought of Code Realize. There is a depth to it that sort of sucks you in and keeps you there - the only reason I couldn't finish this game in one fell swoop was because of the sheer length in chapters and my desire to savor every moment. I did not find myself mindlessly clicking through the text to get whatever CG I wanted either - I genuinely was interested in not only my beau but why everything was happening to our protagonist (whom I did like decidedly less than the Code Realize Protagonist, but you can make your own judgment on that.)Secondly, I loved the length of the routes, as well as the originality. It isn't like Code Realize where far, far too much of the story is the common route but resembles Amnesia: Memories in this respect. The common route is very short, and after that, you get a completely original story, complete with a mystery to solve and bad guys to arrest! Again, I would say this is most like Amnesia, being as there isn't really any overlap, unlike Norn9.The fact that the characters are interesting is also a huge help as far as I'm concerned. I cannot tell you how hard it is for me personally to read through something and not have any interest who I'm reading about. But I truly enjoyed every route (okay, some more than others) and wouldn't mind playing through once more.Next up: The Artwork! Wow, I really loved this Artwork - I even went through the bad routes/blighted love routes so I could get all of the CG's (and I usually won't touch anything short of a happy ending with a ten-foot pole, because I cry easy.) It's truly very beautiful, though some of the artwork could definitely be considered a little disturbing.Now, while I do love the story and the artwork, please let me repeat: it was more than a little morbid. If you're a parent and your teenage daughter or son is asking about this, I would maybe think it over, particularly if they are under the age of 15. It's not horribly sexually, but you might want to check youtube for some walkthroughs or something to see if you think your kid can handle this.Speaking of morbid, let me just very briefly bring up the antagonist without giving any spoilers: it's nice to have an antagonist who is not inherently evil. Some of you may disagree with that analysis, but there was a rhyme and reason to everything he did.I would recommend you go through the routes as follows: Mineo Enomoto, Takeru Sasazuka, Kei Okazaki, Kageyuki Shiraishi, and Aiji Yanagi. Though you can certainly just make the choices that you wish to see whom you end up with (as I did.) I would, however, sincerely suggest you save Shiraishi's route for second til last.My only real complaint about this game is there seems to be an unusual number of translation glitches. I noticed for instance, that one character still referred to the protagonist by the default name even though I had changed it, and a few other little glitches that I find distracting. However, I tend to notice these in all otomes, and given the sheer amount of text, I did not feel this warranted a loss of a star.If you are a fan of otomes and visual novels, you really need to ahve Collar X Malice in your collection.

Love this game and I am determined to complete all the stories. Another great otome game to get

If you like VN this is excellent game.

I've been waiting for this to get released for a while.Compared to a lot of other otome game titles, there's less romance here and there was much more focus on the overall mystery plot. That's the strength and disadvantage of this game: on one hand, it is an otome game title that can be recommended to non-otoge fans, but much of the controls are still visual novel choice style and there is not much room for exploration and not a lot of choices (despite having more endings than most otome games). There is "trigger mode" a feature in the game where one basically times Ichika's shots. But that's more of a feature really. This is a game that can't seem to decide what it really wants to be. Nonetheless, the narrative is pretty strong, and present compelling arguments about corruption and the dispensation of justice. One way that this could improve is that if only the writers gave the protagonist much more option to explore certain moral choices (ie if Ichika can side with Adonis), but as this is an otome game wherein choices tend to diverge with guy can Ichika date or fail at doing so--a design choice really in otome games the romantic scenarios and the characters tend to be written first before the actual world--I would see why this is developed this way. Such a shame though. This could have been a game that could have been so much more.The romance-able boys in this game still fit in a number of character types (Tsundere, the baka, Ukyo-style yandere, etc) but they don't strictly conform to these types, and that made the characters likeable than most. Ichika, the heroine of the game and player character, pretty much follows Otomate's badass-but-one-that-does-not-outshine-the-boys kind of badassery (others similar characters like this include Code Realize's Cardia and Sweet Fuse's Saki).Gameplay time can be around 30-60 hours which is longer than the usual otome game.There are some misspellings and types in the localization but they're not too distractingStill, it is a great game to pick up and it's been one of my favorite otome game releases so far this year.

Bought the game upon release and OMG LOVE THE STORY LINE! It may feel complicated at first but you are provided with every tool to reread and go through clues in case of doubt. Each character may start off with the feel stereotype feel to some but the moment you go through the story you end up with so much more originality and action!!The main character is a woman with solid great values and amazing marksmanship (wich you'll have to use at least once per storyline) so it makes the stories spicier.This is a bittersweet type of game and just the Mature audience had me throwing money at my screen. Zero regrets.

This is a great Otome game. Honestly, I would've rated it five stars, but there are many grammar and editing mistakes in the game, which affected my enjoyment of the game. I could find another mistake only five dialogue lines after the previous mistake.Nonetheless, this game is good enough that I can ignore all these mistakes. The art is beautiful, the story is intriguing, and the characters are the best. In fact, the characters is enough for anyone to love this game alone. Additionally, Collar x Malice is a lengthy game, so you won't finish it quickly. I've only completed three routes, but I've already had 50+ hours of game-play. This game had managed to make me laugh and cry, so I definitely recommend Collar x Malice.