For starters, keep your wallet pocketed. This title is not worth the effort, which is a shame since its intent could’ve been an effective story. The open-world, action, RPG takes a harsh look at the philosophies of growing up; it presents a gritty contrast between a child’s and an adult’s perspective. The main issue with this title is how it gives you the freedom of an open-world experience but ultimately provides you nothing to do with that freedom. It feels like a barren wasteland where you wander around waiting for plot to happen at random.
Ringo Ishikawa, the protagonist, is the retired leader of a High School gang, though his buddies still treat him as their leader. They go to him with gambling debts, girl troubles, late night conversations, and gang rivalries.
Ringo and his gang are finishing up their senior year and everyone is struggling with standing on the precipice of adulthood. All but Ringo seem to be thinking about the future and how they want to contribute to society. This is the set up for the overall theme of the game which is: growing up.
The game is presented as an open-world experience that ultimately feels like a slice of life that lacks plot. It’s up to you what Ringo does for the next fifty days; you can get a job, improve your grades, hang out at the bar, fight with gangs, eat at local restaurants, or train at the gym. Time is a variable in these activities. You must keep track of the day and time for work schedules, school schedules, sleeping schedules, and business’ hours.
Sadly, participating in nearly all these activities ends up being a time-waster. Instead of creating mini-games, these moments require the player to sit and wait as a boring animation plays of Ringo doing whatever you tasked him with.
Casual conversations with the NPCs were the most rewarding moments of this game, but it was the only part of the game that mattered. Improving grades, getting a job, reading books, all resulted in essentially nothing. These activities had no lasting effects on anything.
Conversations as the only means of revealing plot and characterization, you’d think there would be a lot more of it. Conversations were brief and would be up to a 50/50 chance of something interesting coming up. The subject matter flipped between stereotypical tough guy talk and thought-provoking banter.
The strongest part of this game was the fighting mechanics which were average.
It was obvious that street fights were the creator’s focus. Why make it open-world then? If it was just a street-brawl game with some social commentary mixed in about the harsh realities of growing up, it would’ve been a successful game. But implementing a shallow open-world concept with the illusion that the player’s choice matters when it ultimately doesn’t came off as an immature prank. At its worse, it’s a broken promise between the game creator and the player.
One aspect that I found myself genuinely enjoying was how Ringo was able to interact with his environment. These were subtle moments that could be stumbled upon when messing around with the controls are exploring an area. You could read a book on a street bench or play pool with some friends at the bar.
Smoking was an oddly satisfying act in the game. It’s a trivial choice but it added a sense of individuality when you chose if and where to smoke. Leaning over your apartment deck while having a smoke and taking in the city-life below was uniquely serene. Again, this was all trivial, but it was the only part of the game that the player has any defining choice over.
The worst decision made in this game is making only one possible ending. The message of the ending could very well have nothing to do with the decisions the player makes and so its delivery is left substantially weak. The final scene is Ringo trying to round up his gang mates to get revenge on another gang for jumping one of their guys who ends up in the hospital. He either gets mixed replies or flat out rejections in response to joining in his fight.
Only Ringo shows up to challenge the gang and the screen fades to black as he is quickly outnumbered. There’s no way to win or change how this scene goes down. This intentional scene is meant to show how everyone except for Ringo is ready to grow up and move on from delinquency.
This would’ve been a powerful message if… Well, it still is a powerful message in theory, but it became less so since I played it like someone trying to reform their old ways. I focused only on school work and the job at the video store. I didn’t go out late at night unless a scene prompted it. I avoided gang fights unless a scene prompted it.
I was curious to see what would happen if Ringo stepped away from crime and pursued academics, especially since one of the opening scenes is a teacher scolding Ringo and his mate to improve their grades. The academic motivation was not reflected in any way by the game. This game was a waste of my time all the way to the end.
