Tokimeki Check in!

The Good
Tokimeki Check In!'s character design stands out as its strongest element. Many players have commented that they couldn't put the game down until they had seen every ending. There were a couple that I personally didn't need to see, but overall I think that Crowd did an excellent job of filling the game with a large variety of attractive and interesting female leads. Generally, I will have one or two favorite characters in a bishoujo game, and will be indifferent about the rest. Not so here - of the nine female characters (one "character" actually being a pair), I liked all but a couple and would have trouble picking a favorite (it's probably Kyoka, though).

Crowd also did a very good job of differentiating between the characters in their personalities and individual storylines. The girls' personality types don't bleed together as they often do in "pick from harem and woo" bishoujo games. That's a lot of what has driven people to play until they have seen each ending - it's about seeing the stories as much as it is unlocking the CGs. The game has about 20 endings in all.

The artwork here is also a strong point. I can name at least a half-dozen US-released bishoujo games with better graphics, and you won't find many special CGs outside of the sex scenes, but what's there looks very nice indeed.

The Bad
What Tokimeki Check In! gives in variety, it takes away in length. The game is quite short, and you can play it through in about 1-2 hours. Additionally, while the stories are quite nice, the choices required to woo a given girl are usually very unclear, and you will probably need to draw a tree, save and load repeatedly, or just use a walkthrough in order to see all of the endings. I eventually used a walkthrough.

The Bottom Line
Tokimeki Check In is a cute game with lots of attractive girls, and nicely rendered artwork. While I am not ecstatic about the game like some other bishoujo game fans are, I can recommend it if you have already played through the first-tier titles in the genre and are looking for more.