Snow Drop

The Good
There are three things that I like about the game. First is the storyline. It involves a rather "other worldly" twist, should you chance upon it. Nonetheless the romantic factor is there, though average.

Second (and what I absolutely adore) is the music. The associated themes are produced by I'VE SOUND, who has produced opening and end themes for lots of anime series, and is pretty much into their element, given that they started off by producing themes for eroge. The opening theme, for me, acts as a cornerstone of the game, because it sets the mood. It's also incredible ear candy. It's I'VE SOUND, and they make excellent music.

Third is the game system. It's the typical click-and-see-what-happens game, with branching storylines. Boring for the rest of us, but, hey, it's a visual game. At least, the menus are well presented and orderly.

The Bad
What I'm not really impressed with the game are the visuals. Though the menu presentation is neat and orderly, the character designs needs a little more tweaking. There are other eroge that have great CG, which is, for me, one of the cornerstones of an eroge. These are the stars of the show, so to speak. Well, at least, I have seen a definite face in the player's character (unlike others that hides their eyes in a shadow).

The Bottom Line
There are other good eroge out there, but Snow Drop is near the top of my list of favorites. It's sweet, but it missed the sweet spot by a little bit.

The Good
The only outstanding part of Snow Drop is its graphics. The colorful, detailed characters set against a Wintery backdrop give the game a very unique visual appeal. This is evident from the very beginning, where you may think that you are about to be treated to a captivating gaming experience...

The Bad
... and then, 25 minutes later, it'll be over. You'll see a short, unfulfilling ending, and you'll think you must just have made the incorrect choice somewhere along the line. So you'll try again, and again, only to be treated to the same "... and so, my trip was over" ending time and again.

Snow Drop is a disappointment because it has so much wasted potential. In the beginning, after a wonderfully illustrated introduction, you'll be shown your surroundings - the ski lodge and different skiing areas - and told to go where you want. You can visit about six areas per day, as often and in whatever order you like. Most bishoujo games are much more linear than this, so you'll start out thinking that this is going to be a highly interactive game.

Then, you find out that the game consists of only five days (only four are interactive unless you unlock the "true" fifth day - more on that in a moment). In this amount of time, depending on the pacing of the game, you could still accomplish a lot. However, it breezes by in about 25 minutes, during which you learn hardly anything about the game's characters, and the story goes nowhere.

To top it all off, the game's non-linear appearance masks the fact that you must proceed through the first three game days in exactly the correct fashion, or you will not be given the opportunity to see any of the game's "true endings". This reduces the game to a simple exercise of saving, going to a location to see if you get a scripted encounter, and loading and trying again if you don't. (Or, of course, you may just get frustrated and resort to using a walkthrough like I did.)

Making it to the "true" fourth day will extend the game by five or ten minutes, during which you'll see the game's full story. It isn't terribly interesting, and it goes by too quickly to emotionally involve the gamer at all. Also, another minor quibble is the fact that you can only end up with two of the game's five principal female leads. One of the five is your character's younger sister, which should automatically count her out anyway, but the remaining two characters are of age and quite available, one of them being Kasumi, my personal favorite of the bunch.

The Bottom Line
Although Snow Drop's graphics are some of the best in bishoujo gaming, the game simply doesn't have anything else to offer at all. It starts out looking like it will be a great game, but ultimately it goes by way too quickly, is completely unsatisfying, and feels like a rush job. Don't waste your time with this one.