Unless you can’t get enough of this anime show, there is no reason to place this game.
- You can skip cutscene dialogues at full speed with the button
- Cutscene’s graphically quality matches that of the anime
- Several familiar characters
Negative
- Messed up combat system isn’t fun
- Dialogue cutscenes are unappealing
Unless you really like this anime, there is no reason to even see this game. For those who don’t know, Rozen Maiden is a fairly popular anime, a story based on Rozen Maiden dolls. Most probably this game is based on the 2nd season of the series but I haven’t watched it yet so I can’t be certain.
If the story is the second season of the series, why isn’t there the story of the 1st? Never mind that it’s in Japanese and there is no English translation so the chances are you won’t get a thing they are saying. There is all the cast from the show, including Shinku, Hinaichigo, Jun and everyone else. The cutscenes are standard Japan dialogue cutscenes which I’ve seen so much by now but they could be said to be a good factor of the game. The quality matches superbly that of the anime show. The only problem is saw is that they look at you when they talk and for some reason I didn’t like it. Thankfully there is some movement in the cutscenes, mostly their mouths. If you don’t like the cutscenes, press the square button and the dialogues are skipped at a very high speed or just press O to move them normally. You can’t skip them altogether.
The combat stinks. Battles are normal one-on-one battles with 2 Rozen Maiden dolls fighting. Of course you use the “good” dolls to fight against the “bad” doll. (watch the anime if you want to understand). All the dolls you use fight almost the same and overall it’s lame. Fights talk place in an almost invisible box in mid-air. Battles are timed and short with 2 rounds. The commenter that announces the 3, 2, and 1 GO is obviously German speaking. Press X to slap the enemy, press O and triangle to throw something and square to block. Press L1 to perform a fairly decent special attack and that’s it. The AI is pretty easy to beat.
The graphics are only good in cutscenes. In combat the graphics are mediocre and below. The models are almost beyond recognition sometimes. The environments are a bit better. The music isn’t so bad but the commenter’s voice is annoying. Since it’s an anime based game, voice acting stays true to the anime.
Rozen Maiden was a fairly good anime and the game took an unexpected turn downwards. There are better, much better anime based games but gebergarten is not one of them. A long history of games went wrong when it comes to movies and anime, and this game fits in. Unless you are a big fan and you can’t get enough of these dolls, you should be able to appreciate this game more than I will ever do.
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Graphics = 6.0
Cutscene’s quality matches the anime but graphics when it comes to gameplay is poor. Environments are better overall.
Sound = 7.1
Voice acting stays true to the anime show and the music isn’t so bad.
Presentation = 6.1
Standard Japanese cutscenes weren’t unexpected in such a game. Production values took a good hit. Load times are ok.
Gameplay = 3.5
Easy, very easy, really shallow and maybe really boring. Fighting wasn’t the star in the anime and thankfully there isn’t much of it. But if there is no gameplay, what’s there for not Japanese speakers like us in this game?
Camera = 6.2
Battles takes place in 2D, only moving up and down, left and right so it doesn’t have much work to do.
OVERALL = 5.7
People who haven't seen the anime would give this a 3, but this game has a place in mediocrity. Unless you can’t get enough of this anime show, there is no reason to place this game.