Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side Premium Review

A Photostich of one of the CG. The original is actually pretty big!

So, I finally got Tokimeki Girl's Side Premium for the PSP (Tokimeki Girl's Side 3rd Story with a makeover). The game is about as enjoyable as the first game (I've honestly only been playing for two days) with several added perks.

If you've never heard of the Tokimeki Girl's Side games, they're a line of extremely popular stat based otome games. During the game, you play as a girl entering highs chool. You can choose any one of the six available guys (and more) to end up with at the end of the three years. By doing specific commands, you can raise various parameters in order to get the ending you want. I talked about it, and played it a little here and here. 

TMGS Premium game boasts renewed graphics and CG, two viewing modes, Live 2D, a new secret character and a new form of skinship and route.

VISUALS: ♥♥♥♥♥ 4.5

My first reaction when I turned on the game was, "It's...it's so beautiful! T u T"

The title screen is so bright and pretty and the menu was revamped. It looks a lot cuter now, and the font doesn't look like squiggly chicken-scratch. The game developers also took advantage of the PSP's capabilities. If you look closely, the light changes and the flowers sway in the wind.

The in-game command setup is basically the same as the one. The changes here are subtle and just make this version look cleaner and neater than the DS version.

There are two viewing modes that you can switch between by pressing SELECT. Since the CG, and character sprites are pretty high-res, you get a nice close up or full view. However, the reason why the visuals get a 4/5 is because of the backgrounds. In the second viewing mode, the backgrounds are blurry. They put so much effort into the characters, but not the backgrounds. It annoys me because they actually look quite good normally.

CHARACTERS: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5
This is basically a free point. The characters seem to be the same as in TMGS3, but they react a little better. I've actually only done one and a half routes (Fujiyama's) and he seems to blush a lot more, whereas in the DS version he usually has a straight face. It was a little unnerving sometimes... I like Premium Fujiyama better. I think I can even say the same for big, scary Sakurai Kou. I didn't even try his route and got a couple blush-y images.

Thanks to Kimagure Play, the characters also react differently depending on whether you play as Sweet Angel or Sweet Devil. The Kimagure Play changes certain dialogue on each character that can't be seen otherwise. It makes replaying seem pretty cool.

We've also got a brand new secret character in the game!

MUSIC: ♥♥♥♥♥ 4
It's there. It's not bad, I can actually stand hearing it on a loop, but I turned it off and didn't feel much different about it. It's also the exact same music from the original game.

APPROACH MODE: ♥♥♥♥♥ 4.5a.k.a. "New non-pervy Skinship".

Approach mode and Skinship are almost exactly the same, but I find Approach mode more enjoyable. Sure, there's nothing like prodding your potential love interest with a stick, but it gets repetitive and awkward in public. Start date. Tap chest. Press and hold on eyes. Slide down bod-- See? That just sounds plain dirty. Try explaining it to your mom or that random person in public watching you play.

In Approach mode, you press (or press and hold) certain buttons to do certain things. When the sakura icon shows up, push the joystick up to activate it. If you do well on the date (good location, answer, and don't make him angry) you get an extra little episode after the date... it's cute but doesn't mean much.

I kind of dislike the new version of Love mode, but it's a lot easier now. It's basically random button pressing really fast until the heart meter goes up. They took away the fun game aspect.

LIVE 2D: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5

Live 2d is amazing. They move, and you can see their expressions instead of staring at static images all day! It's a little weird at first, especially when they turn, but you get used to it after a while. I welcome this new change.

OTHER: ♥♥♥♥♥ 3

That looks SO inedible. He loved it!

I hate the Valentine's Minigame for GS3. I always have, and now I can hate it in great quality on my PSP. Yaaaay. You can basically give your guy a horribly decorated hunk of sugar, and as long as it's Cute, Cool, or Wild, they'll love it. I miss mixing chocolate in GS1 and 2. But, this is a general pet peeve in GS3, not just Premium.

We got new games for the sports festival. I can actually win at that ball throwing game and pillow fight now, but I fail at the ball pushing game.

MY GOSH HE'S BACK. HE'S BAAACK! The creeper Principal from GS1~! I wanted older Tsukushi, not this guy! -hides in corner-

Approach Mode. My only real complaint is it that without a manual, I wasted time pushing buttons, pressing L, R, START and SELECT numerous times, and then searching Google. IT was all to learn I had to press the joystick up. Not down, not right, not left, just up. Which makes no sense, because the joystick isn't used for anything else but mini-games. Not only that, but deep, deep, deeeep down in the Options is a tutorial menu. Yeah. Totally helpful /snarky tone.

All creepiness aside, the game gets a ...4.3/5. The game is pretty popular for a reason, It's worth a try.