Hourglass of Summer

 Well maybe it has been about 8 months already since i played my last VN and now i just recently finished one which is Hourglass of Summer. Hourglass of Summer or Natsuiro no Sunadokei is one of the translated VN title by now defunct Hirameki. The game format is in Hirameki's infamous Interactive DVD where you played the game as if you are running a DVD movie. At first i rather had high expectation as i heard good things about this VN but in the end i find the series pale in comparison with series like Ever 17 or Yume Miru Kusuri.

The main plot of the story is about a certain guy who possess ability to jump through time for a period of time after having a strange encounter. From his time jumping he sees a future where the girl he had a crush with and will become his future girlfriend had a tragic incident. After seeing the horrible outcomes he tries to save the girl and possibly become her lover as well though throughout his timeskip he might find other possible romantic interest as well. I have finished all 5 possible routes in the game and overall i find the plot is mediocre. Probably the greatest weakness of this series is the ending which i find rather weak. However my biggest disappointment from this game is the media form of the game itself. Hirameki idea about Interactive DVD for the VN media might be a great idea but poorly executed and perhaps it js one of the many reasons that the company is bankrupt. I really have hard time in bactracking the game since there is no saving system just like usual VN but you get Password system which is rather inflexible. The game have some serious compatibility issues as well since you won't be able playing this game with your normal PC media player indicating that the game are not tested properly. If you want to play this game, either you get a DVD player which is rather awkward media to play a VN or use certain media player which i use PowerDVD and it works rather well.

Overall Hourglass of Summer is decent VN and it shows you how stereotypical VN looks like and don't expect something epic like Ever17 going to happen in this game. If you are playing the game i would suggest to finish the main heroine route at least since the main story focus on her. Probably the next VN i plan to play are either Katawa Shoujo(which is free!) or Daibanchou.