 |
| A race against time. |
428 begins when a young girl is abducted by a mysterious foreign organization. They demand a 50 million yen ransom to be handed over in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo, Japan in exchange for the girl's safety. The plot follows the perspectives of brash detective Kano; garbage collector Achi; oddball journalist Minorikawa; reserved scientist Osawa, who happens to be the father of the abducted girl, Maria; and a mysterious figure in a cat suit going by the name of Tama as their fates coincide with the kidnapping. What's tricky with VNs is that I want to go in-depth by telling you how the story is a gripping one, but due to the fear of spoiling some of the game's twists, I'll have keep things at a minimum. Basically, what starts out as a straightforward kidnapping process quickly ventures into a corporate conspiracy that threatens the fate of the world and the characters involved are interesting just as they are outlandishly crazy at times. I loved Minorikawa's wild antics, in which he has a tendency of pointing and shouting at people like he's Phoenix Wright and Achi's admirable devotion to keeping his town clean despite his past as a gang leader. The main leads quickly grew on me as I played and towards the finale, I was rooting for them to win all the way.
 |
Our five unlikely main leads are in for a long day.
|
428 is a visual novel game where you progress through the story by reading through text after text of dialogue. There's no actual gameplay since the spotlight is on the story. While it may seem boring for those unfamiliar with the genre, the writing is sharp with many "edge of your seat" moments to keep you hooked. The story is told through different hours of the day starting from 10:00 AM. Initially, you can choose from two characters to start with, but as you progress through the game, more characters are playable, each with their own stories to share.
The main highlight of the game is the choice system and how each choice you make, no matter how small, will have a Butterfly Effect on the story and potentially impact another character's fate. For example, in detective Kano's story, you'll be confronted with either apprehending the supposed "mastermind" of the kidnapping, Achi, or wait a bit for the true mastermind to show up. If you choose to arrest Achi, whose actually innocent, it will result in you losing a lot of time interrogating him and allowing the mastermind to run free, thus ending both Kano and Achi's stories. Conversely, if you choose to wait, then the story takes a new course of developments, continuing both characters' arcs. Basically, what you choose will have a lasting impact on the story, for better or worse. Even the smallest choices such as taking a wrong turn in a neighborhood will result in a character's death though don't get discouraged if you get a bad ending; the game is full of them totaling to a staggering 85 bad endings some being surprisingly amusing while others are not so much.
 |
| Right or wrong, there's plenty of choices to make. |
Also, certain events in a character's story will temporarily be halted in the form of a "Keep Out" sign. This has you utilizing the game's unique "JUMP" mechanic where if a character's name is mentioned in another character's story (highlighted in red), you can select it and jump to back to the blocked character and move their story forward. It can take a bit to figure out, but I found it to be a neat feature that empathizes how connected everyone truly is in the story. Additionally, there's a tip feature that explains basic terminologies and cultural aspects of Japan, with words being highlighted in blue. While nothing special at first, it manages to humor you with some entertaining insights and frequent fourth wall breaks. It's also a testament to the game's commendable localization process, which clearly shows as a lot of care went into preserving the original game's over-the-top nature.
 |
428's mechanics are overwhelming initially, but
become simple enough as you play.
|
Admittedly, the whole choice system can become slightly awkward and confusing if you're not keeping track of things. There were a lot of instances where I was stumped on how to continue to the next time block that I had to resort to an online guide to get through due to me missing a very obscure choice that lifted some of the road blocks. Also, if you'd like to take the alternate choice, you can't revert back to the true story back to normal and instead, must go through everything again and pick your original choice. The game does feature a handy time chart system detailing important choices and jump points, but it only remembers a few choices you've made. Worse yet, you can't speed through segments you've already seen, which was a point of irritation throughout the game.
On the side, the game packs a decent amount of bonus content once you're through with the main story. These include extra character-based scenarios (which dive into certain character's daily lives), behind-the-scenes footage covering some of the game's filming, and an amusing Pop Quiz mini-game to test your knowledge of the main story. All in all, the game took me over 50 hours to beat, including getting all endings, watching all of the scenarios, and beating the quiz game. On a normal playthrough it would take around 30 hours to beat. It's definitely not a short affair, which makes its $50 price understandable.
 |
There's a decent amount of content to keep you
hooked after finishing the main story.
|
428 has to be one of the most unique games I've played in terms of presentation. Unlike other visual novels, the game is presented in a movie-style format. Basically, there are no character designs and backgrounds but still images of Shibuya and the actors playing the characters, along with occasional Full-Motion Video sequences to complete that cinematic feel. It's an unconventional way of presenting a game but in an attempt to differentiate itself from the various anime-styled VNs, Spike Chunsoft have pulled it off well. Sadly, one aspect that falls short is the lack of any voicework. This could make reading more of a chore as you go on, that's why it would have been appreciated if the lines were voiced by each character in their story. It would been an effective way for the player to relate to them, especially during their more emotional moments. But that's not a deal breaker by any means as the soundtrack is one of the presentation's strongest suits. Since there's no VA, it's up to the score to make you feel involved in the adventure and the composers did a fine job with the soundtrack. From eerie to suspenseful to downright silly, the soundtrack is packed with many varied tracks. Some of my favorites include the game's main theme, Minorikawa's theme, character select theme, and of course Yanagashita's energetic theme. The ending theme by Japanese singer Aya Kamiki is also a great listen as well.
 |
428 is easily one of the most visually unique
visual novels out there.
|
Going in, I didn't know what to expect from 428: Shibuya Scramble. I thought it was going to be this weird game that I wasn't going to get into. After finishing the lengthy adventure, however, I can safely say that it's definitely weird and is the best visual novel game I've played, no competition. The story is well-paced and always leaves you wanting more, the characters are extremely well-written and likable, the presentation is great, and the humor is spot-on. It exceeded my expectations and visual novel fans craving for a cinematic experience shouldn't miss out on 428, it's a must play! That being said, to those still on the fence, I highly recommend checking out the demo first to get better feel of the game.
Comments
Post a Comment