Amy's Fantasies Publisher: C's Ware Cost: $35.00 US Technical: Minimal Graphics: Good Music/Sound: Decent. Contains Voiceovers, which can be shut off. NPCs: Very Good. Writing: Very Good. Plot: Excellant, despite a number of contrived plot twists. Interface: Good. Sex: Well done. Kinkyness: Incest, Bondage, S&M, rape, gangbang, urophelia, anal rimming and penetration. Despite this, manages to be nonoffensive by being not-quite-serious. In Short: Truth is WAY stranger then fiction- and laugh-out-loud funny. The first thought that popped into my head when I booted up Amy's Fantasies was "EarthBound." For those who don't know, EarthBound is the name of an SNES role-playing game released about five years ago. Flaws in the game mechanics, lackluster graphics, and shallow character development were cited as serious detriments to EarthBound. These didn't stop EarthBound from becoming a hit, however, because they couldn't eclipse it's main merit- the game's quirky, upbeat, constantly optomistic atmosphere. I thought of that weird kind of humor the second I heard the title music to "Amy's Fantasies," and the game lived up to it. Basic premise: Emi, 18-year old schoolgirl, is in love. The guy she loves is cute, rich, kind, and thinks very highly of her- almost a perfect match, you might think. One small problem- he's also her cousin and adopted brother, Tomomi. Emi fantasises about Tomomi a lot, sometimes while masturbating, which makes for an interesting scene early on when Tomomi walks in on her. But these incestuous fantasies are nothing compared to what real life has in store for Emi. Her father was rather well-off, and when he died, he left Emi and Tomomi enough to live together at least until college. Unfortunately, he also had other legacies which will come back to haunt his heirs. Emi and Tomomi will soon be seperated, and Emi will set out to find him, infiltrating a school, a hospital, and finally a mansion on her search for Tomomi. Along the way, she'll have to avoid falling into the clutches of some conspirators who are heavily into bondage, S&M, and other kinky activities. She'll find both friends and enemies in the strangest places, get into incredible situations, and have her determination tried several times before she finds Tomomi. Then maybe (I won't say for certain) they'll get to exact a little revenge. Beyond what I've told you, don't even TRY to follow the plot, because doing so is like chasing paper in a windstorm- one minute you've almost got it, the next it's fifty feet over your head and whirling in a spiral. Sometimes this gets out of hand- characters occassionally have unclear motivations, and at least one event occurs just because it's suppossed to. I'm also fairly sure you could come up with a number of plot holes, if you were so inclined. But this is okay, because it holds with the almost-MiSTable style of comedy present. Amy's Fantasies also follows the semi-formal anime rules that bigger is better and realism is optional. You will, for example, encounter gags such as a woman with breasts Pamela Anderson Lee would be jealous of and hair to match, some bizarre bondage outfits that make you think "How the HELL did she get in to that?", and a ten-inch dildo called "Mr. Fit." Irrational and joyfully ludicrous. The game is divided into three seperate but related chapters. Each chapter takes roughly two hours to complete, so you could finish the entire game in a weekend, if so inclined. Replay value is decent, though the jokes eventually get old. The characters are somewhat unique- they'll appear in every chapter, but will be differant from chapter to chapter. A character who was a teacher in one chapter could be a doctor in the next, for example, and won't recognize you. It's like one actress was playing several unrelated parts. Another strange thing about the characters is that they step out of character at the end of each chapter to promote the next chapter. This little trick goes a long way to keeping Amy's Fantasies from being offensive- even if you see something that totally disgusts you, at the end of the chapter you'll be subtly reminded that it's just a game. That said, the NPCs are well developed, partly because certain aspects of their personalities remain the same from chapter to chapter. One last thing I should mention is that publisher C's Ware includes little freebees with it's games. I received a trading card, a little fan, and a manga catalogue in the package, and the CD contained some .bmp files that can be used as wallpaper (though I'd rather NOT display them on a computer screen with my little brother in the room, thank you) and two .avi files, one of which has nothing to do with the game, the other depicting one of the best scenes in chapter one, if not the entire game. -Craxton