Soul Link
When it
comes to the science fiction genre, there are many VNs that fall under that,
some good, some bad, but the bottom line is they are quite numerous. Sadly,
there aren’t very many commercially available in English, so any addition to
the genre is welcome provided that it’s good. Thankfully, the addition that
arrived on December 12, 2009 by Mangagamer was indeed a good one. Originally
released in Japan on December 17, 2004 by Navel (who some of you may know as
the company that made the well known game Shuffle! And/or its anime adaption),
Soul Link is an interesting blend of mystery and science fiction that is well
worth the read. Your choices of where to go and how you handle a situation can
lead to victory or death for your character and his friends, mysteries surround
some of your companions and their true allegiance, and strange events that
occur over the course of the story make you wonder just what is truly going on
in this space station you’re trapped in.
Pros: Excellent story with mystery and plot twists abound,
characters are all interesting and likable (not to mention well played),
genuine difficulty in your choices as your character can die if you make the
wrong one, excellent artwork, very good music.
Cons: Darker story elements may turn some people off,
overall ending feels abrupt and leaves you with quite a few unanswered
questions.
WTF: Barely a month after this comes out in English, Navel
announces an expanded edition that adds more story and answers the
aforementioned unanswered questions. Why must you do this to us, Japanese game
companies?!?!
One thing
that I can say with confidence is that Soul Link’s story is never slow. Sure
time is taken at the start to introduce you to the characters, but soon after
that the action begins and a small group of military cadets and civilians are
in a struggle to survive as they’re the only thing standing in between a
terrorist group and its plans to unleash a devastating attack on the Earth
below. Yet it soon becomes apparent that the terrorists aren’t the only threat,
as a strange presence also seems to be on the station as well, and it doesn’t
seem to be human.
The plot
for this game really succeeds in drawing you in as you see the characters do
what they can to survive through their wits alone while at the same time
investigate the mysteries that crop up around the station as the story
progresses. Not only does the story draw you in, but the characters also help
to make this an enjoyable experience. Each character has a well written and distinct
personality with quirks to match, and each one of them has something to reveal
as the story goes on be it a major twist or a secret they’ve been keeping.
Another aspect of just how character driven this story is would be how the
story is told from the point of view of three characters: Shuuhei, Ryouta, and
a surprise character. Shuuhei’s story is linear and basically serves as the
introduction to the story; being linear his only love interest is Nao which I
actually believe they did a good job with portraying as their relationship I
found to be both believable and even cute. Ryouta’s is the meat of the overall
plot where we see the group figure out how to combat the real threat that
emerges at the end of Shuuhei’s scenario while we also see our new main
character develop into an effective leader; unlike Shuuhei, Ryouta has the
option to romance Sayaka, Aki, or Yuu. The third scenario involves a surprise
character and is basically to wrap the story up and lead into the ending of the
game and explain how things turn out for Ryouta and whichever of the three
heroines he romanced.
Sadly, this
is where we come to the main flaw for the plot, the ending. Now don’t get the
wrong idea, the ending isn’t by any means bad, the problem is it leaves you
with some unanswered questions mainly having to do with the fate of a few of
the minor, but still significant, characters. While their fate is hinted at, a
more definitive answer would have been preferred. Also, the ending does feel a
tad abrupt in that one would sort of like to see some of the characters reunite
considering the events and outcome of the last act.
In the area of presentation, I
found the art style to be very good as each character is drawn in a distinct
way that matches their personality. Also well drawn is the CG as it helps to
capture the mood of the scene for which it was made and all in all just looks
pretty at some points. Another very good point would be the music; I don’t know
who Navel commissions for the music in their games but whoever they are, they
did a great job for the score for this game. Every piece in this game does the
right job in setting the mood for each scene, but also manages to be memorable,
or at the very least recognizable almost as soon as you start to hear it again,
through how well played the musical instruments were when these tunes were
recorded. Believe me, it takes quite a bit of talent to make the music in a VN
leave that much of an impression.
Now one
more bit I should mention is the voice acting. It’s excellent, especially since
a number of well known anime voice actors feature among the cast. For instance,
Shuuhei is voiced by Kentarou Itou, who some of you may recognize as Renji
Abarai of Bleach; also among the cast are Takehito Koyasu and Norio Wakamoto.
Now before
I finish this section, I should point out that Soul Link has a darker storyline
in comparison to Shuffle!. What this means is that you are going to see a few
ero scenes that involve rape on the bad guys’ end which are unavoidable, though
thankfully none of them involve the main heroines (unless you count two bad
endings which are skippable). Don’t worry, though, the majority of the ero
scenes in the game are consensual ones between the heroines and the heros, and
I have to say those are pretty good.
In Conclusion: Soul Link is an excellent science
fiction/mystery adventure that one should definitely try if they like this
genre. While certainly not the deepest of stories, it still has enough depth to
it to keep you entertained and is certainly worth the time (10-30 hours) and
money. I’ll admit that some of the darker parts of the story may be off putting
to those new to eroge and the ending may be the story’s weakest point, but if
you can look past that, this is a game with an overall very good story that
should not be missed. I highly recommend this game for purchase.
Final Score: 8/10 Awesome
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