Name: Darcrows (79.22% in 51 votes)
Type: SIM
Platform: WINDOWS
Company: Alicesoft
Release date: 1999
Reviewed by: Orochi
Alicesoft had done it again. It had release it's first S&M game during the winter season of 1999. This time they had mix SLG elements with card. However this game is not for people looking for romance as the story for Darcrows is very dark and this is a hardcore hentai game with a capital H (for Hardcore and Hentai), so expect a lot of weird sex, bondage and S&M stuffs.
Story And Characters:
The story is set in the peaceful kingdom of Garunia who had enjoy peace and prosperity for many years but a sudden attack by the neighbouring kingdom of Raven on Garunia led the land into becoming a battlefield.
The war lasted for 2 years before the king of Garunia fell ill.News of the king's health had demoralise the troops at the frontline and Garunia was set to fall when a shadow from the kingdom's past returns...
The player took on the role of Crowd who had a reputation in Garunia as the "Runaway General" as he had disappeared after a failed campaign to wipe out barbarian at Garunia's boarder 6 years before. As the game progress, we'll find out more about Crowd's past and why he choose only to return only this time after 6 long years.
With Crowd's return, he had led an army of mercenary,but how is he going to fund an army especially when he had been gone jobless for 6 years? The answer lies with Garunia's Queen and 2 princess.
The Queen: Helene, shes actually Garunia's second queen,stepmother to Tiarhys and mother to Eureshya.
First Princess: Tiarhys, First Princess to Garunia, the first queen of Garunia died when she was young and now she takes the place of ruling Garunia after the king had taken ill. Have a firely temple and steadfast in her loyalty towards the kingdom.
Second Princess: Eureshya, Queen Helene's daughter.
Their life will change forever after Crowd's return...
Objective Of Game : Basically as Crowd,the player had to find enough cash to fund an army of mercenary to defend the kingdom for 3 months (Raven will send troops to attack once every month). Where does Crowd find the cash? Well, he kinda "ask" the queen and 2 princesses for "assistance". Crowd had to train the ladies in ways of pleasing the other sex in return for cash for 3 months in the game. Everyday, Crowd had 2 turns to train the ladies (Morning and Night) but he can only train one lady for one turn everyday. Before the training, he can talk to the lady to increase the willingness the specifc lady had towards him, this will not affect what happen during the training, but will affect who you end up with at the end of that 3 months. During Sundays, Crowd had to send the ladies to places where they can earn money to pay for the warfunds,how much they earn is dependent on their level of training. During Sundays, Crowd can also choose a lady to assign her a special job (You'll get a CG if the job is successful) which will earn you extra cash.
Gameplay: Basically, every suitation in the game revolves around cards. During the training periods,the player had 2 cards to begin with,which he can increase to 4 cards by forfeiting a turn for a card. The card had jewels on them which is used to meet the standard of the training in the game. For example, the breast foreplay cost about 4 Jewels,the cards of the player had to meet or exceed the standard. If he fails, he had to forfeit the training as well as losing the turn.If he wins,the specific lady will gain experience,with enough eperience,she'll advance to the next level. This also applies to the special job on Sundays as well except that the lady will not earn experience. During the battle between Garunia and Raven each month, the player had to "purchase" cards using cash earn by the ladies to do battle. If you failed in battle, the game is over. The gameplay is quite innovative, the only complain I had is that with this system,Darcrows is quite short when compared with with Alicesoft's previous releases. Took me just 3 hours to complete this game.
Music: Every piece of the music seems to fit pretty well with the dark mood of the game. Even the happy and melodious tune on Sundays seems somewhat in place and if you didn't buy the bootleg copy of this game, you'll notice that you had 2 CDs. The 2nd CD is actually the soundtrack of the game in CD-DA form which can be used with the game. Another reason to support the original stuffs.
Graphics: Hey, its an Alicesoft game, so expect the graphics to be top notch.Since this is a S&M game, so expect about 70% of the CGs to be hentai in nature.
Extras: What surprised me is that with this release, Alicesoft had employed seiyuus to do voices for all the characters in the games, making this game their first full-voiced game! The story of this game is good,you never actually find out why Crowd decided to return only at this time until the end. Three reasons actually, but is he a spy, a mercenary or... It all depends on which ending you get for this game
Pros: First Full-Voiced Game from Alicesoft. Innovative Gameplay.
Great music, graphics and story.
Cons: Strange and explicit H suitation might turn off some players.
Game too short when compared to previous Alicesoft releases.
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Innocent Girl
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