- Collar X Malice - PlayStation Vita

Spoiler Free (though I do reference several other Otomes) Okay, so, I have to say, after the Period Cube release, I didn't have high hopes for Collar X Malice and considered canceling so many times. I'm really glad that I didn't cancel though because I haven't enjoyed playing an Otome as much as this one since Code Realize (which is still one of my favorites but has been knocked down to number two on my list.) Pros: Amazing Story Long Routes with little repetition Interesting Main Characters Beautiful Artwork Interesting Antagonist Cons: Spelling Errors and Occasional Poor Localization. So, as mentioned above, the story itself is amazing, which is why immediately thought of Code Realize. There is a depth to it that sort of sucks you in and keeps you there - the only reason I couldn't finish this game in one fell swoop was because of the sheer length in chapters and my desire to savor every moment. I did not find myself mindlessly clicking through the text to get whatever CG I wanted either - I genuinely was interested in not only my beau but why everything was happening to our protagonist (whom I did like decidedly less than the Code Realize Protagonist, but you can make your own judgment on that.) Secondly, I loved the length of the routes, as well as the originality. It isn't like Code Realize where far, far too much of the story is the common route but resembles Amnesia: Memories in this respect. The common route is very short, and after that, you get a completely original story, complete with a mystery to solve and bad guys to arrest! Again, I would say this is most like Amnesia, being as there isn't really any overlap, unlike Norn9. The fact that the characters are interesting is also a huge help as far as I'm concerned. I cannot tell you how hard it is for me personally to read through something and not have any interest who I'm reading about. But I truly enjoyed every route (okay, some more than others) and wouldn't mind playing through once more. Next up: The Artwork! Wow, I really loved this Artwork - I even went through the bad routes/blighted love routes so I could get all of the CG's (and I usually won't touch anything short of a happy ending with a ten-foot pole, because I cry easy.) It's truly very beautiful, though some of the artwork could definitely be considered a little disturbing. Now, while I do love the story and the artwork, please let me repeat: it was more than a little morbid. If you're a parent and your teenage daughter or son is asking about this, I would maybe think it over, particularly if they are under the age of 15. It's not horribly sexually, but you might want to check youtube for some walkthroughs or something to see if you think your kid can handle this. Speaking of morbid, let me just very briefly bring up the antagonist without giving any spoilers: it's nice to have an antagonist who is not inherently evil. Some of you may disagree with that analysis, but there was a rhyme and reason to everything he did. I would recommend you go through the routes as follows: Mineo Enomoto, Takeru Sasazuka, Kei Okazaki, Kageyuki Shiraishi, and Aiji Yanagi. Though you can certainly just make the choices that you wish to see whom you end up with (as I did.) I would, however, sincerely suggest you save Shiraishi's route for second til last. My only real complaint about this game is there seems to be an unusual number of translation glitches. I noticed for instance, that one character still referred to the protagonist by the default name even though I had changed it, and a few other little glitches that I find distracting. However, I tend to notice these in all otomes, and given the sheer amount of text, I did not feel this warranted a loss of a star. If you are a fan of otomes and visual novels, you really need to ahve Collar X Malice in your collection.

At the time of my writing of this review, I have only completed Enomoto's route and I'm halfway through Takeru's route. That said, I'm enjoying this otome game a lot. I think it's a very lovely game. As for the story, the city Shinjuku has recently become unstable due to a series of violent crimes known as the X-Day Incidents. These crimes are being committed by a terrorist organization named Adonis. You play as Ichika Hoshino (name can be changed) who is a rookie police officer. One night, while responding to a call, Ichika is ambushed. Upon awakening, she finds out that Adonis has placed a collar around her neck. This collar has poison inside of it which can be activated remotely by Adonis. Later on, Ichika meets a few mysterious men who are investigating the X-Day Incidents. She ends up joining their team to help them solve the mysteries of the X-Day Incidents and figure out why she had a collar placed around her neck. First of all, the art is gorgeous! The CGs are very pretty, and the characters are quite gorgeous. Secondly, the characters are great. As for the main guys, I really like them so far! Like I stated above, I've currently only completed Enomoto's and some of Takeru's route. But, the other main guys seem great from what I can tell. There isn't a single one I dislike, which makes me excited to do the other routes! The supporting characters are great, too! There's also a few nice features in this game. For one, there's the "glossary" which provides you with information regarding certain terms. Next, there's the "Materials" menu. This is a place where you can access information regarding cases and things related to investigations. Speaking of investigations, there are also parts of the game where you get to investigate scenes yourself. Lastly, since Ichika is a police officer, there are times when she needs to use her gun. When this happens, you enter a quick shooting mini-game. I think all of these features are a nice addition to the game. Now, let me talk a bit about the game's translation. I've heard a lot of people complain about the translation. While I was playing Enomoto's route, I didn't think the translation was that bad. I heard his route was full of errors and typos but I didn't really notice any. It's possible that my brain may have auto-corrected most errors, because I had only noticed 3 in his route, and they weren't bad enough to where it hindered my enjoyment of the game. However, I've noticed that Takeru's route is a bit worse with the errors. In chapter 1 alone I had noticed several mistakes. I can usually handle typos, but there are parts of his route where the dialogue boxes would be mislabeled. Like, one character will be talking but the dialogue box indicates that a completely different character is talking. It's a bit annoying. Another mistake I've heard that happens in Takeru's route is that the protagonist will sometimes be referred to as her default name (Ichika Hoshino) rather than the name you've given them. I haven't personally had this problem, because I use her default name, but this is something that I've heard several people complain about. In conclusion, I heavily recommend this game. Especially if you like murder-mysteries. Another thing I've noticed is that this game seems to have a heavy focus on the plot, which doesn't bother me at all! There's still a fair amount of romance. It's a bit of a shame that the translation has some mistakes, but they haven't hindered my enjoyment of the game at all! I definitely recommend getting this game!

Story: About a police officer named Ichika who was trying to solve a bunch of murders happening in the city caused by an anarchist group. She gets introduced to five guys. Depending on who you choose, Ichika would help the guy solve a case. Gameplay: You have to try to solve a case and remember what you read to answer questions and choices. Based on some answers, it lead to the romance route of any of the four guys. The final route can be unlocked by going through every guys' romance route. Many answers can head to bad endings, so make sure to save. English translation had some misspelling and names were used incorrectly. It was not severe enough to deter me from reading the dialogue. Illustrations can be unlocked after completing a route, and going through certain bad endings. Characters: Ichika was great, but her personalty changed in certain romance routes. She felt inconsistent as in she doesn't seem as endearing or decisive in other routes when it would have helped in certain interactions. I liked her best in Kei's, Kageyuki's, and Aiji's route. I liked all the guys except for Takeru. Not really into tsunderes nor did his design and personality flaws appealed to me. Aiji was just too perfect to the point it became almost boring. The bad guys were decently fleshed out, and most of the time I felt sympathetic to their cause. Overall: Other than translation errors, sometimes I was not engaged with reading about the cases so would skip a lot until the choice options appeared. The murder cases were cut and dry at times. Ichika was a decent heroine, but her personality was inconsistent in certain romance routes. I would try Mineo's route first. His route felt like it solved the least problems about the murders. Next, either Kei or Takeru. Kageyuki should be second last because his route feels the most related to the main bad guy. And finally, Aiji's route is unlocked. The true ending left me many questions, and made me more curious about the main bad. The game was just okay, but I probably would not purchase the fandisk if it is ever released in the US.

This game was awesome! It did exactly what I wish all otome games would do, each route was different enough that it never felt repetitive. So great job. I really liked the art, the characters were interesting and different enough, and I really like that the focus was on solving the X-Day mysteries rather than the romance. The bromances in this game were unexpected, but really appreciated. And Hoshino even gets female friends, sure they mostly talk about her romances, but they also talk about meat and like getting drunk. It was pretty fun hanging out with them. But I will admit I ended up zoning out a lot during explanations about the crimes, mostly I focused on the empathy moments, and I would've liked a little more romance. In the first playthrough you are able to get three of the characters' routes, in the second playthrough you can get Shiraishi's route, and after you get all four routes you can get Yanagi's. I played Enomoto/Sasazuka /Okazaki/Shiraishi/Yanagi, and I'm glad I did. Enomoto & Sasazuka's routes reveal the least, while Okazaki/Shiraishi actually introduce you to higher ups in Adonis and show you a hooded Zero (the main bad). Yanagi's route reveals who Zero is and touches on the other characters overcoming their traumas through friendship rather than romance. There are a lot of bad ends, I was pretty surprised and after I got all the main ones and a few extras I ended up just looking up a walkthrough to get the rest. Of all the guys Sasazuka's interactions with my brother were the funniest, I really liked how similar they were and how Sasazuka treated him like a kid. But, personally Okazaki was my favorite, not just because I loved him, but he and Hoshino really work on their relationship. They fight, they make up, and they change each other. Which brings me to the things that could be improved. I really wish otome games would have an option were you just speed jump to choices rather than having to fast forward through so much dialogue, Collar x Malice has long chapters which was nice but not so nice when I went back to get bad ends. It got pretty tedious. But I do like that you can jump to different chapters and choose whether your affection is high or low. I feel a bit complicated about Zero, once Zero is revealed and we get to hear journal entries and monologues I honestly thought it was going to be revealed that Zero was suffering from a brain tumor, that's how crazy Zero came off. There are some translation errors, words missing from sentences or words added to sentences or dialogue being credited to the wrong character, but it's not distracting or overly prevalent so no big deal. There were some irritations, like one character's past is mentioned but it never goes into as much details as I wanted. I left pretty unsatisfied. And I would've liked some context for how a character was spoiler by a character so much spoiler than him. Yanagi's route was the least romantic, and I was fine with that, got some nice friendship scenes between him and Shirashi, but his whole connection with Hoshino felt a bit cheaty. Sure it's hinted in the prologue he knows Hoshino, but their past is never mentioned outside of his route and is directly responsible for his trauma. He also reminded me of a more sexy mature version of the childhood friend in Amnesia & Period Cube. I liked him as a boss, as a friend, but as a lover I just felt meh. But moving on. Also some of the bad ends don't happen instantly, so there were times I didn't really I was on a bad end route and just thought I only picked the wrong choice to raise up the romance target's affection/trust. Part of why I missed out on some bad endings. I really liked this game, the routes never felt repetitive, Hoshino had relationships outside of her romances (like with her bro and superior and the girl friendships) and I enjoyed most of the endings. Just a warning, Enomoto & Sasazuka main bad ends aren't really that bad, but Okazaki & Shirashi's are dark, really dark (but I actually really liked them...). Yanagi's bad end, I'm not really sure how to view it. I guess it's not as dark as the really dark ends but it's not as light as the light ends. I also wish Shirashi's good ending was better, but it's not like it could've ended any other way I guess. Wish there was a Zero route, there's a Zero ending that you need to get to unlock all the CGIs, but a Zero route could've been fun even though Zero is definitely crazy. But when I think of all the potential bad endings I can't help but get excited.

I have so much words and feelings for this game but I'll try to keep this fairly short. (TRY lol) Story: the plot is so good. This mystery engages you to really think about the case because there's some points that you're given choices of answers that you yourself have to answer (you can use a walkthrough, but i think it's better to do it yourself b/c it's fullfiling-- atleast for me lol) some say that for an otome game, they focus more on the plot rather than the romance, and i do see that for some routes. Ranking from more plot than romance (imo): Yanagi > Enomoto > Okazaki > Sasazuka > Shiraishi (♡). I'd like to say they tried to balance this but still. Also -- so much bad endings! For each route, theres 5-6 bad endings? Im a completionist, but i cant bring myself to get the endings-- it gets REAL bad. (Sidenote: it gets real heavy sometimes!! There's some points in there where it's shocking and would make me think of it for days, and there's some points where i cried!) Characters: All of them are unique! I don't think there's one character that i find myself getting annoyed at. (Some of them are complex than others). The main characters have their own charms, you'll definitely find your favorite. Also, the protagonist is such a strong character-- not a damsel-in-distress. Visuals: the art is from Mai Hanamura. Thanks to this game, i found my new favorite artist! Each CG is stunning and it really fits what's written out for you and the mood! (And can i just say? Their eyes are STUNNING! I love how it's cat like and how the overall art direction has this cat-like themes) Sound/voice-acting : The OP really sets the mood and theme of the game! And the ED? Makes me feel so many emotions and my feelings for the ED and the Ed's feel changes for each route! It feels melancholy for one route, and happy for another (even though it's the same song!) It's all sung by the band Plastic Tree and they're such a good band. Voice acting is so good too! They portray their feelings so well. Quality of the sound is good too Not much cons here-- i think there may be some typos and awkward sentences (but it doesnt really stand out, i dont remember much of those) Overall, if you're into otome games or if you're just getting into it, please buy this game! (Buy this as new too-- it shows as supporting otomate and aksys that we want more translated games for the vita and the ps4! Because they have so many gems)

A young policewoman is attacked by a terroist group called Adonis, and forced to wear a collar that can both listen to everything she hears, as well as inject deadly poison into her. Adonis is the group behind "X Day," and is doing many crimes as a countdown to that day; their ultimate attack on Shinjuku. The policewoman must try and get free of her trapped collar as well as stop Adonis, with the help of many attractive men, of course. If you played Period Cube, this game uses the same form of style as it, but with a very interesting story. Adonis has been so effective that the powers that be cordoned off Shinjuku and gave the right to every citizen to be armed. The protagonist's only hope is a group of ex cops (among others) who are trying to also find Adonis for their own reasons. Both the heroine and the harem are written very well, and the story is pretty good. The common route is over pretty quickly, with the bulk of the time spent in character routes. The real world setting, and a more mature heroine who is capable adds to the game, since many otome games tend to have passive heroines who are teens. I liked it quite a bit, and next to code: realize its one of my favorite otome games. The only downside is you wish the initial route gave a lot more story. I ended up with Kei as my first hero, and while his tale was awesome, the actual x-day stuff took second place. But if you like visual novels, even though it's an otome game its still very good, with great writing and characterization.

First review was tl;dr. Basically, I didn't think much of the story or characters. I played the four common routes before the last route, but I put the game down because I couldn't power through anymore. That was August 2017. I picked it up again a few days ago to finish. Somehow, the idea of an X-day seemed fitting for the end of 2020. The game however, oof. Still as nonsensical as it was three years ago. I don't remember any of the guys except Shiraishi because he's clearly the most complex and interesting. MC is still as cut off from the story as before. Bleh. Collar x Malice is simply not my cup of tea.

Pros: *Excellent story - it has an action mystery plot that could stand alone from the romance *More serious/adult story in the form of violent murders and dangerous situations *Early divergent routes mean lots of content and more time with each particular love interest *Each route has a unique story, focusing on a different aspect revealing more of the whole picture *The love interests are all interesting characters with their own desires, complexities, and quirks *The heroine has personality - her own strengths and flaws and goals - and she takes action *As usual from Aksys, a polished game with high production values - excellent art, unique dialog presentation, and special effects Cons(?) *Some might not like the darker story, which has more violence (murder mysteries and police work) than most otome -Not your light and fluffy otome -You can get yourself killed by making the wrong decisions

I've been waiting for this to get released for a while. Compared to a lot of other otome game titles, there's less romance here and there was much more focus on the overall mystery plot. That's the strength and disadvantage of this game: on one hand, it is an otome game title that can be recommended to non-otoge fans, but much of the controls are still visual novel choice style and there is not much room for exploration and not a lot of choices (despite having more endings than most otome games). There is "trigger mode" a feature in the game where one basically times Ichika's shots. But that's more of a feature really. This is a game that can't seem to decide what it really wants to be. Nonetheless, the narrative is pretty strong, and present compelling arguments about corruption and the dispensation of justice. One way that this could improve is that if only the writers gave the protagonist much more option to explore certain moral choices (ie if Ichika can side with Adonis), but as this is an otome game wherein choices tend to diverge with guy can Ichika date or fail at doing so--a design choice really in otome games the romantic scenarios and the characters tend to be written first before the actual world--I would see why this is developed this way. Such a shame though. This could have been a game that could have been so much more. The romance-able boys in this game still fit in a number of character types (Tsundere, the baka, Ukyo-style yandere, etc) but they don't strictly conform to these types, and that made the characters likeable than most. Ichika, the heroine of the game and player character, pretty much follows Otomate's badass-but-one-that-does-not-outshine-the-boys kind of badassery (others similar characters like this include Code Realize's Cardia and Sweet Fuse's Saki). Gameplay time can be around 30-60 hours which is longer than the usual otome game. There are some misspellings and types in the localization but they're not too distracting Still, it is a great game to pick up and it's been one of my favorite otome game releases so far this year.

Love this game and I am determined to complete all the stories. Another great otome game to get

If you like VN this is excellent game.

Bought the game upon release and OMG LOVE THE STORY LINE! It may feel complicated at first but you are provided with every tool to reread and go through clues in case of doubt. Each character may start off with the feel stereotype feel to some but the moment you go through the story you end up with so much more originality and action!! The main character is a woman with solid great values and amazing marksmanship (wich you'll have to use at least once per storyline) so it makes the stories spicier. This is a bittersweet type of game and just the Mature audience had me throwing money at my screen. Zero regrets.

While this game was more mystery/detective driven than romance, the story kept you playing and was entertaining. MC wasnt a deadfish(a miracle I know, an MC who have a personality!!!) nor was she OP but she did her best and didnt let her ability stop her from finding the truth, or getting her man ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) The only ''bad'' point would be that there couldve been more romance scene in the epilogue because I didnt have enough from the boys after finishing the game! I definitely grew fond of the characters while playing and I had a lot of fun.