Hatoful Boyfriend Reviews
Behind the bizarre concept is one of the best scripts of the year, and a game that subverts your expectations with effortless regularity.
Hatoful Boyfriend is a unique experience, one that goes well beyond its bonkers concept and intentionally strange visual presentation. I was expecting to simply giggle at a nonsensical game in which I tried to woo feathered men, and what I received instead was wholly and wonderfully unexpected. Anyone with a taste for the unusual would do well to enjoy the company of these fetching fowl.
There's no other way to say it. Hatoful Boyfriend is weird! With that said, its novelty proves to be both a major boost and its greatest flaw.
If you're into the crazy Japanese stories that eventually lead to some even crazier madness, this is the game for you. If you think cutesy pigeon dating is not for you or if you're not much of a reader, stay away. Stay far away.
Underneath the novel, yet slightly dubious gimmick of a human romancing birds is a charming, humorous tale of teen angst.
In simple terms, Hatoful Boyfriend is an infectiously bizarre dating simulator about choosing a partner from a particularly fanciful flock of pigeons. But when all the birds come home to roost, your enjoyment of this comical curio is almost entirely dependent on your ability to truck with its utterly insane premise. Indeed, if you don't take umbrage with a bit of pigeon-on-human romance, you're likely to be taken on a riotous and remarkable romp.
If you can swallow (heh, bird puns) the basic idea, there are a lot of weird and wonderful stories to be uncovered in Hatoful Boyfriend. Just don't expect to do much actual playing.
It's a strange series of lives, each one containing many of the same events and conversations, but each offering some sort of fulfilment, separate from the rest. They build up, and put together like jigsaw pieces, they flesh out the denizens of this nation of birds. I came for the promise of pigeon romance, but I stayed for the surreal world these fowl reside in.
Even spread out over about 9 hours, there were times when the plot was a little too outlandish, and I say that fully understanding the absurdity of criticizing a pigeon dating sim for implausibility. It draws a clean line: if you prefer plots that are weird to begin with and just get weirder, you will be extremely happy with Hatoful Boyfriend; if you don't feel excited by every single Japanese pop culture trope re-enacted by pigeons, Hatoful Boyfriend might not be for you.
Hatoful Boyfriend is at times barely a full video game, but at the same time, this is an experience that would be impossible to integrate into any other medium.
Overfall, Hatoful Boyfriend is a joke game that's elevated above its peers thanks mostly to its writing. It will certainly elicit some laughs, especially when played with other people, and while play sessions are usually short it has enough unique endings to both warrant many visits to the academy and justify its relatively low price. Those who decide to get all endings should prepare to use the fast-forward button quite a bit, since many events repeat in every plathrough.
Hatoful Boyfriend is a delightfully crazy game (just so long as you stay away from the epilogue).
Occasionally, it doesn't feel quite weird enough to carry the whole concept of a human schoolgirl at an all-bird high school, but there's still plenty of laughs to be had for a brief experience that you're going to have to play through multiple times to fully enjoy.
Hatoful Boyfriend is a straightforward dating simulator where all of your suitors just happen to be birds. If you're not drawn to your potential boyfriends, the early game can be a bit of a drag. While the second half of the game is worth the price of admission, many players will have a problem getting there. Proceed with caution.
'Hatoful Boyfriend' is a bizarre, sometimes heartwarming, sometimes terrifying adventure where you can also date a variety of birds. Yes, you can date birds.
Hatoful Boyfriend is a colourful title that utilizes a blend of photography and anime caricatures to tell its story. Animations are few and far between, with its style being more reminiscent of an elaborately crafted picture book than a conventional videogame title. This may disappoint some who will prefer a more thrilling experience, but it does well to set the game apart.
Hatoful Boyfriend is exactly what it professes to be, and little more than that. The reality of a pigeon dating sim is infinitely less entertaining than the idea, but it nevertheless has its moments.
Maybe it's because I'm not Japanese or familiar with Japanese culture, but these otome games, I'm sure they have a place in Western society, but I don't quite know where to put them. What I do know is that writing something like "getting to know birds on an intimate basis" used to be something akin to a red alert, warning all bystanders that Ryan is quickly losing sanity. Instead, I eagerly await my beloved pigeon San Oko, as we cleanse this world of evil by dousing it in pudding... glorious pudding!
It's a poorly-written experience who places too much of a priority on delivering the absurdity as often as possible…
Hatoful Boyfriend is the food fight of video games. While you can derive a great deal of entertainment from its complete insanity, this doesn't negate the fact that the end result is a total mess.