Cross Channel review by OneManArmy

[OneManArmy 82]

This review contains major spoilers!

 

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc486/OneManArmy369/crossk_zps0popxjbz.jpg

 

I finally finished Cross Channel and it feels like I was playing this game for 2 whole years. Anyway, I'm currently kind of bored and will write a little review/rant...just because I can.

 

Description

Gunjo Gakuen (Deep Blue School) is a facility designed to gather and isolate those students who got a high score on an adaptation exam (Scoring high on this exam indicates that the student is less likely to be able to be adapted to the society) mandated by the government.

 

After a failed summer vacation with other members of the school's broadcasting club, Taichi Kurosu and some of the other club members return to the city, only to find that all living creatures within it except for the club members have completely vanished. In order to confirm the status of the outside world, Taichi decides to gather other club members to help Misato Miyasumi, the president of the broadcasting club, who is trying to set up a broadcasting antenna to contact any possible survivors.

 

 

Art

At the beginning of the game I didn't like the art that much. I've no idea why but it's probably due to games like Sharnoth (liar soft) I played before. I mean Cross Channel doesn't stand a chance against the liar soft art. Anyway, I somehow started to accept the art after playing the game for some more hours and ended up liking it. Actually, the soft art was quite fitting.

 

 

Music

Unfortuntaley the music wasn't enjoyable. I mean it wasn't a pain for the ears but I can't remember more than one good track right after finishing the game. The music was for me kinda non-existent. Like it was there but I never payed any attention to it. And it's this time not the fault of my sound settings. And there aren't any good track when it comes to emotional scenes either, that's a fuckin no-go. So yeah, the music's pretty bad.

 

 

The Characters

 

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc486/OneManArmy369/traichi_zpsddrk2ar5.jpg

Protagonist - annoyed me like hell. You know what? I kind of liked him at the beginning, same goes for his humor. It was at first damn funny but if you've to hear the same stuff over and over again, it'll become rather boring. Anyway, I found his dark side very interesting but like I said before, he annoyed me like hell. He's probably one of my least favourite protagonists of all time...this taichi.

 

 

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc486/OneManArmy369/hiroshi_zpsnpx4oeys.jpg http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc486/OneManArmy369/tomokis_zps3swjnit0.jpg

Two guys - I can't say anything about them because they didn't play a major part in the story. Especially that blonde guy. I mean seriously. What was his purpose? Just remember his "route" at the end. I wanna go on a journey. No! Okay. I waited until the last day. Bye bye. I sended him back...wat? What was his personal problem anyway? Well I'm probably just too dumb to get it.

 

 

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc486/OneManArmy369/misato_zpsqpmohzru.jpg

Heroine with glasses - Dammit, I can't remember any names and I just finished the game, makes me a sad panda. On the other hand, I didn't like most characters anyway (same goes for that sempai bitch), kind of explains my memory loss. Whatever, her route was okay because I was able to understand her problem. She as a character was sadly damn uninteresting and so I didn't pay any attention to her route. I just can't stand those plain characters. I'm your sempai~! You've to follow the rules or I'll get angry~! Meh, and she also had big boobs, eeww...

 

 

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc486/OneManArmy369/mikiiq_zps5s5xlmkg.jpg

Miki - My favourite heroine of Cross Channel, although this doesn't mean anything. I especially liked her easy-going attitude. Her route was surprisingly boring, except the cool ending; where she killed everybody. After she lost her memories of all weeks she turned out to be a damn crybaby. So yeah, she as a character was alright but I can't say the same about her route.

 

 

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc486/OneManArmy369/kiriw_zpswgnjmsvb.jpg

Kiri - had the best route, at least in my opinion. She raged around like a freakin viking and there was also some tension in her route. She was the only character with real emotions, so emotions which I could feel. The emotions of the other chars were kind of artificially, if you know what I mean. Anyway, her reaction after finding out about the past of her brother was way too crazy. I'm your slave and will do everything you want...wat? Well they somehow had to make another sex scene so...

 

 

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc486/OneManArmy369/youko_zpstelsecks.jpg

Yuuko or something - Weird girl. Had the weakest route I've ever seen. She tied up the protagonist and blowjobed him every day. Just why? But here's the best thing, Taichi says some smart sentences and she's suddenly brainwashed. Are you fuckin kidding me? Well as for her personality, she was kind of epic, especially when being jaelous.

 

 

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc486/OneManArmy369/toiuko_zpswmiekpst.jpg

Touko - Typical tsundere and so not my cup of tea. That confession towards Taichi was also way too fast. At first they're fighting around like they would be no tomorrow, then blush, then sex...? A problem of many visual novels. Too fast and obviously too unrealstic. Also, what's up with her being unable to even make a cup of ramen? I mean sure, she lives in a rich house and stuff but that's too much. I've to wonder, can she even dress herself?

 

 

Sex scenes

Can't say anything about them because they're a big pain in the ass. I mainly skipped them. I mean the protagonist was very perverted, so I didn't want to read any oversized sex scenes. Oh there's also an all age version of cross channel btw, would have been wiser to play that one.

 

 

Story

I really liked the idea of that week loop thingy and the solution for that problem was also a good one but...I didn't worked out for me. I can't remember a single part where I really felt with one of the characters. And 30hours playtime were too much. Seriously, the main problem, so that week thingy, was kicked into the background. It was probably supposed to be like that but I didn't like that idea at all. Another annoying part were the routes of the last week where everything was repeated. I had to read the same lines again and again. The ending was actually quite thoughtful but again not my cup of tea. I mean it wasn't a big surprise that Taichi's friends could listen to his broadcast while using 'that' radio. So yeah, the big idea behind the story was awesome but things didn't go the way I wanted.

 

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc486/OneManArmy369/nyoy_zpsn6h25g2q.jpg

 

 

Score

All in all, Cross Channel wasn't able to suck me in. Most characters were annoying, music was kind of bad and the story wasn't very emotional, at least for me. And the whole visual novel was too long, probably because of the huge amount of "intelligent" lines of fuckin Taichi. A weird game which you'll like...or not, but definitely try it.

 

 

6,5/10

Edited March 1, 2015 by OneManArmy

[pramit 22]

yea, i didn't like the art much either. But i loved the story and the chars, and the "intelligent" lines were so awesome maybe i just like this sort of stuff, it makes complete sense to me ^^