skysenshi (09.05.2003)
Call me Hitomi...
"Good gawd, he's hot!" was the first thing that came out of my mouth when the opening theme of Chain rolled in. Anyone who's been exposed to Hentai Neko long enough would know I'm usually thankful for not being born a hentai anime babe. Usually.

Until Chain…

Now I have erotic dreams of being in Hitomi's shoes, making love to Takeshi Shinonome until the wee hours of the morning. I swear, waking up has never been so frustrating. If I were a guy, I'd have blue balls.

Artwork is only one of Chain's most impressive characteristics. Men and women alike would probably agree with me when I say that Chain has arguably the most beautiful people ever to grace a bishoujo game. The bonus comes in the form of voice actors and animated hentai scenes, which could further your titillation to such a degree that you'd be envying all the characters in the game. You will either wish you were Takeshi Shinonome or any one of the girls he fools around with.

The story is another defining factor. You are tasked to solve different cases that later converge into one big roller coaster ride—a chain of intricately woven incidents. You start out investigating a friend's husband's extramarital affairs before you suddenly find yourself in the middle of a massive drug scandal. Skeletons in the closet come out and you find yourself unsure of the connections you normally trust. Workaholic Hitomi and free-spirited Akira are just a few of the solid walls you find yourself relying on.

The characters aren't too bad, either. None of them are the trademark oversexed nitwits you normally encounter in Hentaidom. In fact, I find myself relating to some of them, most especially Hitomi. Married to her work, no normal guy has ever asked her out. She seems to only attract perverted losers, whom she enjoys pummeling to the ground. Nevertheless, the end works out well for her. Yep, I can definitely relate to her from start to finish. The rest of the cast, on the other hand, are cute without being juvenile. The characters are closer to my age and have more realistic views regarding sexual relationships. I find this a fresh change from all that kiddie high school scenarios.

As for the gameplay, I'm afraid there are no multiple endings. You only end up with one girl, which isn't necessarily so bad. Chain is an extensive clickathon so I'm quite happy with it being linear. Gawd forbid that I go through all that again. And I don't have to. Once you finish the game, an Appendix will appear in the title screen. This lets you view all the CGs, the animated sex sequences, and your favorite situations. Since I have a fixation for Hitomi, all I do is replay her intimate details with Takeshi and I'm satisfied. The best part of it is that you don't have to worry that you missed some action. You get to sow your oats with nearly all the females before finally settling down.

Right-clicking your mouse will open up the settings window. Here, you can adjust the message speed, play with the voice options, save and load data, and skip dialogues. The best feature this has to offer is the Hands-Free Mode. This prevents your index and forefingers from figuratively bleeding. If you're a speed-reader, you can adjust the message speed, combine that with the hands-free mode and you'll feel like you're just reading a novel. Pretty nifty, eh?

My verdict? I like this game. I find it well-balanced and involving. Worthy of being translated into anime. Now, if I could only get back to that dream…