Sweet Fuse: At Your Side Review/Overview

Game Title: Sweet Fuse: At Your Side

Game Platform: PSP

Game Developer: Otomate (Idea Factory) / Aksys Games

Release Date: August 27, 2013

Official Website: Sweet Fuse

Walkthrough: GameFAQs

Opening:

Story:

Saki Inafume was very excited to visit her uncle's amusement park when suddenly something went wrong. As her uncle was giving the opening speech, a person wearing a pig costume has taken the staff as hostage and even bombed the ferris wheel. He introduced himself as Count Hogstein, he said about a game where there will be seven heroes and if they win, the hostages will be free. Wanting to save her uncle, she volunteered to join the game.She meets the other six players who were chosen as 'heroes' in the game. Count Hogstein said that the game is not just a simple game, it where they will risk their life to win.

Characters:

Sample CG's:

Game Review:

Subaru Shidou

He is the over protective kind of guy and puts others first before himself. He is the leader of the group because he is always collected and serious. He is very careful when it comes to solving a puzzle that Count Hogstein gives them so much as that he even prevents/pulls Saki from touching a statue saying that she is 'just a woman', to which of course Saki gets mad at he's face when Saki got mad was funny, oh well, its not just face, everyone's face are funny when Saki gets mad them xD and Subaru apologizing later. Although he may seem cold at first, he is very caring yeah but I cannot really read him at first because he is very serious. He confesses that the reason why he is always considering others safety than himself is that when he was still an arrogant detective, he let his partner died because of a mistake he did. It is later revealed that most of the players are connected to the accident that happened 12 years ago. The accident is a bus crush that killed almost everyone in it, the bus crushed to another car which was later known to be an accident. But Kimimaro confesses that it was not an accident, it was a planned by his father to kill a reporter because that reporter discovered his dirty works that sounds a lot like a government would do... o.o and was suppose to publish it immediately. This made Kimimaro hate his father but didn't say it to the police any of this if it was me, I would still report it to the police even if he is father because it is really so wrong to do that, but... well if I have proof of course. Kimimaro is also the traitor that Count Hogstein was talking about, Kimimaro says that his friend M2 is Count Hogstein but never really see his face. He agreed with Count Hogstein to destroy the park because its his father's most prided work (he's father is a head of a construction comp). The players are very surprised to hear it from Kimimaro but they trust and care for him nonetheless I was expecting them to get mad at him or anything because most of the American TV series that I watch is that they always fight with each other instead of working together to solve the crisis. Subaru's dad was a detective solving the mystery of that crime but didn't solved it to which he drunk himself to death is that even possible?. Ayumu's mentor died in that accident (the reporter), Ryusei's parents also died in it, Kouta was the only witness and Towa is the lone survivor of the accident who was saved by Ryusei's mother. Subaru's route is the only route where Saki will finish the 7 days games. When they succeeded from all the games, Count Hogstein released the hostages but he runs away. In the end, they never knew who was Count Hogstein. Time passed after the incident, Subaru and Saki dated while the others are back on their daily routine. His route was fun and all but I didn't get the feeling of excitement from him., although he is my most fave char of them all. I personally think that he is the official partner of Saki.

Towa Wakasa

An idol from a famous boy band. He is very cowardly at first but he later toughen up mostly after Ryusei saves Saki from an explosion which was suppose to his job because he was the closest to her. In the 4th game (its a by-partner game) where they are suppose to shoot at aliens and make it to the goal safely, Saki got a fever causing them to lose how did she even get a fever?. Count Hogstein invites them to the castle to offer a deal with them to which Towa agrees as long as Saki is healed leaving the game to the others to finish. Count Hogstein proposes that he will be the new traitor and he will save Saki. Saki tries to stop him but she cannot talk because of the high fever so Towa agreed. Saki passed out from the fever and later wakes up in a room I forgot if its her room or just a room that Count Hogstein offered. She looks at the clock and panics when a day has already passed and the next game is already starting. Knowing that Towa will betray the others for her sake, she runs off to look for him. When he finds him, she shouts at him to stop which surprised everyone. Saki got mad at Towa and he apologized to her and to the team. The team accepted his apology saying that his decision was correct because Saki was sick ah~ their trust to each other is so pure and genuine :3. Count Hogstein got angry and separated the both from the group then gives them another game I'm not really sure if that is really what happened, its either that or they went to try to save the hostage together. Later, he realizes that he was not angry at himself when he was unable to save Saki from the explosion but because Ryusei was the one who saved her, he was jealous and then later confesses that he fell in love with Saki. Saki cannot answer him because it was all too sudden so Towa says that he will give her time but needs an answer until they find Ryusei (who was being used as a hostage). Towa says that he became an idol to make people smile but time passed made him harder to smile truthfully to his fans, his band mates are saying that he just have to fake a smile. In the last game that they are in, Towa was suppose to sing and get the attention of all the people on the screen. He froze because he cannot smile well, so Saki shouts that he should just have fun and so he sings for fun which they won the game then they kissed while Ryusei cheers them on. In the end, Count Hogstein escaped and the two got together. Towa even announced that he is dating someone to his fans but didn't really say the name because that will just make trouble for Saki. I didn't really like him at first because his face is so girly, not just my type but as the story progresses, he upgraded from girl-face-guy to brave-caring-girl-face-guy. I'm not really into boys who are younger but its okay if he's just a year younger as long as their gap isn't that far but two years young is already far for me xD.

Kouta Meoshi

The most silent of them all. He is a hardcore player who has great reflexes earning him a title 'ninja' by Towa when he dodged all of the arrows in their first game isn't usually people who are always sitting playing games are not good at that? oh well, he did have a low stamina. He is very shy and blush so hard when he is being praised. He is not very good at handling girls because he is a shut-in person. He was blushing so hard when Saki got very close to him in the haunted house, his expression was so funny xD. In their 4th game, like Towa's route, she got sick like I said, how did she get a fever? stress maybe? -.- causing them to lose the game. He carried Saki to the restaurant go Kouta! Woot! where the piglets helps them. Count Hogstein got mad at them for leaving the game and says that they will regret it. As punishment, Count Hogstein changed the course of the game where he released a lot of zombies of course they are mechanical but they do seem very realistic, got to praise the one who made them! and they must find where the zombies comes from. They found the place where the zombies are being made but they fell down in a room when they got deeper inside. There, Kouta says that he was not a shut-in person long time ago but when he was a kid, he witnessed an accident happened in from of his eyes and was scared to say that it was not an accident because the people who are trying to get info from him was scary but when he got the courage to tell it to one of the police, it was already too late. Since then, he felt very bad and guilty of himself. Saki kissed him and they got back to the upper floor. In the end, Count Hogstain got away and they were all put in a hospital to recover. After that, Kouta confesses his love for her and they became officially a couple. Their was a funny scene where Saki pulls the sheets and finds out that Kouta was playing with his psp and she got mad because he needs rest, Kouta replied that he needs 10 more minutes because of the save point in the game to which she says that he said that an hour ago. Felling familiar? Don't we all gamers do that? 10 minutes = 1 hour, or even more. He kinda reminds me of L from Death Note because of his eyes O.O. I like the ending where he teaches Saki to play a game in his psp and he was so cute in that CG!

Ayumu Shirabe

I didn't really like going to his route because their age gap is far too wide. 14 years! 14 FREAKING YEARS! It's like going to the route of Dante and Jolly from Arcana Famiglia all over again -.-. Well, I suppose their are girls who has that kind of taste so they made Ayumu one of the love interest of Saki... A journalist who always have a chocolate stick pocky maybe? in his mouth. In the 3rd game where they must survive a haunted house, they find Ayumu's daughter who was roaming around the park for 3 days because she got lost from her grandmother after the incident occurred. Ayumu is not very close to Mai (his daughter) because his wife died when she was still a baby and he doesn't know how to take care a kid so he let the mother of his wife take care of his daughter. In the beginning of the 4th game, Mai is missing making Ayumu panics and tries to find his daughter, Saki insisted on joining to make the search easier while the others complete the game. They found Mai being held by Count Hogstein, when they finished the game Count Hogstein prepared for them, Ayumu got mad at his daughter but hugs her after. They went back to the ship  and after a days rest, Saki wakes up not seeing Ayumu which she frantically search the ship but he was no where to be found and so she went to find him in the park. When he found him, he says that he needs to discover the truth. He revealed that his mentor died in an accident 12 years ago and wants to try to find the truth then a guy naming himself as M2 messaged him that he should go to this park for the truth although the truth was already revealed when Kimimaro confesses that he was the traitor and tells about the accident in the haunted house incident. Count Hogstein sets up another game for the two and after they've won, Ayumu confesses that he has fallen for Saki but never pushed it because she was way too young. Saki replied that it doesn't matter yeah and pigs fly which doesn't really matter -.- and they kissed. When they confronted Count Hogstein, he revealed that he was angry at Ayumu because of the article that he published years ago where it was full of lies about the accident making the family of the people who died in the accident suffer. Ayumu says that it really was his name that was written in the article but it was re-written by his boss because he wants his boss for the story to be exaggerated which made him unhappy and that made him a freelancer. Count Hogstein doesn't want to believe it and leaves as the others tries to capture him. In the end, he got away but he tried to call Ayumu once but Ayumu didn't pick up because he was unconscious. When Ayumu tries to call the number, Count Hogstein didn't pick up. Ayumu and Saki became a couple, Mai says that she has a new mother to which Saki blushed and Ayumu smiled it's like he was preparing to propose to her o.o. I've got to admit that I get the feeling of excitement in his route but mostly... not happy about it because of the age gap. Although the CG in the end was sweet and cute, his route gives me mixed feelings.

Kimimaro Urabe

A fortune teller who was supposedly hired for the amusement park. He is very kind to everyone gaining their trust. He later revealed that he was the traitor among them but nonetheless, he saved everyone from being caught in the explosion of the haunted house. After that, he was no where to be found which worried everyone and even try to search for him but they didn't see him. When they are about to board the ship, Saki says that she will try to find him once more and runs off. She found him standing in a cherry blossom tree. She stays with him until morning, Saki falling asleep in his lap. Kimimaro was trying to talk to Count Hogstein, his friend, to stop this game but they both got locked up instead in a room filled with aquarium. Saki noticed that Kimimaro is acting weird and was hiding something from her. She deducted that he wants her to stay inside the room for her to be safe. He says that he made a deal with Count Hogstein where Saki will be safe but in return he will be a hostage and die in front of the others making them fall into depression and losing the game. Since he was so guilty of his father's works, it's okay if he dies. Saki tries to talk it out to him but he wouldn't listen. In the end, Kimimaro listened to her and they kissed. When they meet up with the others, everyone was glad for Kimimaro to be back but they were all surprised to know that Saki and Kimimaro are lovers to which Subaru got mad saying that no kissing until Saki graduates overprotective father figure :3 which made them look away and Subaru even got more angry while Kimimaro denies that they kissed you liar! xD. In the end, Count Hogstein got away again, while Kimimaro surrenders his self to the police and confesses the crimes of his father along with the fact that he first worked together with Count Hogstein. 2 years passed, Kimimaro got out of jail. Saki runs up to him and hugs him. I like the ending of this, Saki has waited for him for 2 years proving their love are strong and she was even beautiful with her long hair. Kimimaro reminds me a lot of Toma in Amnesia, Toma locks up the heroine for her to safe while Kimimaro locks up Saki in a room for the same reason. Also, his face was so yandere-ish! I love yandere guys! Too bad Kimimaro isn't my type of guy -.-.

Ryusei Mitarashi

A number one escort in their club. He is very manly and always looking for a fight despite being an escort. In the first game, he protected Saki from an arrow in the second game, there was a joke where his acting was horrible but he says that he is a great actor because his work being a host demands it, Saki is confuse about this but the others didn't really say the reason why a host need to act, I also didn't get it... x.x and in the haunted house incident, he protected Saki from the explosion making him weak. So in the 4th day, Saki stays behind to take care of Ryusei. The next day, Ryusei wants to do something but was scolded by everyone making him stay in the boat again with Saki and Mai. But because of his stubbornness, he made Saki agree with him to go to the park and try to save the hostages. They were caught by Count Hogstein and he gave them a game different from the others. If they fail, he will kill the hostages. They spent the night in the space thingy attraction because by the time they got there, it was already night and Count Hogstein was 'kind' note, its quoted x.x enough to push through the game till tomorrow. Ryusei talks about his self being a crybaby when he was young but that all change when his parents died on a accident that happened 12 years ago. He stayed with his grandmother and got into fights in his high school days to the point where he was a leader of a gang. When his grandmother died, he changed and wants to make women happy making him a host. He even told her that his real name isn't Ryusei but its Ryuji, Ryusei is just his stage name. When they succeeded the game in the next morning, they met up with the others. It was revealed that Ryusei's father is the mentor of Ayumu which made Ayumu so happy to meet the son of the person he respect. Ryusei wants Saki to stay behind but she cried and wants to go with him. Ryusei agreed and kissed her forgetting that the others are watching. Subaru coughs that they are still there while the others tease Ryusei. When they freed the hostages, they try to escape while Count Hogstein tries to capture them. Ryusei tackled Count Hogstein when he points a gun at them making their escape. In the end, like the other routes, Count Hogstein escaped and the became a couple. Ryusei quit being a host because their is only one woman in his life. He was the first character that I fell in love in the opening song. But my fave char is still Subaru. Their is a running gag here where Ryusei doesn't admit that he likes games and amusement park because other will people will think of him as a childish person so he tries to hide it from the group but it was very obvious to them. I call him a tank person because he was shot by an arrow and then protected Saki from an explosion... he's so tough like a hard rock.

Makoto Mikami

Saki bumps into him at the entrance of the amusement park in the second playthrough. She then meets him again at the end of the first game in the storage room. He introduced himself and was ignorant of the events that are taking place. Makoto wants Saki to keep his identity a secret to the others while he will try to discover something about Count Hogstein. Saki meets him again in the 2nd day in the ship where he tells her a bit of info about Count Hogstein. In the haunted house incident, Makoto saved her from the explosion. Saki tries to find Makoto the next day and she found him at the storage room. He was badly hurt and Count Hogstein appeared. He gave Saki a choice between leaving the amusement park or stay here and he'll kill Makoto. He choose neither saying that she will not leave her friends and she will stay and save Makoto. Makoto says that he knew she would say that and Count Hogstein sprayed her a sleeping gas. When she woke up, she found herself in a room full of monitors that catches all the happenings at the amusement park. Makoto reveals himself as M2 or Count Hogstein. Saki asked why he was doing this. He answered her that his family got killed in the accident 12 years ago, a bus crushed into their car killing his beloved ones. The incident was dismissed as an accident but it was planned by Kimimaro's father all along and one of the hostages is Kimimaro's father. He said that he will free the hostages and then kill Mr. Urabe. Saki was quite confuse because she understand why Kimimaro was in this game but why the others? Makoto further explained that they are all connected to the accident, Subaru's dad was an investigator who failed to solve the truth behind the accident and he even let his partner killed which Makoto had contact with to solve the accident. Ayumu is a reporter who published a false information which made the family of the victims suffer. Kouta is the only witness in the accident but didn't tell the truth behind it. Towa is the lone survivor of the accident but when he was interviewed about it his response was negative asking if he can go home now. Ryusei's parents died and he changed his entire name to run away from the past. Saki contacted the others and made them tell behind the things that they did to which Makoto listened quietly. Subaru did let his partner died but because of it he vowed to put others first before himself, Ayumu's article was re-written by his boss, Kouta was only still a child and was afraid of the people who are asking him, Towa didn't really remember the accident but he feel ashamed of what he said in the interview, Ryusei changed his name not because he was running away from the past but because his grandmother's last name is Mitarashi and Ryusei was a stage name for his work and lastly Kimimaro says that he was feeling guilty for not confessing the crimes of his father a long time ago. Makoto doesn't accept it at first but he later did. In the end, he tries to kill himself and Mr. Urabe because when Makoto was asking about the incident to Mr. Urabe, he said he doesn't know about it and begs for his life. Makoto just wants an apology from him but he got mad at him when he said those. So he set up a bomb to explode for them to die together. Saki stopped him and they both try to run away from the bomb, they also carried Mr. Urabe. When they are nearing the exit, Makoto pushed Saki away because something was about fall on her. Makoto shouted for her to go and Saki runs away with her pulling Mr. Urabe. When they got out, Mr. Urabe runs away while Saki watch the building burn, she was crying when she saw Makoto. Makoto says that he forgot about the secret passageway underground and laughs it off. He then kissed Saki. It was already obvious that he is Count Hogstein from the beginning of the game because he did appear in the opening of the game but didn't appear again in the first playthrough of the game. He kinda reminds me of Ukyo from Amnesia, Ukyo has a dual-personality where the original is kind and the other is a merciless killer while Makoto is contradicting himself where he is a kind person but also a vengeful person when it comes to the accident. I think that its either Makoto or Subaru is the official couple of Saki but I vote ofr Subaru :D.

Overall: This game heavily reminds me of Hakuoki ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ because the gameplay is very similar where there is a diary of some sort. It also kinda reminds me of Amnesia because of its mystery but Amnesia is more... gore-ish? This is the second otome game that was published by Aksys Games in english, to be honest, I wasn't very impress when I first saw the game because of the drawing but that all changed when I played it. I guess don't judge a game by its drawing? xD I did have a lot of fun playing this especially when Saki have that explosive insight thingy where the player will choose clues from the hints to solve the puzzle and where the player choose to get mad or restrain herself choices. This game is highly recommended for everyone because of its mystery and a bit of action! Thanks Aksys Games for translating this!!! ^_^ I hope there will be more in the future :D.