The situation for when it came out and as a bizarre, experimental launch title for the DS made for an expected lukewarm and even negative response, and that’s not even taking into consideration how weak its characters and gameplay did end up being (in which we will get into). This was due to its 50,000+ dialogue lines not being thoroughly checked as possibly an overlook from the established guidelines unlike today’s that would not miss such material now that visual novels are more commonly accepted and seen in the West. Funnily enough the title was even rated too low for its material involving lines of dialogue directly referencing drugs, sex and even cussing. The title was aimed at older players yet it was released exclusively for Nintendo’s new handheld system at a time where Nintendo were firstly seen as the kid friendly company. Ubisoft happened to be one example of a developer who tested the waters to gauge the level of interest in the dating sim market in America specifically thanks to the creation of this little oddity. It was developed in only 5 months by a mostly inexperienced team and suffered from many setbacks due to limitations of audio assets.
Sprung was already an oddity to even exist and manage to release. The design is no surprise for its time, and when we do consider the year 2004 when the title released it was a well-known fact that dating sim games were thriving in Japan (just see Tokimeki Memorial popularity since 19 ) but had much less coverage or acceptance in the West. was indicative to such adventure game roots with the noticeable European artstyle with the character portraits and designs. In fact the now dissolved French studio Guillemot, Inc. Originally titled as Crush in early development, the game we received as Sprung is often regarded more as an adventure game due to its linear plot and particular humor similar to the Broken Sword games.
Just don’t take it too seriously! From Crush to Sprung It’s an easy to get into scenario, and offers plenty of hilarious and awkward events in the pursuit of love in our youth, and sometimes even has a hand in indicating to players what they should and shouldn’t do in dating. While Brett wants to show his dominance in being more successful in love over Conor and Elliot, Becky is struggling with her modelling career by being contracted by Elliot to date him for a possible place in the career as she comes to terms with her uncertain love life. Conor is one of two big shots currently at the inn, with the other being Elliot who are both more popular and wealthy compared to Brett. The entire game is set in a ski resort, owned by a mutual friend of theirs named Conor. The objective of the game is to successfully romance different characters during “missions”. Players pick either Brett or Becky to play as with differing story-lines.
Its rom-com influences are noticeable just by merely giving its synopsis a quick read.