Synopsis:
You are Hiroaki Hanyu. Your whole family decided to commit suicide together several years ago, but only your mother actually died. After the incident, your father took the responsibility of parenting you by himself and managed to put up a successful video game company. You are now about to graduate from junior college but you can't decide what to do with your future. Should you continue with your studies? Take over your father's business? Find a job elsewhere? You can't make up your mind. Ever since you were young, you've always been extraordinarily lucky. Things you want seem to appear or happen out of the blue... just like magic. Lately though, the power seems to be growing stronger and stronger. Women you only fantasize about suddenly change and practically beg you to make love to them... but why? What is the source of this mysterious power? You had better find out soon before the power drives you insane.

Review:
Runaway City is among the earliest bishoujo game titles to be released in English, along with the likes of "Three Sisters Story" and "Season of the Sakura". I was quite surprised when I played Runaway City. Having played "Three Sisters Story" a couple of years back, I expected similar graphics and game interface. Sure enough, the game interface is the same -- but the graphics are a far cry from Three Sisters Story and took some getting used to. Most of the younger characters are depicted with irritatingly pudgy faces. Fortunately, the more mature women benefit from better rendition (but there are more younger characters than older ones).

Plot-wise though, Runaway City is interesting and quite original. Despite the fact that this is another "click and click" game, Runaway City does grant you a bit more freedom. You are given several options by which you can approach a situation. You can also mix and match actions while having sex. An example would be: Use - finger, tongue, hands, lips, c*ck / On - mouth, neck, breasts, thighs, butt, p*ssy. It's a two-tiered choice instead of the usual single option action. Some choices let you see additional images as well.

The sexual content is explicit, although the male organ is sometimes (meaning not all scenes) rendered invisibly. There's also some hard stuff like S&M, rape, and torture. Another thing I have to point out is, Runaway City is difficult to finish correctly. I've lost count of the number of times I had gotten the bad ending. I consider myself a good gamer and so imagine my frustration when I just couldn't get the real ending. The crucial final moments give you generic choices like look, don't look, think. If you don't pick the choices like you're supposed to, you instantly get the bad ending. Now that makes for some senseless gameplay. I managed to get a hold of a walkthrough but to no avail... I followed the chronology but the damned game seems determined to give me a bad ending every time. It's a really stupid way to cap off a game that's already hovering on the edge of being average fare. Overall, I didn't really have much fun with this title. However, Runaway City is being sold at a lower price compared to newer bishoujo game releases.

Miscellanies:
The Jast USA Memorial Collection Game Set contains three games -- "Three Sisters Story", "Season of the Sakura", and "Runaway City" -- all in one CD!

Screenshots:

Shopping - click on title to purchase:

J-List Jast USA Memorial Collection Game Set (PC Game Collection)

Distributor: J-List / PCR Distributing Co.

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