Heroine Dream is yet another social simulation where the conversations are plentiful and the situations are interesting. There are five digital schoolgirls to acquaint yourself with and interact with as well. Like other digital females (Tokimeki Memorial comes to mind), the heroines in HD are very talkative and have their own distinct personalities and quirks. The drawing style for the anime portrays the characters as more mature than what is found in some other anime games. The figures are tall and lanky rather than short and squat in a drawing style that is better known as super deformed. The eyes for the characters are still as round as saucers however and take up more room than they should, but thats okay. The game allows you to socialize with the girls in different situations and you may find her in various emotional states depending on the situation. If she is sad for example, you can try your best to cheer her up and get her talking. If she is angry, you can attempt to calm her down and stop her brooding before she does some major damage. Heroine Dream is yet another game in a long line of girl acquaintance/dating simulations. The target market is clearly teenage and older males; games such as HD may help to fulfill fantasy interaction scenarios that are wanting in Japanese social arenas. Would a game such as Tokimeki Memorial or Heroine Dream do as well in the USA? It might, but our social scene is more open and less formal than it is in Japan. The 'need' for games such as this might help to allow shy or timid males to socialize with girls that they would never meet otherwise in Japanese society, even if they are only in a videogame. The other game for the PSX this week is Marriage whose target audience is also teenage and older males. Two games in a week that allow guys to interact with girls may not bear out my social hypothesis but it will be interesting to see how prevalent this type of game becomes in the next few months/years. Some of these types of games have been available on Japanese PCs for years and their availability on video game consoles help to expand their market draw. PCs are not as widespread in Japan as they are in the States while consoles are more widespread in Japan than they are in the States. Click here to see one of the heroines in a nordic goddess-like pose on what appears to be a bas-relief no less.

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