Review: Brooktown High (PSP)

Written by Dan Zuccarelli

Tuesday, 12 June 2007 09:35

When I think about high school I usually hover between two different feelings. One where I wish like hell I could go back and do it again, and another when I shiver at the mere thought of walking through those doors again. The feeling is probably similar to just about everyone else that went to high school... Unless of course you peaked during those halcyon days and in that case you just want to go back.

What does this have to do with Brooktown High for the PSP? Not much, save for the fact that it takes place in high school and goes to prove that even in the virtual world, I'm as clumsy as a one-legged gymnast when it comes to talking to cute chicks.

Nickel for every time I heard this.... means I'd be broke.

Brooktown High isn't for everyone, of that much I'm certain, but that doesn't mean it isn't for anyone. It's actually better than I thought it would be. It's a mix of The Sims and Bully... without the fighting. It's really the socializing and class-attending that's similar to Bully, with the pluses and minuses of various stats like The Sims. It's essentially a few set pieces strung together. It's simple, and not very deep... so you're not going to be playing this one months from now. But in the short term it's entertaining.

Monday morning you wake up, get dressed, check the computer and sign up for work or an after-school club, then head off to school. You get precious little time between arriving on campus and the school bell to find and talk/flirt to a few people before hitting the books. Typicially I was able to fit in 3 conversations before class, and it's hopefully enough time to make some friends, hit on some chicks, and maybe get a date.

The conversations moved in predictable style, they say something and you have your choice of responses. My favorite was talking to the goth chick, she told me she wanted to come over on the weekend and spank me with a spatula. And my response choices were "No", "Yes" and "Hell Yes"... guess which one I chose. Of course I followed it up with some bonehead answer to something and blew it. Typical.

As a point of me getting older it took thinking about a few slang terms to get what they were talking about sometimes, but even that made me smile. "What does she mean she doesn't like P.D.A.? What the hell does my Blackberry have to do with this, I'm trying to kiss her not sync our calendars!?" Then I think it through and realize P.D.A. means public displays of affection. Oh well.

At 8:30am the bells rings and everyone goes running for a classroom (less you get pinched by the hall monitor). Like Bully you pick the class you want to attend (Physics, Gym, French, Art) and your grade for that subject will rise accordingly. You'll also get personality bumps as well like charm for French class or creativity for Art. This takes you through the week (that was a bit strange actually). Instead of going through this process for each weekday you do it once for the week, then find yourself waking up Saturday morning.

You basicially hang out in your room on Saturday. You can study, play strip poker on the computer, a mini-DDR game, or practice kissing your pillow (Yes, I'm serious). All these activities give different bonuses when performed well. If you managed to line up a date, you'll be prompted to leave your room when it's time. From there you'll meet up with that special someone and go through the conversation style game again... this time with the potential for hooking up.

But that's where I have a problem with the game. Some of the responses are unclear and I found myself saying something a lot different than what the choice made it seem like. I was about to get some action off Bethany and went from "going steady" to "hatred" in one choice of dialogue. While that's probably perfectly accurate for what high school is like it makes for the occasionaly frustrating game. It wasn't constant but sucks when it happens. As it stands I'm still trying to get back in Bethany's good graces, but nothing seems to work.

I also ran into issues where some conversations would get repeated, but that also might have something to do with the fact that I was talking to the same people all the time (Bethany, I'm looking at you).

That being said, I had zero expectations going into the game, and actually found myself enjoying it. It never takes itself seriously, and some of the dialogue is actually very funny.

Since it's on the PSP the load times are numerous but never overly long, which is a refreshing change of pace for PSP games. At it's heart it's a dating sim, and though these types of games have been popular in Japan for years we've never really had a successful one here (with the possible exception of DOAX2, which is really more about interacting than sports). I'm not sure why I had fun playing this, but I did... and I don't mind admitting it.