Dating sims... I've always been curious about this genre of games and HuniePop was my first venture.
I liked how the game starts. You meet a fairy, who makes her quest that you will loose your virginity... 12 times to be exact. You get little tutorial how this game's match three puzzle system and how talking with the ladies work. After that, your adventure begins.
You go to your first place and you'll see two of the ladies talking to each other, giving some hints about their relationship. You approach the "main lady" of the place and start conversation with her. Good so far, until you get to the "meat" of the game. Asking questions about the lady (favorite season, cup size etc.) and they ask questions about you, which you have to answer in a way she likes. After that you get to the dating phase, if you want, and play the match three puzzle. If you succeed many enough times, you'll get some bedroom action.
At first this seemed nice, but when I was reaching "the end of the game" , this became tedious. Puzzle sections are damn well done, but the conversation part felt lacking. I never felt like I was "real" conversation with the ladies. There was potential. Voice acting was good, ladies seemed intresting and I wanted to know them better. Instead, my main goal was to have sex with them. Concept of love wasn't really understood apparently...
I really liked astethics of the game. It is well done anime style, that had clean look to them and was pleasure to watch. Music seemed dull at first, but I really started like them. I especially like "Nutmeg Cafe", "Farmer's Market" and "In the Bedroom" songs. Really relaxing soundtrack to listen on it's own, so I recommend you buy the deluxe edition upgrade.
In the end, I'd say HuniePop was good game. Game looks and sounds great, puzzle part is damn well done, but the "dating sim" part was bit disapointing. If sequel happens someday, I hope that is this part improved.
