GameSpy Preview of Brooktown High

Ah, high school. Four years peppered with all sorts of rites of passage, including sneaking into R-rated movies, that kid in science class who hasn't showered in three days, and for many of us, playing copious amounts of video games in between keeping our grades up. With that in mind, Backbone Entertainment has fused all of the clichés of adolescence with a genre that's fairly unproven in the US; outside of Ubisoft's disastrous DS launch title Sprung, dating simulations are largely confined to Japan. The team behind Death Jr. aims to break that with Brooktown High. We got a chance to play some 15 minutes of recreated adolescence, and while it's certainly foreign for a guy who spent his teen years playing games instead of dating, it's got its charms.

The game starts with a personality quiz, which, based on the player's answers, will place him or her in a social group. Unsurprisingly, we ended up mostly nerd, although with a few false answers to switch up the odds, we also got a high percentage of artist and athlete. A highly intelligent kid who can paint and make the volleyball team? Yeah, that's how we'd go back and do high school if we could. Players will then be grilled on their idea of a perfect first and second date, which can range from "what kind of locale would you take your date on?" to "your date invites you over to watch a movie. What kind of movie do you rent?" They'll also be asked what kind of parents they have and how much allowance they get.

Players will then pick a "type" of person that they're interested in, from tanned athletic blondes to brainy brunettes to purple-haired artsy Goths. They'll then choose a person that they'd probably not be interested in to narrow down the odds. The last element that players will choose will lie in character aesthetics. They'll pick height, weight, color, hairstyles (not many male hairstyles to choose from, we thought), and clothes. For some reason, we were reminded of the cartoonish designs from Leisure Suit Larry, although this game should have significantly less raunch. It feels like Backbone took the core elements of Bully, subtracted the fighting and depth of social cliques, and boiled it down to the kissing minigames and compulsory school attendance.


From there, the school year starts. Players will pick out an outfit, go online to buy clothes, music, and either find a job or pick a club to join, and eventually, apply for college. It's all a balancing act, as there are grades hanging in the balance, but social status to be attained. Study too much, and the character's sociability will falter, making it hard to mack on some hotties. Study too little and spit too much game, and the character's grades will tank.

There are minigames along the way that will help players out. We saw three of them in action during the demo. Boogie Tron 5000 resembles DDR's arrow-based control scheme, as players must hit buttons in sequence to gain popularity and athletic ability. 21 Knickers is strip blackjack, although we're not sure if the final product will have the same arbitrary cruelty that our demo had, in which we couldn't get a single winning hand before being sent off in our skivvies. Tongue Wrestling, an amusing minigame centered around moving an avatar around a chamber (of two interlocked mouths) while avoiding icons, such as a teacher's head and a ringing cell phone while catching heart icons. It's as weird as it sounds, and honestly, it could use a little balancing before the final product releases. It's way too loose and difficult to control the avatar without colliding with obstacles. As a result, we couldn't determine what the rewards would be for being a good kisser. When players get to school, they'll have limited time to socially interact before class. During that time, a "Choose Your Own Adventure"/BioWare RPG-style series of conversational topics come up. Depending on their answers, the character will either gain popularity, or become more of a loser. From there, it's off to class. Class visually moves by quickly, but consumes an entire school week.

We're not sure if we're fans of the one-week per class schedule; it doesn't feel natural and consumes too much time. It'd be nice if Backbone could break it up into fewer days to give the player more of a sense of interaction with the scholastic and social environments. After school's done for the week, the character will either participate in his or her club, or go to work to earn money. When the weekend hits, it's all about studying. Players can make up for grade deficiencies by studying certain topics, or take a holistic approach and do a general overview.


When it's all said and done, the game will end at, of course, Senior Prom, which Senior Software Engineer Isaac Bender described as "the ultimate high school boss battle." So far, Brooktown High still has a ways to go in regard to production. The game is in its alpha stages, so certain elements are being tinkered with at this point. With that in mind, it's got some quirky issues, such as balancing in the minigames, that can still be fixed before its Spring release. Visually, it looks quite good, although we're still not sure how the concept will go over in the US, or what demographic Konami is planning to market it toward. We came into Konami's press event a bit cynical about a dating sim, but we've left the event feeling slightly charmed by the game's earnestness. We'll undoubtedly have more on Brooktown High as it gets closer to release, which will probably be somewhere between Senior Prom and Graduation Day.

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