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Bazooka Cafe
Hideyuki Mizuno is a typical, if slightly inept, office worker at a company until his father's illness forces him to take over management of the family cafe. Hideyuki is in slightly over his head but fortunately he receives help from Cocoa Nita, a woman that used to work with his father. When one of his former co-workers at the company as well as his ex-girlfriend suddenly takes an interest in the cafe, sparks really start to fly. Even the director of his old workplace just can't seem to stay away from Cafe Ariel.
If the goofy title wasn't a dead giveaway, teh plot should make it clear that Bazooka Cafe is just a light-hearted fluff nukige title with kyonyuu elements. The story revolves around the day to day running of the cafe and how Hideyuki ends up with four ridiculously endowed women in his life. Cocoa Nita is the exotic, married woman who used to work part time at the cafe while Mitsuki Takahara is the impulsive and clumsy former co-worker that seems to make no secrets about her intentions towards Hideyuki. Narumi Takeuchi is a childhood friend and kendo instructor who seems very upset over all the attention Hideyuki is receiving while Yayoi Uesugi is Hideyuki's former director who still likes to boss him around. The ladies all have different personalities but have one thing in common, monstrous breast sizes. If you are expecting a deep and moving storyline from Bazooka Cafe you'll be disappointed. Hideyuki isn't a very likeable character and not once during the course of the game did he make any effort to visit his ailing father in hospital. In fact, in reality he is the type of guy that would have a string of sexual harassment charges behind his name. In short, he's a typical h-game protagonist. The girls are an interesting bunch but unless you are a fan of kyonyuu, they can appear rather unnatural (to put it mildly.) This means that while the h-scenes are rather explicit, they can end up looking more creepy than erotic. The fact that Hideyuki is depicted without eyes in all the h-scenes doesn't improve things either. Neither is the fact that all bodily fluids seem to have a yellow glow in this game. There are no animations either which is surprising given the overall polish of the game. The audio is decent and all the characters, apart from Hideyuki are fully voiced in Japanese. Even the minor characters are fully voiced which is nice. A whole host of sound effects help flesh out the rather static gameworld. The music is typical h-game fare with only the tracks "Ariel Garden" and "Let's Go After 5" standing out as being slightly memorable. While there are four different endings (one with each girl) you actually have very limited input in the game. The few times that you are asked to make choices it is very obvious what the outcome will be and which girl you end up with. The h-scenes only occur towards the end of the game once you have settled on a girl so this might frustrate the people who only play these types of games for the explicit content. Having said that, once the h-scenes kick in, they come at you in rapid succession and virtually dominate the rest of the story. There is a separate, "Valentine's Day Special" mode included as a bonus. This mode removes all traces of plot, sanity and choice and instead turns the females into insatiable nymphomaniacs that jump Hideyuki at the drop of a hat. This is commonly referred to as a "Harem" route in the genre and while not very long has a rather shocking conclusion. Bazooka Cafe has all the optional extras that one would expect from a visual novel. You have fifty save slots that can be used at any time, a "Skip" mode to remove repetition from subsequent playthroughs and even a "auto" mode so you don't have to click all the time. The translation isn't too bad given the subject matter although I did notice some inconsistencies. For example, Cocoa is described as having "blue eyes that mesmerize anyone who gaze upon them" while she is depicted with green eyes in the visuals. The high pitched Japanese character voices can also become a bit harsh on the ears. I cannot imagine what the neighbors would think about the yelling and squealing during the h-scenes either so you might want to keep the volume low. Overall, Bazooka Cafe is a polished but rather limited entry in the genre. Fans of buxom maids might enjoy the story and characters a bit more than I did. Personally I would have liked to see more choices and perhaps a better branching storyline.
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System Requirements
TAGS: Bazooka Cafe, Cocoa Nita, Mitsuki Takahara, Narumi Takeuchi, Yayoi Uesugi, Pururun Cafe
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