Summer Pockets REFLECTION BLUE Reviews

What a good summer vacation

“Despite Maeda not originally planning to submit an idea himself, he offered one as an example, but he was surprised when his idea was instantly accepted as the basis for what would become Summer Pockets.” This game started off as a half-assed idea from Jun Maeda. It was set up to fail. Summer Pockets is mostly a fun and polished experience. Unfortunately, it is shamelessly unoriginal and lifts far too many aspects from previous Maeda works. Most notably, Clannad and Air, with a tiny bit of Little Busters thrown in there. I have not played Air, so I'm just writing my brief thoughts here before I write a longer review after I finish Air (that way I can properly lay into this), but it is readily apparent that they took heavy inspiration from Clannad. If the Fuko-esque characters (Shiroha, Tsumugi) and Fuko's route-esque routes (Kamome, Tsumugi) didn't clue you into that, Alka shamelessly ripping off After Story sure will. So many plot beats are lifted straight from After Story, just with more maternal theming instead of the paternal theming of Clannad. Despite taking so much from Clannad, it fails to replicate the charm or the emotional effectiveness of it. Clannad can make me tear up with just 1 line from Ushio. During the climax of Pocket (the final true route) I felt absolutely nothing and even got bored because it was going on for so long. Summer Pockets' map system sure streamlines the routes but it also takes away the character. Routes just devolve into "click on the character's picture if you want to do her route." In Clannad, when you wander into the reference room, you run into Yukine. When you check out the library, you happen upon Kotomi. When you check out the fight in front of the school, you see Tomoyo. There's a sense of adventure. You never know when or where you might run into someone. Summer Pockets forces you to run into every heroine within the short prologue, so that feeling is completely gone. Shiki is completely innocent though. Her route is the one true gem of this game. I also did not mind Tsumugi's and Miki's routes. Alka for all its lack of originality still made me smile with its depiction of a happy family. I'm not particularly hard to please. Despite having an overall positive experience with the game, I cannot recommend it because it lifts so much from Clannad and Air. Why wouldn't I just play Clannad again instead of this if I wanted to experience this type of story? Ratings: - Shiki's route [9/10] - Tsumugi's route [7/10] - Miki's route [7/10] - Alka [7/10] - Umi's route [6/10] - Pocket [5/10] - Shizuku's route [5/10] - Ao's route [5/10] - Shiroha's route [5/10] - Kamome's route [5/10]

Love it. Key never disappoints! A lot of the routes were very enjoyable to read, especially the true endings. 100% recommend.