I have always enjoyed Android games on my phone. As long as they have an interesting theme and stories that grip my attention, I will download and play them. For a long time I have preferred arcade and Role Play Games (RPG). Recently, I decided to try something new, Japanese Anime. A quick search through the Google Play Store brought up a range of interesting titles. While browsing through them, I found an interesting one that caught my eye. Its title was Stand by you. Reading the description, it seemed like an intriguing game. So I bought it for $5.83 and settled in to play. A few hours later, I was pleasantly surprised at its content and material. Discover my experience below.
First impression
Upon downloading, installing and starting it, I was impressed by the clean graphics. The soundtrack is also moody and fits the atmosphere of the game. Judging from the destroyed buildings and apparent lack of other people in the landscape, I quickly concluded that it was a post-apocalyptic game. I’ve sampled a few of these but never in Japanese Anime style. This was an interesting twist.
In the game I found that my character was a high school boy called Kyo-Ya. Having passed out from the trauma, he woke up to find the world decimated and desolate. By interacting with the controls, I found that my character had lost the ability to move his body and could only pan from left to right with his head to see the surroundings. Suddenly, a girl with flowing, white hair passes by and stops to interact with Kyo-Ya. This is where things got interesting.
A fate worse than death
The girl introduces herself as Asagiri. She explains that war has ravaged the earth and they are the only two people left alive. All plant life and animals are dead and gone. To atone the errant ways of man, Asagiri was sent to earth to live through every death that occurred. Her body would get revived every time she died so as to keep at it until she has experienced the deaths of everyone in the world.
She explains that Kyo-Ya must carry her through different parts of the world to carry out her painful punishment. Asagiri’s destiny was literally a fate worse than death. After learning this part, I understood why the game was rated PG 16. There were gory scenes of Asagiri dying repeatedly. It is definitely not a game for those with a weak stomach.
Hope amid despair
Kyo-Ya can’t believe Asagiri’s fate. He desperately tries to convince her that she does not have to undergo the deaths of multitudes. Kyo-Ya swears to help her through the ordeal by walking with her and if necessary even carrying her until she has had enough. Together, they will search for survivors. Their journey is presented in scenes with various backdrops and props. Water Phoenix Inc really paid attention to detail when designing the visual sets in the game.
Pros
1. Good storyline
2. Great graphics
3. Suitable soundtrack
Cons
1. Sometimes violent content
Final verdict
Essentially a visually presented novel, Stand by you is an interesting take on post-apocalyptic games. It is easy to play and has very appealing sequences. The segments are designed tastefully and the speech is interesting to listen. The only problem some players may have with it is the price tag but otherwise, I found it an entertaining game. It was well worth my money.
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