New Love Plus

The Love Plus series has particularly been a huge success with Japanese men and it’s now known as one of the most sophisticated dating simulations available. In fact, wives and girlfriends complained on Japanese message boards, saying the game was so engaging that it left their partners neglecting families and other responsibilities. Divorces have also stemmed from this, as well as the complete opposite, with one man even marrying his virtual girlfriend!

Despite this controversy, though, Konami is now bringing the franchise onto the Nintendo 3DS for the first time, with New Love Plus. Releasing aptly on Valentine’s Day in Japan, New Love Plus further improves upon the familiar formula with new content also being added. The same three girls make a return -- Rinko, Manaka, and Nene, or, as New Love Plus Producer Akari Uchida likes to call them, “his daughters.” Like before, the aim here is to gradually build up a friendship with one of the young ladies and then attempt to develop the situation further, ultimately leading into a passionate relationship.

With the extra power of the 3DS and its new features, Konami has taken advantage of these and put them to use to create a more engaging experience for the player. One of the most notable new additions uses the inner-camera of the 3DS to impressively recognise your face. This feature is dubbed the “Boyfriend Lock” and helps keep strangers from trying to flirt with your virtual girlfriend. For example, if the 3DS system is left unattended and an unfamiliar person tries to seduce the lovely lady, she will simply say something along the lines of “Who are you?” and act confused. On top of this, an Augmented Reality feature has been included where players can take a photo of any surroundings and the New Love Plus will analyse the image. Afterwards, the player’s virtual girlfriend will pop up and proceed to interact with the environment, such as peeping out from walls and waving or sitting down on surfaces. Both are clever usages of the 3DS, highlighting some of the system’s strengths that other developers could definitely take note of.

 

StreetPass and SpotPass compatibility are included, too. As the in-game girlfriend is taken on dates, exploring the fictional city of Towano, there may be areas that prove to be more memorable than others for the loving couple. Connecting New Love Plus to the Internet allows for the exchange of personal experiences with others. By doing so, the city map will update to highlight successful and unsuccessful dating regions, which in turn affects the areas in-game. Shops will close down in less prominent areas due to lack of customers and the opposite can be said for more populated sectors, where businesses will begin to flourish. This all plays out in real-time too, since the game uses the 3DS system’s integrated calendar and clock. Due to this, New Love Plus has seasonal weather changes that can affect how the game plays out, as well as general city life.

Another new addition to New Love Plus is the ability to read books with your girlfriend. This takes place in a series of in-game events where a number of books can be read at a club. Some of the books included are Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables and two Japanese novels, Boku no Measuring Spoon and Mōryō no Hako. After reading through them, thoughts can be shared with your girlfriend.