Ipad & Iphone

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Iphone 14 Pro vs Iphone 15 Ultra

Hey, kawaii gamer girls! 🌸💕 Are you looking for a new phone that’s perfect for all your gaming, anime, and Kdrama needs? Let’s compare the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, iPhone 14 Pro, and the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Ultra to help you decide which phone is your ultimate tech BFF! 📱✨

Camera Capabilities 📸🌟 The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra boasts an amazing quad-camera system with a 200MP main camera, two telephoto lenses, and an ultra-wide lens. It’s perfect for snapping stunning photos, from action shots to beautiful portraits. read more

Girlish Love Revolution | Otometeki Koi Kakumei * Love Revo!! | Nintendo DS | Love Revo | Girlish Love Revo | Weight Loss | Anime | Dating Sim | Review | Editorial | English Translation

Stat Raising Otome Games With English Translations

Welcome to the world of otome games, where love, romance, and personal growth intertwine to create immersive, interactive experiences. In this today’s post, we’ll explore 12 of the best stat-raising otome games that will captivate your heart and challenge your strategic skills.

As you embark on these virtual journeys, you’ll develop your protagonist’s skills and attributes, unlocking new paths and romantic possibilities with every choice you make.

From the pioneering classics to the innovative gems of today, this article delves into the intricacies of each game, comparing and contrasting their storylines, anime graphics, stat-raising gameplay, and other elements. read more

The Real Reason I’m Returning My IPAD Pro

For those following my blog, you might already know that I’m a multimedia content creator – not just for this blog here – but as a fulltime living for a real client in the real world. I do everything marketing related for them, from print advertising, video production and editing, online advertising, tradeshow events, email marketing, social media management, and so much more.

Pre-Covid I used to work in the office, and so all the equipment I needed was right at my fingertips and provided by the company. I didn’t have much say or choice in what I used. When it came to drawing tablets we had a very small Wacom tablet. The old-school kind without the screen built-in. It wasn’t bad, I graduated undergrad college in 2006, and my MBA around 2012 or so, and so I was familiar with and used to using Wacom. Even back in my childhood, my stepdad who was the one who first bought me Corel Draw and started me down this career path back in the 90s, at some point bought me a REALLY old-school Wacom tablet, an off-white color, big heavy thing with a DONGLE. They don’t make those anymore. This was a dinosaur – but that proves that Wacom’s been around for ages… and well yes, certain things have changed, they now have better pens, and a nifty ergonomic standing base and even some very pricey Wacom that are self-sufficient stand-alone units – for a cool $3,000+ dollars. read more

Apple IPad Pro 12.9 Inch Review & Comparison To Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio

You might have seen my recent review about the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio over here. You may remember mine met with an ill fate. A fate likely caused by a defective Surface Pen… The pen would not do anything. I changed the batteries, I knew how to charge it correctly under the lip of the laptop… And in device settings it said it had 100% battery life.

I read an article about unpairing and repairing the device… so I unpaired it… and could not repair it… because it was effectively dead…. No lights, no nothing. I’d only had the device for 10 days… but since Best Buy’s cutoff for returns is 14 days… and at least my local Best Buy is running some weird COVID19 hours still… closing at 6 or 7 pm and I had to work past that time… We had gone up the night before only to discover they were closed, and knew we couldn’t make the next night either…. So on day 12 of 14, when they offered to ship me a new pen…. well… I was nervous… What if it WASN’T the pen?! What if it was a problem with the bluetooth inside the $3,000 computer??? read more

Apple Iphone 13 Fact VS Fiction

Apple’s newest mobile phone is rumored to be revealed as early as next week. With Iphone 13 just days away, the internet had been buzzing with many exciting rumors and a few leaked spec sheets. No one knows for sure what to expect, but one thing’s for sure, Apple 13 is going to be the next big thing that everyone wants.

I love my Iphone 12 Pro – which I’ve only had for about 7 or 8 months now. I am 40 years old. My first Iphone was the 6S. Before that I had many androids, including the very first ones with the slide out keyboard. I’m actually honestly more interested in Apple’s new clamshell flip phone, but that one is still a year or two away. read more

How To Play Angelique Or Any Other Japanese Otome Game In English

I recently started playing Angelique Luminarise in English. The game was just released in May of 2021 in the Japanese Nintendo Eshop. It is not available in English. Not commercially – and not fan translated either. So how am I playing it in English?

Well it ain’t pretty, and it ain’t perfect but here’s how. Pretty simple really. The main thing you need is a smartphone with the free Google Translate app. I like to download the Japanese language pack for offline viewing too – but you don’t have to. read more

Starry Love Anime Dressup Otome Game Review Like Love Niki, Wannabe Fashionista, or Mr Love Queen’s Choice

I just started playing “Starry Love” yesterday after seeing a Facebook ad. It’s a brand new game from someone named Modo Games whom I’ve never heard of.

The gameplay is quite similar to Love Niki, or Mr Love Queen’s Choice or Wanabe Fashionista… all of which I’ve reviewed here and all of which I definitely recommend.

When I started playing Starry Love there was only one review and it was a one star rating. Maybe someone was confused and thought one meant good and 5 meant bad.

There’s not much bad about this game so let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first. read more

Genshin Impact Review Of Free To Play Open World Anime RPG With Gacha

Genshin Impact has been making waves and covered by almost every media outlet. It has received both good and bad press. But I hadn’t played it until last month when I got my Playstation 5. Genshin Impact is also available on mobile and PC. And there is talk about bringing a version to Nintendo Switch but that won’t happen until late 2021 at the earliest. I’ve spent a few weeks now with Genshin Impact and have really enjoyed it thus far. Here’s what I think.

Genshin Impact is a new open world anime RPG by Mihoyo. It has stunning anime graphics, English voice acting, great music, and lots of unique features. The open world lets you explore, craft, hunt for treasure, perform both story and non story based quests, and of course fight monsters, all while collecting characters from a gacha. Genshin Impact is said to have terrible Gacha rates and gets a bad rep for that aspect sometimes. read more

pixel3

Three Things I Will Miss About My Pixel 3

I will be switching back to Iphone. My green Iphone 11 is supposed to be delivered by end of the day tomorrow. My reason for switching is to have a more secure device. I fell victim to the camera hack as well as within the past 6 months, 3 different accounts of mine have been hacked – I can’t prove it’s my phone’s fault, but I had the Iphone 6 – up until Pixel 3, and never had been hacked. The reasons for which are varied, for example Iphone is a tightly controlled app marketplace. While it’s not impossible for a rogue app to sneak in, it’s definitely more difficult. Another reason Iphone is more secure is because Android is the most widely used platform, similar to how many computer attackers aim their threats at windows because it dominates the market. They want to attack where the most people are. Lastly, Google’s convenience in password storage and account linking makes it easier for attackers to get all of your information in one place. read more

Idol M@ster Shiny Colors – Japanese Mobile Game Review and Kinda Brief English Walkthrough

I am really into Idol M@ster Shiny Colors. Unlike other Idol M@ster Mobile Games or Love Live or Bang Dream, Idol M@ster Shiny Colors is not a rhythm game. Idol M@ster Shiny Colors is a simulation game. You are a producer and “hire” idols to work in your studio. You draw the idols from gacha.

Please note – I did not realize this when I played, but on your first 10 play gacha, you get UNLIMITED REROLLS by pushing the YELLOW BUTTON on the left. Once you are happy with your cards press the PINK button on the right. I didn’t know, I pushed the pink button and I only had one SSR. I have been thinking about starting over (and still might) but I think I had some pre-registration bonuses and other things I don’t want to lose by restarting the game. So definitely do not push the Pink button until you have the cards you want.

Collecting and dressing girls is the main appeal of the game. But what do you do once you have a team of idol girls? You can plan their schedule – like a true sim game. You can have them practice, give interviews, or other activities to promote their stats.

The stats also can be increased in a final-fantasy-style skill tree system where you spend skill points to unlock stat-bonuses like +20 vocals, +30 dance, +20 vitality, etc. Depending what “path” you take in the skill tree your girls will develop in different ways.

You have one main girl, and several other backup idols. The main girl is the one to gain from this skill tree system.

Performing a live show is quite different from other mobile idol games. It’s more almost like an RPG battle. You tap a girl’s face below the stage and then tap a “skill” along the left such as vocal, dance, etc. Then a colored bar will appear on the screen, try to time it right and tap the screen when the needle on the bar is in the white color. White will give you the highest bonus. Purple the least, and yellow a medium boost. You can also “link” your girls’ actions to perform together in one attack. On the right hand side of the screen are some other bubbles. i think, but could be wrong since I do not read Japanese, but think that you are competing against other idols, and as you perform these skills you can defeat the idols to the right hand side. But if you miss, you will notice your own idols on the left dropping off the screen. Once all the idols either on left or right are gone, the performance ends.

The artwork in the game is very kawaii, and SSR and higher cards have movie animations, both when retrieving from the Gacha and also when performing a live show. All of the idols are animated with Live 2D which brings the characters to life on your screen. Many of the cards have “multiple characters” on one card, and when performing a live show, or meeting the idols out in town, you may see special scenes featuring the characters all together.

The voice acting and music is also top notch as you would expect from an idol game.

Replay value is high due to limited time events that offer rewards such as gacha tickets and gems.

My only complaint is a lot of the gacha are for paid gems only. However, the gems are fairly cheap, you can get a few hundred gems for under $10 – I haven’t bought any yet.

Will we see Idol M@ster Shiny Colors get an English release? Probably not. They tried years ago to release some Idol M@ster games in English and it flopped – however, they wanted $65 for a mobile game – And worst of all, after it flopped, they pulled it down and even if you had paid for it you could no longer play it!!! I wish they would try again but with some of their “FREE” mobile games, either Shiny Colors, Theater Days, or Cinderella Girls. — But my hope is slim… However there are 2 things that give me a little bit of hope. 1.) They seem to understand that there may be English speaking players playing Shiny Colors, when the visual novel aspects come up and the choices appear, they show in English an emoji and English words that say “Perfect” “Good” “Normal” so even if you can’t read the choices you can pick the best response still. And when purchasing diamonds, the currency is shown in US Dollars, not in Yen, which is odd. I’ve literally never seen that ever before in any Japanese games. Which is a nice touch so I don’t have to try to convert it, if I ever decide to buy diamonds. And 2.) I have hope because we are getting more and more and more English idol games, with the upcoming Revue Starlight Re LIVE, or last year’s Bang Dream Girl’s Band Party and Utapri, or the ever popular Love Live School Idol Festival, we continue to receive more and more games in this genre, but we have yet to receive any of the free Idol M@ster games… Shiny Colors is only a few weeks old in Japan, maybe in a year or two we could hope to see an English release? But it is still fairly easy to play even in Japanese. But it would be nice to be able to enjoy the story! I’d be more likely to buy paid gems if the game was in English.

Scorecard:

Overall Score 70/80 88% B+ “Very Good Game For Girls”

Geeky: 5/5 – collect virtual waifus. very geeky. And simulation aspects set this game apart from other idol games.

Sweetie: 5/5 – the girls are adorable

Gameplay: 10/10 – finally a true simulation game, similar to Princess Maker or Tokimeki Memorial, you schedule your idol’s activities and watch their stats grow. I enjoy this much more than just a tappy tap rhythm game. Your girls develop in different ways based on your choices and I love that.

Story: 0/10 – I can’t read Japanese so this may not be a “fair score” but until an English version exists I can’t judge the storyline.

Characters: 10/10 – cute, gorgeous artwork, huge diversity of girls.

Artwork: 10/10 – cute, live 2D, SSR and higher cards have full movie animation sequences.

Voice Acting: 10/10 – all of the girls sound so cute.

Music: 10/10 – of course a game about idols is going to have catchy and cute music.

Replay Value: 10/10 – Lots of events, they give a lot of SR tickets and free Gems and the fact that this is a simulation game also adds replay value because the girls change based on decisions you make.

Overall Score 70/80 88% B+ “Very Good Game For Girls”

Google Pixel 3 vs Iphone XR Camera

I just ordered a Google Pixel 3 a few days ago because it was $150 off on google’s store – sale ends today by the way. After ordering the phone, to kill time I was watching videos of the phone… I am mainly excited about the Pixel 3 camera. I am still using an Iphone 6S… I’ve had since it came out… so almost any new phone camera would put mine to shame. The last android phone I have used was Samsung Note 1 so I’ve been “Team Iphone” for a long time. But Pixel 3’s camera just looked so good. How good is it really?

I took a blind test and played along with this video:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kadb9iHYJ60[/embedyt]

I watched this and paused it and studied each photo and came to the following conclusions which I wrote AS I was watching it – At the end he will tell you which camera belongs to which phone… I won’t spoil it – you can watch it yourself.

Here are my comments…

1 B
2 B
3 A’s color is better but I do like how B’s subject “pops” out of the background
4 – same comments as 3
5 – B
6 – about equal. A looks a little washed out, B looks a little dark
7 – B all the way, although it looks kinda warm colored. A is probably more natural color, but seems blurry and less detailed
8 – B all the way, no contest. A is blurry and pixelated/noisy. B is much more detailed and “cleaner”
9 – B is much more sharp and crisp, but A is probably more flattering for the portrait, But prefer B because it pops
10 – B is much more detailed and crisp. A looks washed out and blurry but sometimes thats nice for portraits
11 – B – but this one is pretty equal
12 – A captures more “area” you can see other houses and cars. And the things in the foreground pop more, but B has more midrange “clarity”
13 – B all the way, A looks super washed out
14 – B all the way, it really pops out. (Since dolls are my main photography subject this would be the camera I’d want the most)
15 – A shows more background detail, but B is nice for Bokeh, and the subject seems more clear in B

My totals:

B = 10
A = 0
Tie = 5

Did I make a good purchase? – Watch this video to find out for yourself.

Roku Express vs NVIDIA Shield TV Gaming Edition. Which Streaming Media Player Is Best? The Answer Might Surprise You.

I picked up the NVIDIA Shield TV Gaming Edition on sale for $159 at Best Buy on Black Friday, regularly $199. I also had a $100 gift card to bestbuy from previous sponsored posts I’ve done for them. This is not a sponsored post. This is me providing my initial feedback of the device as I’ve now had it for five days. My end cost was $59.99

Earlier this year I purchased a Roku Express for I believe it was $29.99. It is the most basic cheapest Roku device, in hindsight I wish I’d purchased one with voice controls which I believe start around $49.99. I’ve had my Roku for about six months.

I thought I’d be “replacing” my Roku with the NVIDIA Shield TV Gaming Edition… but that’s not the case… Roku is superior in almost every single way. NVIDIA Shield is only for very technical people, with very fast internet connections, and the only real reason I will keep and not return the product is because of GeForce Now their cloud gaming Streaming service that lets you play games you already own such as from Steam or Battlenet on your tv and on lightweight non gaming PCs without linking to another PC a direct contrast to solutions such as how steamlink works letting you mirror your screen from your gaming pc, in the case of GeForce Now you do not need an expensive gaming pc or any pc at all.

But the service is not without flaws. Everywhere I’ve read the hype, how there’s no lag, and everything is smooth, yeah sure maybe if you have a good internet connection. I do have cable internet but I live in extremely rural areas where I have no choice who my provider is. I don’t think my internet is terrible. It gets around 15mbps, but let me tell you… GeForce Now is almost unplayable for me… don’t believe the hype! It’s not any different for me than PlayStation Now, another Streaming service I use, in fact, PlayStation Now has far less lag for me than GeForce Now. I had to disable my steam authentication token because it was physically impossible to use the controller and onscreen keyboard to type the code before it refreshed and changed. Games stutter, lag, jerk, and freeze… and I wasn’t even playing super new AAA graphically intense games. The first game I tried was Battle Chef Brigade, a 2d simple indie game.

Ok lag aside, there’s some other flaws:

I thought I could play games from the google play store… I can… sort of… but very very few of my favorites are available for “android tv”. Here’s where being a tech wizard comes in, you can sideload apps from a usb stick. Not included of course. They didn’t even include an HDMI cable. I’m using the HDMI cable from my Roku, cost $250 less and provides me everything I need out of the box.

I’m not tech illiterate but the NVIDIA Shield is ridiculously needlessly overly complicated… every other Streaming Media player on the market just works out of the box in minutes… it took me three hours to set up and troubleshoot my Shield. Mostly due to generic unknown errors and series of reboots and updates…

Games aren’t the only thing missing, several of my favorite tv channel apps are not compatible with android tv, such as TLCGo. Roku has far more apps and a much more intuitive user interface and setup takes only seconds even when needing updating not hours…

Hell google themselves don’t even seem to want to support their crappy Android TV as Google Chrome isn’t even compatible with it!

If you want to spend $200 for hours of updates, then have to find or buy your own hdmi cables and usb sticks, then fart around side loading apps from your pc to the stick to your Shield, and have a laggy choppy gaming streaming experience well that’s up to you…. keep in mind NVIDIA will begin charging for this service soon too and has not released any pricing details. From what I’ve seen, I won’t subscribe.

I would take my Roku any any any day of the week. GeForce Now is an exciting and interesting concept. I became excited and interested reading reviews of how it had no lag and performed perfectly as if you were playing it right on a pc gaming rig, but my experience left much to be desired.

I haven’t tried side loading anything yet. My instincts and speculations tell me that Apple TV has far more compatible apps and a better interface than Android TV.

I tried watching kissanime and TLC on my Shield using Puffin.TV, TLC had audio but no picture, kissanime would play about ten minutes then tell me filetype is unsupportable. I’m now watching the same anime on my Roku using a mirror from my iPad and iWeb TV (to be fair this probably exists on Shield too I didn’t check) and having zero issues, TLCGo and other apps are all at my fingertips the interface looks more pleasing intuitive less cluttered and just works. For a tenth of the cost…

For me, the answer is clear, love my Roku, and shockingly disappointed in my NVIDIA Shield TV.

Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition for IOS

I tried Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition. I had previously reviewed the original game for PlayStation 4. I enjoyed the game for its gameplay but felt the story and characters fell apart in the second half of the game. You can read my full review of Final Fantasy XV on PS4 here.

My favorite part of FFXV was Prompto’s photography skills. While other skills are in pocket edition, like Ignis’ cooking, Prompto doesn’t get to take photos. Actually thinking about Prompto’s photo skills is making me want to replay the PS4 version right now lol. There is also a lot of new DLC and events I’ve missed since I haven’t touched the game in over a year now.

How does Pocket Edition compare to FFXV on PS4? Obviously the biggest difference is a different art style, using chibi characters instead of photo realistic designs. The original game has some of the best graphics I’ve ever seen in an RPG. That said, the IOS version is no slouch. It too has some of the best graphics of any IOS RPG. Ignis’s food still looks delicious. And the chibi characters are kinda cute!

Music and voice acting and story are still the same, at least in chapter one which is as far as I’ve gotten. I do not think I will purchase the full game which costs just a meager $14.99. I rather play the original on my PS4 to have Prompto’s photo skills and the gorgeous graphics and more comfortable controls.

My recommendation is that if Pocket Edition is the only way you can experience Final Fantasy XV, it’s definitely worth $14.99 but if you have access to the console version (or PC if it’s available on PC) then shell out the extra cash and play the original.

Pocket edition is good but not without flaws. My iPad is a 2017 version with the latest updated IOS, and with graphics turned high in the settings it crashes… often… in chapter one it crashed 3 times already freezing completely and forcing me to reset and lose progress between saves.

But let’s look at some of the highlights of the game. In pocket edition you still get the full story identical to the original version at about a fifth of the price. You still get some really handy features to cut down on the monotonous parts of traditional RPGs. Final Fantasy XV offers many handy ways to travel such as by car or chocobo or by visiting previous locations on your map. There’s still the skill tree to customize your characters’s combat abilities. Healing, switching weapons, using items, etc is all done in real time. Combat is fast and fun and at times even challenging. Gameplay wise, the original Final Fantasy XV is one of the most fun RPGs I’ve played in the 2000s.

And pocket edition in many ways comes close to this gameplay. Like I said, if you have no other way to enjoy Final Fantasy 15, then you should give Pocket Edition a try. Even if you typically don’t play RPG games, you may enjoy this one because it’s much more fluid and less tedious than most other JRPGs.

Here is how I’d rank Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition

Title: Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition

Release Date: February 2018

Price: chapter 1 is free, after that it is $14.99 to unlock all chapters.

Platform: Mobile, IOS, Android, Switch, Xbox360, PS4

Developer: Square-Enix

Genre: JRPG

Where to get: https://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/finalfantasy-xv-pocket-edition/id1152350815?mt=8

Geeky: 3/5 Not as graphically intense as it’s original counterpart, and has some performance issues at times, also offers fewer skills, where’s Prompto’s Photography? However, it does a good job of mimicking the combat and fluid travel and gameplay features of the original.

Sweetie: 2/5 The story has highs and lows… and not just the emotional ups and downs, but in some cases a lack of emotion in parts and tendency to abandon side characters and create plot holes or weaknesses in character development. The lack of Prompto’s photography is also huge to me.

Gameplay: 6/10 without the photography skills I have to rate this much lower as that was the best part of FFXV. That said, it still offers many side quests, great combat, and quick and fluid gameplay. The skill tree has a lot to offer to help grow your characters’ combat skills and it is overall still a fun RPG

Story: 6/10 Story is pretty identical to the PS4 version, The story is about 4 male best friends, one of which who is a prince. The prince is not like your typical prince, he’s very kinda rough around the edges, smart mouthed, sarcastic, and at times apathetic. But as the story unfolds, he begins to mature into someone fitting of the throne, The best part of the story is the friendship of the four male main characters. But there are weaknesses in any of the other characters, Some are killed too soon to get any emotion from the audience when they die, others are even killed or left out if the second half of the game never to be shown again, especially all of the female characters and as a female gamer who reviews games for other girls, that’s a big ouch there for me and my readers.

Characters: 6/10 The four “bros” deserve a 10/10. They are really great and their character development superb. Their interactions with each other and message of the importance of “bromance” are really the highlight of the game, but all of the side characters are severely under developed.

Music: 10/10. It’s the same as the console version

Voice acting: 10/10 once again also the same as the console version

Graphics: 7/10 Given that it’s a mobile game… these graphics are pretty good but of course can’t compare at all to the original.

Overall: 50/70 71% C- “Good Game for Girls”

Food Fantasy Game Review

Food Fantasy is a brand-new cooking RPG and card collecting game from the creators of Love Nikki Dressup Queen. It combines many different styles of gameplay such as allowing you to research new recipes, gather ingreedients, explore the story, battle monsters, and collect cards known as “food souls” to add to your party or put to work in your shop. I’ve been playing since the game launched a few days ago and thought I’d share with you my initial thoughts of this cute little free mobile game.

Title: Food Fantasy

Genre: Cooking Simulation, Restaurant Management Card Collecting / Battling, RPG

Publisher: Elex

Release Date: July 2018

Price: Free

Where to Get:

IOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/food-fantasy/id1366072359?mt=8

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.egg.foodandroid&hl=en_US

Geeky: 1/5 – There’s not much “geeky” about this game. If you like cooking mama and can imagine a mash up of cooking mama with love live, then you can imagine something like Food Fantasy. Mostly I can’t give high marks because the combat is very basic and mostly automated and not very engaging or challenging. I don’t see this having wide appeal unless you like cute things or love games like cooking mama.

Sweetie: 4/5 – I think girls will like the simulation aspects the best. When the game starts you can select a cuisine style to specialize in, you can research new recipes, decorate your restaurant, and you can collect cute “food souls” that can work as staff in your restaurant, or be added to your battle party. I can’t give it a 5 for appealing to girls because the story is quite weak.

Overall: 49/60 82% B- “Very Good Game for Girls”

Gameplay: 4/5 – I’m on the fence about the gameplay aspects. It is a unique and fun game for sure. But I think the combat system leaves much to be desired. But combat is not really the main focus of this game. This game tries to be a jack of all trades, but is really a master of none. There are better RPGs, better card collecting games, and better cooking games out there – but none of them combine all 3 of these things…

When the game starts you select a small thumbnail image to represent you. – Other cooking games often let you customize an avatar character and add dress up options – since this game is by the creators of dressup nikki I was surprised, and a little disappointed not to see such features in Food Fantasy as well. – But there are some female “avatars” (thumbnails), and some “fantasy” type ones – for example my avatar is a black cat with little chef hat lol. It’s pretty cute.

After naming yourself and choosing your little thumbnail picture, you’re shown a tutorial and introduced to a few characters and shown some background story. Through the tutorial you will experience many things. First you will select one of three cooking styles which will determine your first recipe – and I’m not sure if they will have an effect on other recipes you can obtain or give you a boost to certain recipes.

Next you get to fight some monsters and progress through various missions. Sometimes some monsters will drop ingredients that you need for cooking. – they don’t seem to drop often enough though.

Back in the restaurant you can assign staff to cook food or wait on customers. Different characters give different bonus effects to your restaurant. Customers will come and go to your restaurant even while not playing, or while adventuring and exploring other parts of the game. You will need to periodically check in to cook new dishes and collect your tips and other aspects of restaurant management.

You can decorate your restaurant with cute items which in some cases grant bonus effects when placed in your restaurant.

You can also improve your dishes by leveling them up by making them over and over again, or by adding spices and other items to each recipe. In addition to improving existing dishes, you can also research and develop new dishes if you have enough ingredients.

The final aspect of the game is the “card collecting” in the form of summoning new “food souls” which as mentioned can be assigned as staff or assist you in the battle field. The cards range from common to ultra rare. Drop rates seem generous, I summoned an ultra rare food soul, Peking Duck, early in the game without spending real money. There are also numerous special events, such as the launch party that will award ultra rare food souls for completing specific tasks and missions.

You can then take these food souls into battle – but the battles are really rather dull and not a very fun aspect of the game. You can tap to remove status ailments from your party members or tap to interrupt the boss from using powerful special moves, but largely, it’s more automated and you sit there watching your food souls fight, and the difficulty level is quite low. I have not lost a single match yet.

Story: 3/5 The story is very weak and poor, and there are some awkward phrasings and some questionable translation issues. I feel the story has potential to be interesting, but it’s not yet. Basically, you summon a food soul who has no powers and they tell you she is an empty shell and that usually such food souls are discarded, but you feel bad for her and take her in, because you feel responsible because you were the one who summoned her. She vows to help and often tries to protect you even though doing so without any powers would mean sacrificing herself. She is frustrated and wants to grow stronger, but you’re told it is impossible. – If I have to guess, she probably does have some special power or something, that’s how these stories usually go. Right now, the story is slow and dull, but perhaps things will get more interesting – I’ve only been playing for 2 days, maybe an hour each day, so I’m still in the beginning stages of the game. But thus far, not really impressed with the story.

Characters: 5/5 – The characters are super cute, and there is a mix of male and female characters which is rare for these summoning types of games. Also every food soul has an English Voice Actor (or Actress), and if you don’t like the English voices, you do have the ability to select the Japanese ones as well. This is a really nice plus, I haven’t seen many of these summoning games that bother to add English voice acting. The artwork is adorable, and of course it’s all inspired by various food and beverages which gives it a nice theme.

Graphics: 5/5 – Graphically this game is quite nice with a unique storybook like style. The anime style food souls and npc characters are all very cute. The backgrounds are really detailed and lovely. I can’t find anything to complain about here.

Music 3/5: Some of the music and sound effects sound recycled from love nikki? Or at least very similar in style.  It’s average at best. Nothing really stands out, but thankfully nothing is annoying, although like most mobile games it can be repetitive at times.

Voice Acting: 5/5 – I love that there’s English Voice acting – and some of them are quite good. I also equally love that they’ve left the option to switch to the original Japanese voice actors at any time as well. Great touch. I know they spent a lot of money licensing the original cast, as well as hiring all new voice actors for the English release. This shows me they care about the fans, and about the game, and it was just a really nice surprise and does set the game apart a bit from other summoning games out there.

Crafting: 5/5 – I love that you can research new recipes. This game reminds me of several other much larger cooking/crafting games such as the Atelier series of games, or Mana Khemia, or Kamidori Alchemist Meister.  The crafting aspects are probably the highlight of the game. In that regard though there are probably a dozen other mobile games which do a better job – If you’re looking for similar games check out anything by Kairosoft, Nippon Cafeteria, Sushi Spinnery, or Ramen Master being 3 that focus specifically on food – while other Kairosoft titles apply the same game mechanics to other jobs/roles. Or check out other cooking and restaurant management games such as I love Pasta and I love Coffee – which I reviewed here. Or of course, I’m sure you’re familiar with the famous Cooking Mama games. Even though these other games may have more in depth crafting/management aspects, I still give food souls a 5 in this area. Out of all the different aspects of this strange little game, I think the cooking and simulation aspects are the strongest and most fun elements.

Customization: 4/5 – You can decorate your restaurant, assign staff, and choose your food specialty. But most other mobile restaurant simulation games have a dressup aspect and I miss that here.

Cuteness: 5/5 – The food souls are super cute and the graphics and voice acting take that cuteness to the next level.

Replay Value: 5/5 – With the special events and wide variety of things to do, from battling, to cooking, to decorating your restaurant, to collecting food souls, to inventing new recipes to serve in your restaurant, or progressing through story missions, this game has a lot to offer and will keep you busy.

Overall: 49/60 82% B- “Very Good Game for Girls”