REVIEW: Pretty Girls Klondike Solitaire PLUS on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

I have covered many of the "Pretty Girls" releases, by now you should know the routine, take a classic simple to play game, wrap it within the Pretty Girls universe, and job done.

"Pretty Girls Klondike Solitaire PLUS" from ZOO Corporation delivers a delightful twist on the classic game of solitaire, immersing players in an anime-inspired world with Klondike rules. With its charming anime-style graphics, easy-to-play gameplay, and impressive presentation, this title adds a fresh layer of excitement to the timeless card game.

The game offers a unique twist by incorporating 11 beautiful girl characters, each with their own distinctive personalities and stories. Engaging with them adds an element of intrigue as you progress through the solitaire challenges. The diverse cast of characters, from cool beauties to Tsundere personalities, enhances the gameplay experience and gives players an incentive to clear stages and unlock stylish costumes for the girls.

The various difficulty levels add a layer of challenge to the traditional Klondike solitaire game, but also rewards players with costume changes as they make progress. Dressing up the characters in various outfits adds a fun and rewarding aspect to the game, offering a creative outlet for players to express their style preferences.

The inclusion of a Diorama mode is a classic part of the Pretty Girls games, allowing players to place multiple characters in different settings, customize their expressions, and change their costumes. The ability to save and load scenes encourages creativity, letting players craft their ideal scenarios and capture snapshots of their creations.

The game does a commendable job of integrating the anime aesthetic into the solitaire gameplay. The characters are beautifully designed, and the voice acting in Japanese adds an extra layer of authenticity. The game's interface is intuitive, making it easy for both newcomers and seasoned players to dive into the solitaire action.

Here is an example of some of the characters and their bios.

Sakura - The daughter of the Jounouchi family, a large conglomerate. She has a bright and friendly personality with the grace of a celebrity. She plays the role of a maid-maker among her close female friends.

Shion - The daughter of the famous Arisugawa family. She has a soft demeanor and a quiet personality. She is considered by those around her to be a beauty because of her personality and good looks.

Ayame - She is the daughter-in-law of the heir to the famous Fujishima family, and is held in awe by all concerned for her ability to manage the Fujishima family.

While "Pretty Girls Klondike Solitaire PLUS" offers an enchanting experience overall, there's room for a few enhancements. Expanding on the variety of backgrounds and settings for the Diorama mode could further boost its creative potential. Additionally, introducing more challenging gameplay modes or power-ups could add depth to the solitaire mechanics.

In conclusion, "Pretty Girls Klondike Solitaire PLUS" is a captivating addition to the "Pretty Girls" series, successfully blending Klondike solitaire rules with an engaging anime-inspired universe. With its charming character designs, easy-to-understand gameplay, and the allure of dressing up the characters, this title is a must-try for fans of both solitaire and anime aesthetics. ZOO Corporation's dedication to creating an enjoyable and visually appealing experience earns this game a solid 8 out of 10.

Out now on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2483680/Pretty_Girls_Klondike_Solitaire_PLUS/

REVIEW: Pretty Girls Tile Match on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

Zoo Corporation have just released the 18th "Pretty Girls" game in the series and they have sent me a key to check out the game.

I have reviewed a lot of the Pretty Girls titles now, and all of these games have one main thing in common, "Pretty Girls" (KAWAII -  the culture of cuteness in Japan) wrapped around either a classic game or a reimagining of a classic game, well Pretty Girls Tile Match is no different.

A simple concept is used here, you play with mah-jong tiles that are spread out randomly on the table, your job is to match 3 of them, when you do that they disappear from the playing area, once you have cleared the board, you have completed that level.

Each level you complete gets you points, and you can then use those points to unlock costumes and backgrounds for the "Pretty Girls", which you can then position on a diorama, when positioned how you like, you can then save that image, to use however you like, most likely use is for Wallpaper for your computer.

In total there are 120 levels to complete, 20 levels per characters, with 3 different difficulty settings.

The game itself is pretty simple to learn, you can only hold 7 tiles at a time, and once 3 of them match they disappear, obviously you need to be tactical, as some tiles are hidden beneath others, and you have to make sure you don't get stuck by loading up with too many unmatched tiles. Luckily there is a handy undo button, as well as a hold button, which allows you to move a tile to the side if you get stuck, along with a shuffle for when you run out of moves. Even on the hardest setting, with a bit of planning, and thought, you can complete all the levels.

The 6 girls have their own little bios and characters, although this is superficial and does not really have any effect on the game. For example, Riara is described as "A lightly flirtatious beauty. She is fashionable, dances and models, but she is also a mischievous troublemaker." or Rui, described as "A beautiful woman with a tall and outstanding model figure and beauty. Contrary to her appearance, she is strong-willed and has a caring personality."

The Good

A new twist on the class 3 piece puzzle game using Mah-jong tiles, it is much harder than it first looks as some tiles look very similar, it all adds to the challenge, and for people who like this kind of puzzle game, it will be a fun addition to your collections.

The Bad

You get the same number of "Points" to purchase things whether you play easy or hard, and you can complete any level on any difficulty once you have passed the previous one, taking away a challenge of needing to complete all levels on hard for example. A few more achievements would also be welcome, as it is you can complete everything on easy.

Overall

I am a fan of the "Pretty Girls" franchise, classic games given a new look, or reimagination, and more often than not Zoo Corporation improve on the original, or create a new version of a game that instantly becomes the best in it's genre, and this one is no different.

Pretty Girls Tile Match is the best 3 tile game available right now. For fans of this type of puzzle game, this is the best one you can get, it offers a large number of levels, and a very good challenge.

I score Pretty Girls Tile Match a solid 8.5/10

Out now on PC (Steam)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2144360/Pretty_Girls_Tile_Match/

REVIEW: Pretty Girls Escape on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

Followers of the site will know that I have reviewed a fair few of the "Pretty Girls" franchise releases, and I am glad to say I have another release to talk about today. This is the 16^th Pretty Girls title. And as with all of the Pretty Girls releases the format is a simple one, take a classic game, give it a fresh coat of paint, a few new gameplay options, and add Japanese anime style girls to the product. It is a simple format that seems to work almost every time. And I always seem to find myself scoring these games quite highly, so will Pretty Girls Escape keep a strong run of good games going? Read on to find out.

The game itself is a simple block falling puzzle game. The aim is to eliminate blocks of the same colour, (you can click on 2 or more blocks to make them disappear) and as you eliminate the blocks, a larger character block will drop. Get the character block to the bottom of the playable area, and to an exit.

Each of the 8 character has 6 levels, and as you beat the levels, you unlock costumes for the characters, which you can then turn into wallpaper for your computer. You can change costumes of the characters, set the background, have multiple characters in the scene and you can even change facial expressions. The characters all have their own personalities and are voiced by Japanese actresses.

An example of a few of them are.

 - KANON

 Kanon is an innocent and positive-thinking girl with a calm and gentle demeanor. She is a hardworking person who focuses on her goals.

 - YUKI

 Yuki is energetic, lively, and easy to get along with. She is active and has a good sense of humor, but at the same time, is a troublemaker.

 - RIN

 Serious, cool and dignified. Once she makes up her mind, she will not it.

There is no nudity, no sex, just classic "Bishoujo characters", which you will see in Japanese Manga and Anime.

Of course, if the game was as easy as I just described, you would beat it pretty quickly, however each character's set of levels is harder than the previous one. 

You will soon realise that just getting your character block to the bottom of the playable area is not enough, there is also something of a tilt option, where you press left or right and all blocks will move to one side or another. You will need to use this ability very tactically, you see as you play, the game throws in some obstacles, there might be bombs you need to avoid, or unmovable blocks, blocks that need to be broken, and then the craftiest gameplay mechanic of them all, you might need to also move little key blocks, to unlock the exit area for the characters, this all has to be done in a certain order, so you don't get stuck.

As well as the character stages and levels, there is also a challenge mode with 20 stages to beat, difficulty increasing as you go.

The Good

Zoo Corporation have once again taken a simple game concept and improved it, made it look great and added some depth to what is a simple game. I have never known a franchise to continually get the games right, especially a franchise where each game is a different type of game to the previous one. I am a fan of puzzle games, and although the game starts off pretty easy and you will fly through the first few stages, once the "gimmick blocks" are introduced, the game takes on a real level of tactics. Time really does fly as you play.

The Bad

I can't really think of anything, as a simple block falling puzzle game it works very well.

Overall

Zoo Corporation have done it again, another perfectly created puzzle game, a competitive price point of about £5, with a launch date discount too.

If you are a puzzle fan this is what we like to call a "no brainer", you should buy this game.

I score Pretty Girls Escape an excellent 9/10

Language: Japanese / English / Chinese / Spanish

Release Date: June 2, 2022 (Pacific Standard Time)

Price: 4.99 dollars

Player: Single player

Steam compatible functions: Achievements / Cloud / Ranking

Buy on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1997300/

REVIEW: Pretty Girls Four Kings Solitaire on PC (Steam)

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

I never thought I would be reviewing a Solitaire game, but here we are.

I recently reviewed another "Pretty Girls" release called Speed which you can see here, I gave that game a strong 9/10. Well, the good people at Zoo Corporation have asked me to take a look at their newest "Pretty Girls" release, this time it is Solitaire. Yes Solitaire, that game everyone gets free with their PC running Windows. So, what is different about this game that sets it apart from the Windows version?

Well, it is the "Pretty Girls" of course. But that aside the gameplay still needs to work for the game to be good.

There are a few different versions of Solitaire going around, slightly different rules. Since this game is from Japan, the rules are a little different to what I was familiar with, but in many ways, this is a superior version.

They also use more clear terms for the various parts of the game, in the classic version you have "Stock, Waste, Tableau and Foundation", in this you have "Deck, Hand, Field and Table". Much easier to understand if you are a newbie to this game.

The main difference I can see is that in the 4 Foundation lines or Table lines of cards that you need to complete to finish the game, is that each line has to be completed differently.

In the classic game, you start with the Ace, and have to follow the order of the cards all the way to King. In this version that is only the case with one line. The others start with a 2, a 3 and a 4. And of those, each card has to be followed not by the direct next card in order, but in one line a gap of two, the next a gap of 3 and the last a gap of 4. This photo should help you understand what I mean.

You still have to end on a King, but getting there now needs a bit more thought. 

The cards you place in the field, can then only be moved to the table, unlike classic rules you can't move field cards around. So, when taking cards from the hand, it now becomes all the more important, where you place them on the field, because you may inadvertently block yourself in a future move.

I know this sounds confusing, but when you get the hang of it, this really does make this a superior game.

Throw in leader boards, with the fastest to complete at the top. Differing difficulty settings, which work as the harder the setting, the less space you can use in the field, and you suddenly have a really challenging game.

There are limited shuffles allowed for when the deck has been emptied, and a couple of cheat moves allowed, to take a card from any position in the field and automatically place on the table, all depending on the difficulty settings. Your usual achievements can be gained too, giving you something to aim for.

The beautifully drawn "Pretty Girls" can all be positioned with different backgrounds once you have unlocked them, great for creating wallpaper images for your PC. There is no nudity, just busty Japanese style girls to amuse you. Plus, the classic Japanese voices which always make me chuckle. 

The Good

This is the best version of a Solitaire game that I have ever played. The bells and whistles of the Pretty Girls are fine, but the game itself is well designed, and once I got use to the rules which were a little different to what I was used to, I am happy to say this is a superior rule set.

The Bad

There is a menu regarding the rules, which I found a little confusing, perhaps could have been explained a little better, but I think some of it was due to me being convinced I already knew how to play, and not really noticing that the game literally tells you what card you need "Next" and I didn't notice it.

Overall

Zoo Corporation have done it again, they have taken a simple card game and made it better. 

I score Pretty Girls Four Kings Solitaire on PC a super strong 8/10

Released 18^th March on Steam at

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1910020/Pretty_Girls_Four_Kings_Solitaire/