Nurse Love Syndrome Review
By: RJ (@rga_02)
- Nurse Love Syndrome
- Developer - Kogado Games
- Publisher - Degica
- PlayStation Vita
Yuri? In today’s economy? It is more likely than you think.
For those not familiar with the term “yuri,” here is a quick rundown. It translates roughly to “girls’ love,” and it mostly revolves around…well, girls’ love. Manga, such as Strawberry Panic!, Candy Boy, and Citrus, are among the popular choices out there.
While yuri may not be everyone’s cup of tea - myself included, games such as Nurse Love Syndrome can show that genres you might be wary of should be entertained once in a while.
Nurse Love Syndrome follows the trials and tribulations of Kaori Sawai. As a young child, she nearly died but was saved by the staff at the hospital. Since then, she took it upon herself to follow in the footsteps of the people who saved her. Now working at Yurigahama Hospital, you follow Sawai while she navigates through both medicine and love.
Throughout the game, you see Sawai’s progress in her early adult years, not only as a nurse but as a person herself. There are moments where it seems surprisingly realistic for a game like this. Gone are the typical cliches of a slice-of-life, but presented to you are the true struggles of a person who is yearning to find something for themselves. Then are times where it is straight out of “Anime 101.” Eye-rolling moments where you can probably find something better from a cereal box.
I do want to note that the game starts off very slow. At times I just wanted to fast-forward through it all. There was one moment where I honestly fell asleep. But sooner or later - and I mean way much later, you will get to know Sawai and the people around her. You might not get fully engrossed in it, but it will be enough to commit yourself to the end, and by that, I mean about 20 endings.
Along with the issues of pacing, I wasn’t too keen on the presentation of the game. Don’t get me wrong; the visuals are nice. The bright pastel colors are nice to the eyes, but they do get boring to stare at after a while. The same goes for music. It fits, but there is nothing special to it—nothing memorable at all. You’ll probably find yourself listening to your own tunes. The menu is also jarring at times. Apart from looking straight out of the 90s, it becomes cumbersome to navigate at times, be it via touch or hardware controls.
The voice acting is great and fits in with the personality and traits of the characters. If you find them to be annoying, there is an option in the menu where you can turn off their voice.
While a lot of folks out there might quickly brush this game off like some glorified high budget doujinshi, Nurse Love Syndrome - like its prequelsequel, is worth checking out should you ever want to head down this path. Just be aware that you must commit a lot of hours if you want to leave with anything meaningful out of the game. The poor pacing and, at least for me, the presentation might turn a lot off.
It might not be what the doctor prescribed, but it is one of the least offensive yuri visual novels out there and is loaded equally with charm and heartbreak. Just take it in a small number of doses.
