The Video Game Critic

I have special review pages for certain holidays like Christmas and Halloween, along with all the seasons.  

Might it be possible to create similar pages for Valentine's Day and/or St. Patrick's Day?

I don't think there are any games related DIRECTLY to either of these holidays, but maybe if you use your imagination you guys can come up with some ideas?  

You could do Custer's Revenge (A2600) because love makin' is probably the goal of a lot of Valentine's Day couples...

On a more serious note.. If you do find games to rate (you might need to import some of the Japanese dating sim games) you might put a love meter or something to rate how lovey-dovey the game is.

Popeye catching floating hearts is the first game that comes to mind. Tapper would be a good St. Patrick's Day game. LOL

There's always Chulip:

 

I'm just going to post a paragraph from Wikipedia to explain:

Chulip puts the player in the role of a young man who has just moved to a new town and next door to the girl of his dreams. Although she wants nothing to do with him due to his family's poor economic status, he decides to write her a heartfelt love letter. When the letter is stolen, it is up to the protagonist to travel around the village and retrieve all of its pieces. The gameplay of Chulip revolves around improving the player's reputation with the citizens in order to access all parts of the town. To do this, the player must impress each member of the community and then kiss them.

There are a lot of great games that would fill the Valentine's Day category, but they're largely story-centric games that the Critic avoids reviewing.

ptdebate wrote:There are a lot of great games that would fill the Valentine's Day category, but they're largely story-centric games that the Critic avoids reviewing.

So let's hear them

I know the Critic hated Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, but I'd argue that it's one of the few games (at least that I'm aware of) that actually has a credible, convincing romantic relationship.

Sorry! I hope I didn't come off as confrontational. I just know you're not that into story heavy games, which just happen to be the type where romance is featured heavily.

First I'd start with Persona--the 4th one specifically. These are games about ordinary high school students who secretly enter a demon realm and fight monsters in their time off. They also develop relationships with one another that are surprisingly genuine.

Dragon Age is another series where romance is paramount (amusing match ups are like 80% of why I play these games, no lie).

I think you have already reviewed FE: Awakening, which is pretty heavy on romance and marriage. Amazing game.

The Final Fantasy games, particularly some of the later ones, usually feature a strong romance subplot. They overachieved with 8 and actually managed three major romance arcs occurring during different time periods.

Dragon Quest V, a game that never ceases to amaze me, goes through several births and a marriage during the course of its lengthy narrative. A major turning point in the story is picking a girl to woo.

The Harvest Moon games, which simulate sinple but pleasant life on a farm, task the player with settling down and finding a good spouse.

These are just a few that come to mind, but others can chime in with more.

Valentines? Would any classic 'save the girl' game work, like Donkey Kong or Dragons Lair that end with a kiss or heart. How about Ms Pac Man, as seen in the banner. I'd stay away from Custers Revenge unless its Columbus Day.

St Pattys Day? Just a thought, the cliche would be beer, shamrocks, boston, and leprachauns. I think some of Last of US and Assassins Creed III are set in Boston. Could expand the wee folk idea to include dwarfs, or go with golden coins and rainbows and shillelaghs from the leprachaun stories. Hearts Stars and Clovers they're magically delicious. St Patty is said to have driven out snakes from Ireland, so any game with a snake enemy like the atari 2600 GI Joe game can fit (or the game snake or snafu).

Shame there is no Spenser for Hire video game, as it would work for both holidays.

Leisure Suit Larry?