Game Review: S4U: Citypunk 2011 and Love Punch

By Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: PC (Steam)

We're no stranger to text-based games here at A-to-J, but the one we're looking at today is quite different. S4U: Citypunk 2011 and Love Punch (Which I'm going to refer to as "Citypunk 2011" from here on.) is a game that is almost a chat simulator, but also features a sci-fi setting that is a bit too complicated to outline here. It's out now on Steam, and we're going to dive in and see if this one is worth your time. What is Citypunk? What is a Love Punch? Why 2011? While we might not answer all those questions here, let's go ahead and get right to the review!

Citypunk 2011 places you into the role of Miki, a struggling architect who recently took a part-time job as an Online Mouthpiece. An Online Mouthpiece is basically someone you'd hire to have a conversation you'd rather not have to take part in yourself. These conversations can include things like confronting your boss regarding their poor behavior, telling a family member that you're not going to do what they want you to, or even breaking up with a significant other. Though both of Miki's professions play a part within the narrative, it's her work as an Online Mouthpiece that is the true focus. While the title of the game will have you believe that it's set in the year 2011, it's a time period that isn't actually a reflection of our own. There are some similarities, but the setting gives the vibes of how someone living in the 70s or 80s might imagine the year 2011. Everything has a more futuristic look to it, beings known as cyberlifes live among humans, an online police force known as the TT monitor everyone's activities, and the computers look oddly outdated for such a tech-heavy world. Miki's journey starts with her needing to find a password to a photo album, and this takes her through the logs that make up the game. Essentially everything is told through flashback, but the player has a lot of say in how the story progresses. You can make Miki polite and nice to a fault, or you can make her abrasive and snarky, the choice is yours. Character interactions are very important in Citypunk 2011, and that's a good thing because it takes several in-game days for the overarching plot to come into play. I won't spoil any of the game's bigger plot points here, and that's for a couple reasons. Obviously I don't want to get into spoiler territory, but there's something else that I think we should highlight next.

Since Citypunk 2011 is a text-driven game, very similar to a visual novel, it makes sense that story would be its main focus. That is definitely the case here, though not all is well on that front. I don't want to jump out of the gate with a big negative, but we really have to discuss this game's translation. I did a lot of legwork trying to find out where the developer is actually located, and while I ultimately couldn't pin down that information, I can say with some certainty that English isn't their first language. Not only that, but they seem to have relied heavily on machine translation to get this game ready for its debut. Normally I'm able to get through rough bits of text scattered throughout any game, but this is honestly the worst I've seen in a long while. I actually had to stop playing it for a couple weeks in the hopes that the script would be fixed in post-release patches. While some changes have been made in the past two months, they don't really fix the core issues. It's not just grammar issues and typos that I'm referring to either (though the game does have plenty of those), but entire sections that are practically unreadable. Sentences will sound like gibberish, and the shifts in writing will give you whiplash. Every other minute a sentence will just leave you scratching your head wondering what is even trying to be said, and the way the game plays doesn't help any of this either.

Even when things are readable, the tone is all over the place. Characters will start cursing randomly, or have some huge changes in attitude for seemingly no reason. This also extends to the dialogue choices you have for Miki, as it can be hard to tell what their outcome will be because they're written so badly. I have no idea if the game has better writing in its other language options, but none of this should be an issue. I guess the weird title to the game should've given away the fact that the text would be all over the place, but I don't think anything could've prepared me for this experience. Judging by the fact that all the negative reviews on the game's Steam page mention this issue too, I don't think I'm alone in experiencing it. I'm not exaggerating in the least when I say that the problems with the text make entire sections of the game unplayable, and this is just the start of the review.

We'll circle back around to the plot and translation issues later in the review. For now, let's move on to discussing gameplay. Citypunk 2011 operates via a series of chats that are reminiscent of chat programs like Yahoo Messenger or AIM. Chats can only be held with contacts, and only with contacts that are online, and that the game allows you to talk to. These chat contacts can be acquaintances of Miki, or related to your work as an Online Mouthpiece. No matter what the relation is, most of the chats have some sort of time-based element to them. Some contacts will get mad if you don't respond fast enough, and certain replies will only show up if you're able to type them out quickly. Despite most of the characters having a short fuse when it comes to being left on read, you'll somewhat annoyingly always have to wait for the other party to finish typing before you can reply. It admittedly is an odd system that can't really be described in words, but it isn't without its charm. It did a great job of reminding me what old school chats used to be like, even if you can't always reply the way you'd want to.

Looking at the game via screenshots might give you the impression that you can reply in any way you want. I actually thought this was the case too, and was expecting some sort of text parser like the kind found in classic text or point-and-click adventure games. While we don't get that here at all, I can see why it would’ve been impossible to implement such a system in an indie game like this. Instead of typing in your replies directly, you hit random keys to "type" out pre-determined replies. Sometimes you'll have more than one that you can choose from, and these are selected by deleting whatever you have written, and "typing" a new one. Now is as good a time as any to mention that the game pretty much is entirely controlled by the keyboard. It can be a little confusing navigating everything in this fashion, but I do have to admit that it fits the aesthetic very well. Having said all that, it is worth pointing out that these chats are most of the game. If you were expecting something beyond a chat simulator, you may want to look elsewhere.

There is of course a bit more to it than that, so let's touch on the aspects of gameplay before we move on. Since your main interface is a computer, it makes sense that there'd be other programs loaded on it. Miki can work on her architecture projects via a 3D modeler, and there's also an in-universe social media site that is used to trigger certain chats and events. Some posts can be replied to, and you can even forward others to your contacts. It adds another layer of complexity to the chat system, but it's a welcome addition. Speaking of chats, there are plenty of optional ones you can take part in if you're thorough. These extra chats tend to steer the game into one direction or another, but I'll leave the details for you to discover on your own. All of this may sound fine and dandy, but the real interesting part of the game comes around when you finish your work for the day. After you save your chats and projects on your computer, it's time to go outside for a smoke. The end of each day sees the game shift to a side-scrolling view of the street outside Miki's house. Here you can interact with random characters, sit and look at the city skyline, or purchase items from the convenience store vending machine. You can choose to ignore most of these outside events by simply going back into your house, but there are several romance options that open up if you interact with certain characters multiple times throughout the game. I didn't mention this earlier, but you can actually choose Miki's gender early on, and the romantic options open up from there. While the issues I have with the plot never really go away, there is a lot of content here for players to sink their teeth into if they can get beyond that.

The problem with having a bad translation is that it affects everything it touches, and that includes all the side content I just described. Most character interactions are totally confusing, and you'll find it nearly impossible to learn anything noteworthy about the world you're in. There's an otherworldly-ness to the game that you'll never have more than a surface-level understanding of unless you can play the game in a language other than English. I've cleared the game, and I still don't understand what was going on. What are cyberlifes? Who are the TT? Why does everyone say the most off-the-wall things sometimes? It's all very confusing, and nothing short of a total rewrite will ever fix the problems this game has. That's not the only negative either. I know that the game is going for "realism" with its use of timed events, but they can be frustrating too. Messing up a chat because you took a few seconds too long to reply is bad enough, but then the game will do something weird and skip an entire in-game week where you can't go back and fix whatever you screwed up. Since some goals are spread across multiple days, and the game will randomly jump around when it chooses to, you won't ever know what needs to be addressed quickly until you're on your second playthrough. For example, there are several in-game architecture events that I would've taken more seriously if I knew that I couldn't work on them every day. The game will still go on no matter what you do, but having to replay an hour-long scenario just to get the outcome you want is not my idea of fun.

Though Citypunk 2011 has a pixel-based retro styling, it's one that I feel is somewhat misplaced. I know that the game takes place in a world apart from our own, but nothing about its setting in time seems to make sense. The graphics, the music, and even the computer you use during the game all fit the 1980s, and that's not when this game takes place. Why the game felt the need to set itself in 2011 is beyond me, as half the setting doesn't fit that at all. I know that they wanted to include the online chat function, and cool Easter Eggs like the 3DS-like console you can buy from the vending machine, but it just makes the game feel even more unfocused than it already is. On that topic, the entire third-person segments feel like an afterthought. When I say you can go outside for a smoke at the end of each day, that's literally all you can do. The outside world is a single-screen street, and I have to wonder why it was included it at all. If anything, it feels like a missed opportunity to have more than just the text-based gameplay, since all of its interactions could've just been put into the core chat functions.

I have plenty of other issues beyond the mismatched setting, but I think I'll go over them rapid fire so as not to dwell too much on the negatives. The VHS-like filter makes everything a bit too blurry at times, the opening cutscene is literally an entire screen of gibberish that tries to pass as a newspaper, the 3DS you buy just sits there on your desk, the mouse constantly resetting to the center of the screen feels like a bug that was never fixed, and I still don't understand why the developers chose to map moving up and scrolling up to the same buttons. There are more thing I can point out, but I think you the get the point. This isn't a horrible game by any stretch, but it does feel like it was released way before it was finished.

If there's one part of Citypunk 2011 that I think is done pretty well, it's the music. The entire soundtrack has vaporwave vibes, and this fact once again makes me wonder why the game isn't set in the 80s. That aside, there are some cool tracks here that almost made me want to pick up the soundtrack on its own. Each piece of music alternates between lowkey to intense, and I'm a fan of bot of those styles. There are some tracks that don't match the scene that they're in, but I was able to get beyond that for the most part. My one complaint has to be that some of the music seems to loop improperly, but it isn't too distracting. Music aside, I think that the sound effects are spot on, and the best part of the game. The beeps and boops of the computer are perfect, and there's something almost relaxing about the keyboard sounds you get while typing. It's not be perfect across the board, but this is the one part of the game where I'm not spending half the time complaining.

Even though S4U: Citypunk 2011 and Love Punch is a fairly long game, a lot of that time is spent waiting for contacts to finish typing, or staring at your screen wondering what is being said. Beating the game once can take a bit over ten hours, and multiple playthroughs are required if you want to see everything the game has to offer. Having said that, I really can't say that this game is worth even one minute of your time. I can't stress enough how flawed the game is in its current state, and I'm of the mind that you're better off playing just about anything other than this. There's some awesome ideas here, but they're just buried in bad translation and a seemingly unfinished game. You can pick this one up for a very reasonable $13.99, but why would you? I'd totally change my mind if the developers release a huge update that fixes the issues I've outlined above, but that's unlikely to happen any time soon. I really don't know how else to end this review, but I guess I can at least sleep peacefully knowing that this is one journey that is finished. See you in the next one.

Check Out S4U: Citypunk 2011 and Love Punch on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2612700/S4U_CITYPUNK_2011_AND_LOVE_PUNCH/

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Story: C- (The English translation is ROUGH!)
Gameplay: C
Graphics: B
Music/Sound: A-
Value: A

Overall: C

Pros:
+ There are plenty of great ideas at work here, even if they aren't all executed as well as they could've been.
+ The chat systems are a throwback to programs like Yahoo Messenger and AIM, and this can be a bonus for those who find such things nostalgic.
+ There are times when the wonky translation leads to some accidentally funny lines. This game has plenty of "spoony bard" moments.
+ Everything regarding the sound is great. There's plenty of great vaporwave style music, and the sound effects are great too.
+ There's plenty of content here for those that can get beyond the game's issues, and it's priced reasonably as well.

Cons:
- The translation is really bad. Even after several updates it's still a mess, and that makes a text-based game like this borderline unplayable.
- Having to make sense of a poorly written script is one thing, but it's even worse when you have to do that while being timed.
- Besides timed events, other gameplay quirks make it so that you'll very easily mess up gameplay routes you thought you had in the bag.
- Even though the game is set in 2011, it seems to borrow more than a few aesthetics from the 1980s. This mismatched setting just makes the entire game feel unfocused.
- Though priced relatively low, this game really isn't worth picking up in its current state.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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Damn, Nora gets roasted hard!

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