Straight Up: Sister-zoned!

Having a crush on your next-door neighbor is about as common as apple pie, and it has already been used as a plot synopsis in hundreds of stories. Granted, every situation is different, be it fictive or real, so it’s not necessarily a bad thing. On the other hand, a bit of originality is required in order to keep the readers engaged with unexpected events or interesting characters.

Straight Up: Sister-zoned! is a simple visual novel that puts you in the role of a girl with a crush on her childhood friend. The whole thing revolves around the fact that Shuna -  the main character - decides to make her intentions known after years of being infatuated in silence. Naturally, things go in a pretty different direction once the story starts, so it’s a fun ride all the way through.

You can choose how to proceed at various points throughout the story, which affects your relationship with the boy and a few other things. In fact, the ending depends entirely on your decisions along the way, and there are multiple resolutions you can reach. Love is a pretty complicated thing, so it’s no wonder that the plot is convoluted as well.

Naturally, there are other characters that appear along the way, some of which have an impact on the story. Your approach can differ when it comes to winning your crush’s affection, but the endings can be bittersweet if you decide to take a weird road into his heart. Other problems appear along the way too, but they can be sorted out quite easily.

As far as the graphics are concerned, you shouldn’t expect an awful lot in terms of visual quality, but the artwork is certainly nice. It would have been better for the game to feature HD resolutions, on the other hand, especially since it’s not a huge deal nowadays. The music is pretty good as well, although it can get repetitive after a while.

In the end, Straight Up: Sister-zoned! lacks the complexity needed to become a classic of the genre, but it’s still well-written and very enjoyable. Thus, it should be a real treat for the fans of the genre.