Cho Dengeki Stryker All Ages Version

I haven't played the game yet but I am giving it a negative review because the game is highly censored. (full paths removed)
We aren't talking about mosaics that I fully understand the Japanese law issue.
I do support VN industry and I love them but I am not supporting those censorship.
There is no patch available on steam so you are forced to stay on your censored version.
If you want to fully played the game as it was originally intentend to, you have no other choice to buy it elsewhere.
0/10

Silly, funny, a slight grind to get down the routes, but the payoff had me bawling my eyes out at the injustice in the world. Also, yeah the music, art, and H-scenes were good too.

You might get totally deceived by this title like I did! I thought this was going to be an “action” VN, because of the trailer and presentation, and it turned out to be more of a comedic game that relies on jokes and gags only relying on the action’s parts more at the end of the sagas.
It’s not kinetic, you’ll have choices, you’ll date some girls, and it needs multiple replays to advance the story.
It’s a very well done VN, but the pacing can fluctuate between slow in the slice-of-life moments and fast in the action ones, overall it’s entertaining.
You’ll have 6 sagas to progress, the first one took me 12-13h to finish, and I’m not done with this it yet (I recommend using a guide).
I got it on a sale and I recommend it.

It's a good game, BUT it's censored. A patch would be greatly appreciated.

This VN is like an old comic I used to read as a kid. Lots of cheesy heroic lines, gaining new power out of nowhere, and shouting their skill before using it. Nonetheless, this was a good read. The first saga can be very frustrating because of many character's actions. But, their redemption is in the Sky saga and Light saga, so I recommend finishing every route.

This VN had some great ideas in its premise. These concepts are portrayed in a very powerful manner in several of the game's highlight moments, alongside with great production value like hot-blooded BGM and animated scenes (climax scenes only).

However.

95% of the novel, which are made up of parts that lead up to these highlight moments, are filled with uninspired everyday life fillers fraught with characters that range from dull to okay. Or worse, drawn-out scenes of super heroes fighting villains in the most cliched way possible. Even the production value is sub-par, in contrast to the stellar presentation in climax scenes.

What we get is not justified by its current price of $35. If you have to get this game, try to get it while at discount. Also, word of advice, whenever you feel like the game is getting boring, go ahead and skip a bunch. Usually the last 10-20% of each route is more interesting.

This is undoubtedly one of the better Visual Novels on Steam right now. It does come at a hefty price tag, but it is worth it in my opinion. I haven't even completed all of the routes yet, so my playtime is bound to increase with all the content this offers.

The premise of the story is that a boy loves heroes and makes a wish to become one. The story from there evolves rapidly with a great cast of characters. Most of which are the villains, who are really fun characters. The main character himself is fairly dry cut, but he's got a good personality. I certainly felt something for the characters as they went through their ups and downs.

Art in the game is solid all around. There are some animated scenes, which are a nice bonus when they come around.

Sound in the game is used to enchance the experience from sound effects in battle to the background music in slice-of-life scenes. Also, there's good voice acting for all of the characters.

Writing is well done and translated well. It reads quick and action scenes are conveyed well.

As for routes, they have different major routes that diverge the story a good bit. I can't give a final consensus, since I haven't finished them all. But, the ones I've been through are enjoyable giving a different twist on the story.

Oh yeah, there are girls and romances. Those are alright.

All in all PlaysLikeAnAnime/10 !

Disclaimer: I have not played through ALL the endings, but I have played through most of them. A couple things though seem very unlikely to change, and if something does change I'll edit my review.
First: All Ages Version does -NOT- mean it is appropriate for all ages. This is T for Teens given some of the dialogue - and Jack's Diary, which is frickin hilarious.
That said, this is a great visual novel. Not an epic one like Demonblade, Princess Waltz, or Fate/Stay Night, but still a great one, and possibly the best action VN on Steam. The best part I think are the characters - you will learn to love the Balmoran Vanguard. While not super-original, they are still more than 1 or 2 dimensional archetypes. The humor is excellent. The fighting... varies. I found some outright boring, with victory being as dramatic as "wow, good job dropping a boulder on the villain after your allies did all the work." Other fights were appropriately dramatic and required the main character doing something suitably crazy/difficult.
The first 3 paths have to be done in order. The story starts off good and gets better each path so far, with each path being less predictable and more complicated.
I can't comment much on the music or voice acting because of speaker problems on my end, but I know that I did manage to catch some very dramatic and moving lines just the same.
Regarding censorship: When most hentai VNs get censored to change the rating, it is done terribly. Either they put stupid mosaic blurs that does nothing to make it less sexual and serves only to tick off the people looking for hardcore porn, or they tend to chop out everything remotely related to sex and the entire romantic encounter is reduced to (and I am quoting almost word for word from one game) "And with this and that, it happened." in Stryker, the actual sex (and any nude images I assume they would have) is removed, but enough of the beginning and end of those scenes remain that you still get a decent sense of the emotional intimacy. Female characters don't walk around in bikinis or find every excuse to show their panties, and to my incredible surprise, there is no character with an 11 year old body, attitude, and voice whom is nevertheless of legal age according to the legal disclaimer. In short: if you want romance but not nudity or fanservice, this delivers.

Perhaps my biggest annoyance is the Memory Collector. You will learn to hate him more and more. He's a cross between Kyubey from Madoka and Marcus from Borderlands in the worst way, but my biggest grief is that nobody in-universe seems to mind. The following scene never occurs in the game as I made it up to avoid massive spoilers, but captures the essence of the problem.
M. Collector: "I see you want to make a wish. I can grant it but I take payment in memories."
Wisher: "I want all the money in the world. You can have my memories of my parents."
M. Collector: "Deal. Here you go."
Wisher: "8 billion, 9 billion... this is only 10 billion. We made a contract for all the money in the world. I want my memories back."
M. Collector: "No refunds."
Wisher: "You didn't even give me what I was buying."
M. Collector: "Paragraph 5 of the contract says that's your problem, not mine."
Wisher: "When you put it that way, cheating me and then blaming me for your failure makes perfect sense. Have a nice day!"
M. Collector: "I'll be back to invisibly voyeur on your hentai scene tonight."
Wisher: "Gosh, that Memory Collector sure is a swell guy."

Ahhh, just where do I start? Never had any game grated me this much... and I tried my very best to like this game. I mean, with so many positive reviews, it oughta be good, right? Right? Unfortunately, this was not the case for me.

Disclaimer: This is my personal opinions, you are free to agree or disagree with it. We all have different tastes. And oh, SPOILERS AHEAD.

I repeat, SPOILERS AHEAD.

Before anything, let's start with the good. It's always best to start with the good.

The Good:
Awesome soundtrack (JAM Project and Masaaki Endoh never ever disappoints)
Excellent animation (even better than some anime!)
Mirror T_T ;_;
Jack~<3


Now for the bad... let's just say... RANT MODE ON.

I've played tons of Visual Novels and Kinetic Novels. I'm used to having my choices having little to no matter at all and just be in it for the ride, so to speak. I've cried playing Narcissu, I've laughed playing Nekopara, I've facepalmed playing one of the Sakura games, I've shuddered in fear playing Higurashi, but this game... this game... Cho Dengeki Stryker is definitely unique and not in a good way.

Playing this game is watching a trainwreck in slow motion. Veeeeeeeeery slow motion. It's worse then watching an episode of the three stooges. Both the protagonist and the villains are actively in a competition to see who's the most incompetent of them all, and that's an understatement. It's like watching Home Alone and everybody's the Wet Bandits (e.g. the robbers), even our protagonist... and Jack is Kevin McCallister. >.<

Let's start with our protagonist, "Yuuki Yamato". The hero of this "super hero epic" that... well, never legitly won a single encounter the whole game. At the very best, he fought the enemies to a standstill (that's his debut, ladies and gentleman) and then proceeded to get his ass whomped every single battle after that, the last battle notwithstanding, but that's with some sacrificial last-minute-power-up, which is why I put "legitly won".

And oh, guess what? When our hero was sufficiently beaten up, the sidekick character of the story shows up and... defeated the current villain opponent in a single move. Yes, the villain that was giving our hero so much trouble? Defeated in a SINGLE MOVE, by the sidekick: Texas Ninja Jack. Yes, he/she (don't ask) is a ninja... from TEXAS. And surprisingly, Jack happens to be the most competent character in the whole game.

As for the villains... meh, I'll just cut my rant short and say the whole group of villains are as incompetent as (or worse than) our hero.

MASSIVE SPOILERS STARTS!!!



Fortunately, however, we do have a diamond in the rough, and that is in the character Mirror. Mirror, to me, is the most interesting (and most tragic) character in the game. Who's Mirror? Why, he's the real Yuuki Yamato. The child who made the wish that started this whole tale. Because of his wish, "Yuuki Yamato" became Dengeki Stryker, but that's not the real Yuuki Yamato, the real Yuuki Yamato and his memories, all became trapped in a "monster" that's the character of a book (the same book Dengeki Stryker and the villains originated from) not really knowing what's going on and just want his mom and dad. It's all very very tragic. and the only part I like about the whole game, but at that point I'm already grated to hell and back and thus the thumbs down.



MASSIVE SPOILERS ENDS!!!


The other thing I disliked, albeit minor, is despite the animation being excellent and we get great quality cutscenes, there's just too much reused clips. Especially the Stryker equip Clips. I guess it's something of a homage to good ol' anime and tokus where they keep reusing the transformation and attack clips. Unfortunately, it works in animes/tokus because it's once per week, whereas as this is a game, and I'm playing it in one sitting... let's just say the reused clips gets annoying after the nth time it's reused within the very same hour and I every much want to (and do) skip it.

This is a "super hero epic" with nothing heroic at all. The hero doesn't win (at all :P), there's little to no heroic or gripping scenes and... is our hero even actually a hero? What this is is a tragic tale of a wish made by a child who, as a child, does not know better. In other words, it's like Madoka Magica being advertised as a magical girl show. It's true, but it's just not what one's expecting.

Well, I'm done for now. Did I say the most competent character in this whole game is Jack? I did? Well, I'll say it again. The most competent character in this whole game is Jack.

(And randomly: How does a Cyborg grow up anyway? I always figured the Stryker stuff are just armanents, but they keep saying he's a cyborg.)

One of the best Visual Novels I've ever played.
The unique superhero genre really made it more interesting.
I expected this to be a happy go lucky Visual Novel at first,
but after reading it for a few hours, I realized that it had many twists and turns,
and big reveals towards the end. That really made me wish this was adapted to an anime series.
I never would have thought that a Visual Novel with a superhero genre would be this good.
This is a must have for fans of Visual Novels! :D

One of the best Visual Novels I've experienced, with a great deal of focus to audio, visual and written elements. I hope we see more like it that push elements of design further and further to enhance the experience.

Cho Dengeki Stryker. For me i had no idea what i was getting into i thought it was something of a hit and miss, then once after a bit, it drew me in i wouldnt say like fish in a barrel, But i was hooked the story line was perfect, some bits u cant stop laughing while others could almost reduce a teddy bear too tears. A Brilliant novel , the few choices that were possible affected the story line in such a way, it'll leave you hanging from the edge of ur seat // Hint u can load previous saves to aquire these choices // Hint again for all that dont know u can view each arc after completing a couple by clicking new game some arcs replace new game title all together and require you to click it to begin such arcs //// ^^ Look Forward too more similar games, even a sequal XD ^^

TL;DR: good vn with a fun and light story about superheros, a really nice entry to anyone who is planning to get into Vns with a fucking awesome soundtrack

Its a fairly linear and light story as you get in the routes, not many choices or any bad end, so its fairly easy to play thought the whole VN without checking into a walkthrough

So its a pretty good entry to anyone who are interested in Visual novels

Also the soundtrack is really awesome(i loved) really pumping you up in the events

Every character is fun and well written, and their interaction is really nice and fun to read mainly because of the Vanguard(first set of enemies) since their interaction with everything being pretty funny

so this VN is mainly good but sometimes bad as fuck because of some inconsistency that usually happens in the endings(mainly the last one)

and because of that i guess the best way to rate this would be rating each route alone based in the endings
so lets start

-Zero saga
Fairly generic and can sometimes looks like they asspull the plot really hard even thought when you see the big picture its ok
i mean, its the first route so at the moment you know nothing about the story so some events looks really weird
but even after all that its a pretty and pleasant story to read
4/10 for the first time
6/10 once you see that everything wasnt asspull

-Heaven saga
Its like a superhero route(every one of then are that, but that one is more lmao) with a happy ending(at last by the time the route itself ends)
really nice fights, you get see the whole cast working together against a greater evil especially because by that time you start really liking the vanguard(first set of villains that arent really villains) and by the end you will like then even more
also you start realizing the big picture of the story and see that the first one was really just a introduction(at last for now)
7/10

-Sky saga
my favourite route so far
its a sequence to the Heaven route showing what happens with mirror(the main enemy from light route)
it closes really well the heaven saga without many holes even thought its a bit sad and you get to see more(if not everything) of the big picture with the best ending in my opnion of all routes
9/10

by that time you finished the Dengeki Stryker and is starting the Cho Dengeki Stryker that adds more 3-4 routes

-Love Saga(filler saga)
as the name means its mostly the filler romantic route
nothing important at all happens
it just the main character and the romantic interest from this saga interacting till they fall in love
not that is bad, from a character i didnt really like, by the end of the route i started liking
and the plot twist at the end(even thought its obvius) was really nice
its just that NOTHING IMPORTANT HAPPENS
6/10

-Steel Saga
its a sequence to the Zero Saga
its a nice add to the zero saga trying to close things that happened in the zero saga even thought by the end of that it fells more like a extra
its actually 2 route in one(lazy overdrive)
why?
Because its exactly the same thing with both girls just changing 3 scenes(2 coming from choices and one from the ending)
it is pretty fun mainly because they introduce a really fun character(clie > all)
and their interaction with the new character is hella funny
i just wish they wouldnt made that in a 2 in 1 route =/
7/10

-Light saga
its the gran finale, sequence to the Steel Saga
by the start this saga is really good
but by gods sake they messed up really hard by the end with too many inconsistencys
in a route that should close any hole they more like created a fuckload of holes in the plot
like forgeting a girl that shouldnt exist by the ending
or messing up the ending so they could add a action scene
it clearly that by the time this route was done they were by far out of the deadline and rushing as hell to finish the VN
its kinda sad because that route had a great potential to end with a golden key the series
8/10 till half of the story
4/10 the rest
overall 6/10

so is this VN good?
Yes it is
overall with all routes i would give this a 7/10
by far the best VN on steam atm in my opnion

and for god sake dont start me about the porn
its one of these vns where the porn is crap and the story is far better skiping then

An amazing VN. Different paths while with only one ending each are amazing journeys on how you get to that end. From giant robots to american ninjas of unknown gender, the content this game contains is great. If you ever wanted to be a butterfly with a giant lightning sword this game is for you. If you don't then i pity you and you should get this game anyway. Amazing soundtrack and visuals, combined with amazingly animated cutscenes. Makes you feel like you're watching/reading an old superhero anime/manga. Now if only this could get it's own show...

P.S. Hilko is mai waifu

This game is one of the best visual novels i have ever played. It is a bit pricey but it has a lovely synchronization and such a long story that it's definitely worth that amount of money

It's pretty much a shonen VN through-and-through, with the stock-standard "power of friendship" trope, constant power up trope, and a hero that can defeat hundreds of mooks because he's just that powerful.

Oh, and characters who all have prosopagnosia. There's no other explanation for that particular plot hole where two enemies come face-to-face in battle, then fail to recognise each other in daily life. Though I just went with the head-canon that everyone wears masks with voice-altering properties into battle (cause, yanno, the creators were probably too lazy to illustrate it).

It's no Steins; Gate by a long shot, but it's lighthearted popcorn fun with some surprisingly thought-provoking parts here and there.

This is an Excellent Visual Novel.
It is a tad pricey, but i snagged it on sale for $20 i think....
but you can see it is very well drawn and voice acted!!
<3 so far im enjoying it. if you have the extra money i would say grab it..! <3
DOWNSIDE:: this is the "all ages version" the original game had some Hentai scenes and was a tad naughty this is chopped up and made age appropriate for everyone. but you can always google for the naughty cut out scenes!! :D hehe

Having put more than 30 hours in this Visual Novel and played it to utter completion (all routes + all of Jack's Diary pieces), it's time that I give my full opinion regarding the VN in its entirety.
I personally, whole-heartedly, recommend this VN to anyone, especially those who are familiar with superheroes and the desires of heroism and fighting for justice. If I had to compare it to another anime or story out there, it would be Samurai Flamenco in terms of the whole wish fulfilment topic and desire to be a hero - however, unlike Samurai Flamenco, Cho Dengeki Stryker had enough time and resources (plus being a VN makes it more convenient) to explore the entire topic of what it means to become a hero, its struggles, its victories, its desires, how it can clash with reality.

=STORY=

The first route you'll (likely to) experience is the Zero Saga, and while I consider it one of the weakest routes of the story, it's a solid introduction to the story of the VN. You get a global view of all the characters surrounding you, and the main character comes to terms with the results of the wish he made 10 years ago. It also has a sweet love story that doesn't form an obstacle to the flow of the general story.
The second route is Heaven's Saga. It's somewhat less dramatic compared to Zero Route and is more focused on being epic and all-around action-packed. Its side characters are way better treated compared to in Zero Route. However, when it comes to the love interest I'm not all too enthusiastic. It's basically your average tsundere girl that has some competence going on. While I like her moments of attitude and quirkiness, the relationship between her and the protagonist feels somewhat forced. I think that's the case because little has been done to show what the protagonist feels for the love interest and why, whereas Zero Route was more open to describe the feelings of the protagonist towards the love interest and what they should strive for.
The third route, Sky Saga, is a continuation of Heaven Route which focuses on a different character, whom in my opinion is the true protagonist of Cho Dengeki Stryker. It's a short story that carries quite the dramatic weight similar to Zero Route yet carries the action-packed badassery of Heaven Route but on a smaller scale.
The fourth route, Love Saga, is a story on its own with an emphasis of being a dramatic yet touching love story. It did its job superbly, making me appreciate a female character I somewhat ignored in the previous routes and turning me into a gigantic cry-baby when the credits rolled.
The fifth route, Steel Saga, is a continuation of Zero Saga and one of the routes exclusively available on the Cho Dengeki Stryker version (the original version is the Dengeki Stryker version which only contains Zero, Heaven's and Sky Saga). It's starts off being a slice of life story dealing with the aftermath of Zero Saga, but it escalates into a fusion between Zero Saga and Heaven's Saga in terms of characters, drama and action. Certain characters obtain a sense of complexity throughout the route (going beyond their initial role and position in the previous routes) and the newest leading lady is just a badass. While she might be a love-or-hate case, I really adore her because she isn't as waifu-ish compared to previous girls, is similar to the protagonist in various ways, including badassery and competence.
The sixth and final route, Light Saga, is a continuation of the Steel Saga and the conclusion of the entire Cho Dengeki Stryker VN. You will only be able to access this route after clearing Steel Saga twice, unlocking of both two leading girls (thank god there's a SKIP button). It's all-around the most satisfying route since it's the closest to an happy ending Cho Dengeki Stryker has. It's action-packed as well, but I find Sky Saga having the most epic battle while Steel Saga has the action-scenes which come across as very grand-scale.

=CHARACTES AND MESSAGES=

It's still hard for me to decide whether Cho Dengeki Stryker is a plot-driven story or a character-driven story. While it's generally a slice of life story centring on the life of Yuuki Yamato (Dengeki Stryker Zero) and to an extend the misadventures of the Balbora Vanguard, it doesn't shy away from having extensive commentary on wish fulfilment and the various facets of being a (super)hero.
Yuuki Yamato / Stryker Zero is your average no-nonsense character, straight-faced and focused on his primary goals. What's initially charming about him is how he's out of touch with reality (being a manga character from an alternate history Japan that takes place in the 1930s that got transferred to 201X) and has to deal managing his daily school life with being a superhuman crime fighter. To prevent from spoiling way too much, I can only say that Steel and Light saga manage to flesh out Yamato's character even more, struggling with self-doubt and the consequences of his actions.
Texas Ninja Jack, Yamato's sidekick, might lack any complexity, but is an all-around crouching-moron-hidden-badass type of character that's all around memorable and hilarious whenever he's caught in his silly antics.
There are various female characters in the story and they all have their important role in the story depending on the route you've chosen. You've got your childhood friend, your tsundere, your maid girl, your insecure girl, et cetera. Most of them are quite enjoyable and interesting whether your leading girl / love interest or not.
The enemies are for the most part forgettable and underdeveloped with the exceptions of Mirror, Curtis, Roches, Hilko -- and to a lesser extend Murray and Phoenix.
To me, the messages regarding heroism and wish fulfilment that are evoked through the story's plot and the struggles of the main heroes stand out the most. It goes beyond the mere "fighting for the girl you love" shtick and it actually deals with loss and not always being the big glorious hero out there. Light Saga, Steel Saga and to a lesser extent, Heaven's Saga and Sky Saga show that a hero is more than one lone guy with fancy weaponry. That it takes more than one person to save the day, that heroes are just people with their own misfortunes and flaws yet fighting for a better future, that you won't always manage to tip the scales, that you won't always get the people's favour on your side and that even being there for someone and brightening his or her life makes you an hero as well -- those are several messages Cho Dengeki Stryker evokes throughout the story. It can be a bit cheesy at times but to me it was dealt with in a more mature yet passionate way (compared to other Shonen or Shonen-styled stories), hitting it close to home.

=OVERALL=

Due to character limits, I can't go all too much in lengths but the music and graphics are all-around a pleasure to see and listen to, especially in regards to the CGs, anime scenes and vocal tracks. While it's my very first VN, I still stand by the claim that this is so far one of the best stories I've ever experienced regardless of medium and that I really hope that the future might offer a story similar to Cho Dengeki Stryker. Hopefully, this time with more warriors dressed up in colourful spandex and karate-fighting bugmen riding on motorcycles. It's obviously far from perfect, being riddled with various plotholes and confusing moments, but it makes it up with the themes and messages it presents and the enchanted mixture of decent character development, well-detailed action scenes, drama, comedy, visual presentation and soundtrack.
What are you waiting for? Give it a read, enjoy the ride and be charmed by its action-packed narrative with its moments of laughter, tears and inspirational messages that are a necessity for your inner justice-loving hero-worshipper/wannabe.

Cho Dengeki Stryker is a Visual Novel. There is no "gameplay". It is the first large Japanese Visual Novel on Steam, by which I mean that it is genuinely over 30 hours long as the store page says.

The story revolves around a young boy who makes a questionable wish of a questionable wish-giver that results in him being transformed into his favorite superhero, but losing all of his memories. Once he reaches the appropriate age to be the hero in question, villains from his world also start appearing and of course they fight.

That part isn't actually particularly exciting, ironically.

As it turns out, being a full-time superhero doesn't make you any money, nor does being a "villain" generally unwilling to do harm to civilians. So both sides of the conflict end up as neighbors living in crappy apartments trying desperately to make ends meet, while miraculously maintaining their extremely flimsy secret identities.

This is where Cho Dengeki Stryker shines, for me. A slice-of-life story about a group of people extremely out of their element in more ways than they even realize.

Of course, this eventually devolves into some kind of battle for the fate of something (depending on the route), but two routes add significantly more slice-of-life beyond the common route. One of them (my personal favorite) has almost no combat scenes at all!

Outside of the few fully-animated scenes, battles can be a drag. Many go on too long, and given the kind of Japanese superhero basis for them, the destination is usually obvious from the word go and the players just have to dance around for a while to get there. I don't mean to imply that it's bad once fights start breaking out. There are still plenty of interesting moments in the "darker" parts of the story, but I more enjoy the characters interacting with words than explosions.

Still, the VN does have a lot of fun times, and I enjoyed it immensely. It may not be on the level of the great classics, but if you're in for watching the everyday lives of some very not everyday people who eventually have to save the world by way of shouting move names, Cho Dengeki Stryker might be for you.

For those who like Visual Novels for their stories, this is a pretty good one. The localization was done pretty good, as well. There are a few typos, as is expected with any game release. This originally had an adult version, but an All Ages version was made so it could be put on Steam, but the adult scenes that were removed aren't even really noticeable, especially considering they didn't really add to the story in anyway.

Basically, the premise of the story is about a child wishing to be a superhero from his favorite manga. On the first route and possibly others, it introduces some plot twists near the end, for those who like them. They really make you think back to see how it was possible and sometimes aren't easily explained. The characters are pretty interesting, especially as their characters are built up from the beginning.

The game is pretty lengthy if you want to experience the whole story. At an average speed and completely the first route (the Zero Route), it took about 9 hours, with some breaks leaving the game running. There are a total of 6 routes in this version of the game. The original version, Dengeki Stryker, only had 3 (Zero, Heaven, and Sky). This version has 3 additional ones (Steel, Light, and Love). I believe the order is Zero, Heaven, and Sky, with the other 3 being able to be done completely after these first 3. I'm not sure which of the originals unlock each of the new ones, but some options will be greyed out if you haven't finished the first route.

Overall, I liked what I have played so far and I will continue to play for all of the content.

[Please note that the "Recommended" vote is directed to users who appreciate the fact that this title is a visual novel and contains no "gameplay". Furthermore, my lack of "play time" is due to my having previously read the non-Steam release of Cho Dengeki Stryker.]

Cho Dengeki Stryker is a visual novel developed by OVERDRIVE (makers of KIRAKIRA, Edelweiss and DEARDROPS, among others) and published in the West by MangaGamer. The adult version of the VN is available for purchase on MangaGamer website.

First off, let's set the technicalities straight and alleviate some of the confusion surrounding this release. Cho Dengeki Stryker is an upgraded version of the original Dengeki Stryker novel with three additional arcs and a number of visual upgrades. In other words, it is NOT a sequel to Dengeki Stryker, and the original title is included in this release in full, with the exception of the aforementioned adult content.

While Cho DS is not an entirely kinetic (i.e. lacking choices) novel, it is almost completely linear. In three original arcs (or "Sagas"), the choices you make are irrelevant and yield only a few bits of alternative dialogue. Upon completing the original game, one of the conspicuously greyed-out decision options becomes available, thus unlocking the additional content.

Presentation-wise, Cho DS boasts a number of decently animated sequences scattered over the course of the story. Sadly, despite being a rather recent title, it is not presented in high definition (the default resolution is 800x600). Character art by Katakura Shinji (KIRAKIRA, Edelweiss) is, in my opinion, an acquired taste. The supporting cast (especially male) looks delightfully silly, but I can't say I enjoy this artist's work when it comes to female characters.

Music is a strong point in all OVERDRIVE games (partly owing to the fact that the company's president is Takeuchi Hiroshi aka Bamboo from the band "milktub"). The soundtrack to Cho DS is no exception, providing several impressive vocal tracks and decent, if not outstanding, BGM.

Another highlight is the usual brand of surreal humor typical for OVERDRIVE titles. In an effort not to spoil the story, I'll just say that Clark Kent and his famous glasses have got nothing on the extremely oblivious heroes of Cho DS. Most of the humor is delivered by the exceptional and diverse supporting cast, which is another of OVERDRIVE's good traditions.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for the main heroines, which are as cookie-cutter and bland as they come. You've got your usual childhood friend and your usual tsundere to start with, and when you get to the additional content, you'll have to endure Rin, who is undoubtedly one of the most boring characters ever written. Luckily, romance in Cho DS takes a back seat to action, comedy and an occasional philosophical dilemma or two, and thus the overall story does not suffer too much from the vacuous personalities of the heroines.

Speaking of the story, I found it solid if not particularly spectacular, with some interesting plot twists and a few poignant moments in the later scenes. The plot goes "meta" fairly early, but the writers don't go overboard with deconstructing manga tropes, and the story remains well-balanced.

In conclusion, Cho DS is a good read that I can recommend without any hesitation. It is quite a few steps short of a masterpiece, but it's solid and entertaining enough to be well worth your time and money. Among the visual novels available on Steam, however, Cho Dengeki Stryker is firmly near the very top in terms of quality of storytelling, humor, music and presentation.

This is an early review after about 1 hour, so I might change it later. But so far i'm really loving it, if only for reminding that Visual Novels don't have to be about sex.

We're introduced to a bunch of characters at the start, and so far I love every single one of them. They're straight anime stereotypes, but done extremely well and the dialogues are well written, so their interactions are really entertaining.

The "fight" scenes are a bit lame, being mostly textual. "He sliced that building with one sword strike !!!". Cool, I wish I would have seen that. They contrast heavily with the more "slice-of-life" parts, when the greatest challenge isn't to overcome a mighty foe, but to end up the month with noodles at every meal. So far I'm preferring the latter.