Chemically Bonded – Review

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Visual Novels aren’t always the most popular gaming genre, but they definitely have their fans, and while many similar titles have failed to capture my attention a few have delivered an entertaining evening or more of gameplay.

Chemically Bonded follows the story of our teenage Japanese male protagonist (who I called Ri-i), who’s caught between two highschool girls with a bit of a turbulant past.

Kiyoko is a smart and intelligent student with a love of science, while Naomi is a star athlete and one of the most popular girls in the school.

Once great friends, their relationship broke down after a misunderstanding, so while building your own relationship with each girl, you’ll joins Kiyoko’s science club and over the next week or so, help rebuild the friendship between her and Naomi. There’s also a handful of other characters, with some (such as the teacher) feeling a little flat and at times uneccesary, while others such as the jock-like Ken, and the mysterious Same, who work well and add more depth to both the story and the main characters.

The story is mostly based around the school with a few other locations such as a cafe in the nearby town and at Ri-i’s home where he’ll often reflect on conversations through the day and choose to call or message either Kiyoko or Naomi.

The overall storyline is pretty involving and while I wish these visual novels would deliver more of a “choose your own adventure” Chemically Bonded does at least have a handful of decisions which effect the direction and outcome of the game giving you a total of 4 endings, with a “good” and “bad” ending based around each of the two girls, though the separation for these endings are only based one 1 or 2 specific decisions. Compared to other visual