Over the years, I’ve heard talk about Korean dramas, as well as K-Pop, but I haven’t really bothered with either one. At least, not until today, as I was tasked with reviewing the new game, Love too Easily, which is now available for consoles after originally releasing on PC.
Developed by Monster Guide, this particular interactive experience takes the form of an FMV (full-motion video) game, so it’s got a small cast of real actors. As such, it’s not your typical game, and is one of the few recent FMV titles that continue to keep the once talked about genre alive, if only barely.
This story revolves around 23 year-old, Yeonwoo, who is a student at an unfamiliar type of school. There, she belongs in a small friend or study group, which is made up of three similar looking young men and one other young woman. Their ages seem to range from about 23 to 25, but I don’t think they’re at college because I remember Yeonwoo talking about applying for college in one scene. Then again, I’m not familiar with South Korea or its educational system.
The game begins as our main character pounds vodka shot(s) and eats hotpot with her ‘homies’ at a bar. Afterwards, while under the influence, she shares a kiss with someone. The problem is that, in the next scene, she wakes up with smudged lipstick and regret, not knowing exactly what happened the previous night. Even worse: she’s got the other person’s phone and it’s locked.
As you have likely surmised, Love too Easily is a K-drama romcom. It’s a bit of a silly one, too, and is kind of immature. Some of the dialogue is kind of strange, and the translated subtitles don’t help things. The dialogue is in Korean, as you’d expect, and, while the subtitles aren’t awful, they leave something to be desired.
In true FMV fashion, the player is tasked with making the odd decision, such as what to talk about and where to go when the one major location choice appears. Do you leave school and go home, go to the bar or go to a restaurant? What you opt to do will alter how things play out.
Given the premise, you’d think that there’d be one ending, but it seems like this game has several, including a hidden one. The final choice seems to be a big factor as to which one you get, as well. To be honest, the ending I received didn’t make a great amount of sense.
There aren’t a ton of choices to be made, though, and this isn’t a very long experience, coming in at approximately sixty to eighty minutes in length. It’s kind of disappointing in that regard.
One thing that Love too Easily does that sets it apart from other FMV games is that it makes you complete mini-games at certain points. For instance, I first had to move a mouse cursor around the main character’s room to look for a cellphone, and could highlight lots of things. Highlighting them all unlocked a trophy. Then, not long after, I was tasked with using the controller and directional prompts to apply a chosen style of makeup, choose a hairstyle and pick an outfit (from three options each), before heading to school. Yeonwoo didn’t like what I selected, but it didn’t seem to matter anyways, because she didn’t look anything like what I’d chosen in the filmed segments that followed. So what was the point?
Another mini-game involved making ramen, and that activity was turned into a rhythm game like a very basic Guitar Hero. It wasn’t difficult at all, and wasn’t fast. Then, another had me press X at the right time to “wake up her synapses,” so that she could remember better.
I didn’t see or play all of the mini-games, though, because they’re all locked behind different choices. Just like the endings. However, the ones I did play were pretty basic. I give the developers praise for trying though, and for doing something a bit different in the FMV space.
You can replay all of the ones you’ve unlocked from the main menu if you wish. I assume it could be helpful for trying to unlock missed trophies or achievements, of which there are quite a few.
Outside of the mini-games, choices, dialogue lines and answers you can give during a phone conversation, there are occasional quicktime events that boil down to pressing X when the prompt appears. This game is rather light in the gameplay department.
Given that Love too Easily is in Korean, I found it hard to tell whether the actors did particularly good jobs. However, certain segments did feel a bit awkward, and the tone of the story (and its dialogue) was quite different from what I’d expected. Going in, I’d thought that something from Korea would be more serious, but some scenes were rather immature, making me feel like the characters were younger than they were said to be.
The whole thing is filmed pretty well, but there’s some noticeable video compression. It also seemed like certain scenes were sluggish, and weren’t playing at full speed. For the most part, though, the game looked pretty good. It ran decently.
I played through this story on PlayStation 5, after trying to download it on Xbox for over a week. I thought it was supposed to come to consoles on the same day, but do not see it in the Xbox store and my review code is inactive. I’d wanted to play through it on my upstairs Series S review unit, as I wasn’t feeling well and was also trying to stay upstairs with my elderly and diabetic cat, who has the occasional accident. I was able to venture onto the lower floor today, though, and got a lot of gaming done.
Overall, Love too Easily is something that I wanted to like more than I did. At best, it’s just ok. It’s short, kind of immature, and doesn’t offer much in the way of interesting gameplay or major choices. I also wasn’t crazy about how one final decision seemed to decide which ending I’d get. Then again, I only noted a couple major choices that had huge impacts on how things played out.
If you’re a fan of FMV games who’s been starved of them, and/or happen to love K-dramas, Love too Easily is something that you’ll probably want to check out and fully complete to see how every possible branch play out. However, if that’s not you, this is one you won’t miss too much by skipping. If it does interest you regardless, maybe wait for a good sale. Twenty-two American dollars (with a current, limited time, ten percent discount for PlayStation Plus subscribers) is just too much to pay when there are so many other options out there. That’s especially true at this time of year, what with Black Friday, PlayStation 30th anniversary and upcoming Boxing Day sales.
This review is based on the PlayStation 5 version of the game, which we were provided.