Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys Mahjong Solitaire review

Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys Mahjong Solitaire offers an affordable and accessible tile-matching challenge. Anyone with an appetite for androgyny will appreciate the game’s cast.  

“Fan-Service” is a near-ubiquitous term in gaming, normally referring to the incorporation of eroticism.  But the expression is disproportionally applied to the female body, whether it’s the animation of bouncing breasts or costumes that reveal the curvaceous of characters. Sure, there are exceptions with otome habitually exposing the toned pectoral muscles or washboard abs of its potential husbandos. But mention fan-service to most players and they probably envision something like the Senren Kagura series.

Following in the footsteps of the Nippon Ichi Software-published Bokuhime PROJECT, the PC release of Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys Mahjong Solitaire shifts its focus to cross-dressing males. Like eastasiasoft’s previous offers, each round of solitaire mahjong is accompanied by a character who starts completely covered.  Successfully eliminating tiles from the increasingly complex layouts gradually exposes more skin. But unlike the comparatively chaste Delicious! Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire and Bishoujo Battle Mahjong Solitaire these boys bare the Full Monty.

You’ll Need Brains to Play with these Boys

But getting to a state of full undress will task you will a journey through sixty stages first. If you grew up playing Brodie Lockard’s Shanghai or the multitude of clones that filled computer and console screens during the eighties and nineties, you might be familiar with solitaire mahjong, which is quite different from the more traditional, four-player pastime. Here, a solitary player removes two match tiles at a time from a stacked arrangement. Tiles can only be moved if they are ‘open’ or moved to the left or right without disturbing neighboring tiles. Play continues until wither all tiles are removed or the board is locked with no legal moves.

Success often hinges on the prudent removal of tiles. Like chess, you’ll need to think several moves ahead. In the early era of solitaire mahjong, low resolutions made this difficult with some buried tiles divulging little more than a few corpulent pixels. But there, that issue has been alleviated, and there’s much less ambiguity with Otoko Cross’ two- or three-dimensional titles. Don’t expect a massive difference between the two visual styles, with the latter looking a bit more photorealistic.

Mosaic-Free Fan Service

Unsurprisingly, Pretty Boys uses much of the same structure as Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire. That means there’s an easy mode, which provides a simplified tile layout as well as assists. From being able to shuffle titles or have the CPU highlight a pair of corresponding titles, it’s a more forgiving way to make your way to the ‘cock unlock’. You also won’t have to worry about keeping a combo meter flowing, since scoring isn’t calculated.

Pleasingly, there have been a few tweaks to formula. Otoko Cross starts out a bit harder (sorry, couldn’t resist) and it’s completely possible to fail stage if you attempt to recklessly click on any match. To appreciate the cast of Bishoujo Battle Mahjong Solitaire, you had to be familiar with the source material, Rikku☆Jiasu. As a mobile, military turn-based strategy game that was never released stateside, admiration was probably limited to the costumes, which ranged from kimono-clad Matsuri Hisai and Karin Kanazawa’s Santa suit. Here, Otoko Cross’ original characters are provided with brief backstories. Yes, it’s usually limited a few, succinct paragraphs, but it helps flesh out the game’s five lovely lads. Often, the summaries embody acceptance, such as Haru’s opportunity to volunteer as a shrine maiden. Skillfully, each character’s fondness for feminine attire is treated respectfully, and the game positions crossdressing and androgyny as being normal. Even if you aren’t into guys dressing as girls, it’s difficult to not admire Otoko Cross’ inclination to challenge gender norms.

Largely, the cast is a good-looking group that boasts a bit of variety. So, whether you prefer Jules, the auburn-haired maid-boy, Quincy’s mid-western influenced androgyny, or Dr. Morgan’s fondness for nurse attire, each is masterfully rendered in native 1080p fidelity. Sure, there’s one basic body type, but Morgan’s incongruent ‘idiot curl’ or Quincy’s adorable yaeba are undeniably endearing. While there’s a Dressing Room mode to admire the five different costumes for each character, you aren’t able to pose multiple characters.

Conclusion

In keeping with the publisher’s pricing, Otoko Cross’ finest feature might just be its price. At launch, the game can be purchased for less than six dollars, offering a solid contentment-to-cost ratio. Hopefully, one days, we’ll get to see more of these Pretty Boys; an action game spin-off would be terrific.

Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys Mahjong Solitaire was
played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.