"Venus Select" isn't really an H game, it's more of an H anime art 
gallery done with multimedia. It was released by Otaku back in 1997 as 
Bishojo Manga PC CD-ROM #2 (OTK 10102) for Windows 95/3.1/Mac. 
Since there are really no gameplay elements to this, and you can 
find all the pictures rather easily, the rest of this file will just 
be a mini-review.

The disk starts automatically in your CD drive under Windows 9x. It 
all runs off the CD, no installation needed. Choose to see a profile 
and interview with one of the 4 girls shown on the box, or a selection 
of several 256-color CG images for each one. The pictures shown during 
the interviews/profiles are 16 colors, only the ones shown in the 5th 
choice are 256. But it's actually hard to tell the difference, as the 
16 colors chosen, especially for most of the large images, are done 
very well. Too bad that other than "CD Brothers" and "Software House 
Parsley," we have no idea who did these images - there are no names 
supplied as credits!

You have the choice of English (British), French, or German when 
playing. I'm guessing that that choice, and embedding the images in 
the individual .DXR files, is why almost 320 MB is used in the main 
directory to show 81 images plus text and music. Note that there is no 
voice in this title. The British influence on the English is 
noticeable but not objectionable - no really strange words or 
expressions like "snogging" and "on the game" which were seen in 
other Otaku titles.

If you have the desire to see a particular image again without going 
through the entire sequence, the images are found within the BMP 
directory on the CD. The music is both in 18 MIDI files in the MIDI 
directory, and also as 18 more audio tracks on the CD. There is a 
screen saver program in the SS directory, but I couldn't get it to 
work - no points off because this bonus isn't mentioned anywhere on 
the box.

A worthwhile title to own if you need to own everything ever released 
with H images in English. But if you're looking for gameplay or replay 
value, look elsewhere. Nothing technically wrong with this title, just 
disappointing if you were really expecting a "Venus" game, or 
something other than pictures. As far as those go, excellent 
workmanship by the CG artists, and the title's concept works until you 
start asking questions.

If the description of "Venus Select" intrigues you, I strongly 
suggest you buy it rather than pirating it. Otaku actually stopped 
releasing H games because of piracy, and hurt all of the 
non-Japanese-reading hentai who liked their attention to quality 
packaging and content.


If you have anything to add to this file, let me know.

Pete Karsanow - bishoujo.helper[AT}sbcglobal{DOT)net
http://www.geocities.com/hentaihelper/