Game Review: Three Fourths Home – Extended Edition (Xbox One)

This is easily going to be the shortest review that I’ve ever written, there just isn’t much to say about a game that can be completed in 20 minutes, speed ran in 10 and if you’re into achievements, 100% completed in around 2 hours.

Three Fourths Home is a game developed by Bracket Games, released on 20 March 2015. The game follows the struggles of one family. The protagonist, named Kelly, is driving through rural Nebraska when her mother calls, sparking a conversation that will change the upcoming events.

The game is a visual novel. The player can make conversation choices that will change the relationships between the family members or so it seems. By holding RT the car will drive and you have the option of switching on the radio if you get bored but that’s it in terms of “gameplay”.

I have little experience with the genre of visual novel games but I can imagine a lot of ways in which it could be extremely effective if done correctly. The biggest problem is that this is a video game and there isn’t much to do but sit back and read which many will dislike, it does become tedious very quickly.

For a game like this to work, the storyline would have to be gripping and interesting but sadly it just isn’t. It’s just a girl driving home to her family while a huge storm rolls in; you speak to various members of the family and choose dialogue options. You can drag out the game by choosing certain options but it all ultimately leads to the same thing. There is no reason to play through it again unless you’re interested in a couple of achievements that basically force you to do just that. The dialogue is well written but lacks substance and only kind of hints at a couple of things before ending, it leaves you with a “is that it” type of feeling.

Once you have completed the main story you then have the option of playing the epilogue which can be finished in either 30 seconds or 10 minutes depending on the conversation options you select this time.

Music and sound wise the music fits well to the game and flows naturally throughout and sets the scene well in the driving scenes with the dramatic thunder and background music, it’s almost atmospheric. After you have completed the main story and epilogue, some extra items do become available such as a radio to listen to the music, a selection of 5 stories to read and a selection of photographs to view which adds a little time onto the overall game time.

Three Fourths Home claims to be an interactive visual novel game and it basically fails to be that by not allowing you to have any impact on the overall story with your choices. It can be picked up for a cheap price which is probably it’s only redeeming factor. It makes you hold down RT to drive just so you feel involved in the slightest.