Ten Dates PS5 Review – Will you be successful in love?

Reviews

Ten Dates PS5 Review – Ten Dates is the sequel to the interactive rom-com, Five Dates, taking place in the post-pandemic world. Misha, a millennial from London in search of that elusive in-person connection, tricks her best friend Ryan into going to a speed dating event with her.

FMV games {Full Motion Video} are few and far between in the world of gaming and there is a very simple reason for this. Generally speaking, they can be very expensive to make! I had the idea of making one myself a few years ago and had made the enquires needed to try and get the idea off the ground but logistically speaking to even make a game that would last an hour you need to record 20-30 hours of footage to coincide with branching storylines and the choices that players make throughout.

Going into a game like this I didn’t expect much and wasn’t surprised that my first play through to ping a trophy lasted only half an hour at most. However, Wales Interactive are the pioneers in trying to bring more FMV games to the market.

Ten Dates PS5 Review – Gameplay

The days of dating are long gone for myself being happily married, but it is interesting to see if I could make the right moves here.

Ten Dates PS5 Review

Set in London, you have the choice of playing as either Micha or Ryan; 2 best friends. Tricked into going for a drink with Micha, Ryan soon discovers that Micha has signed them both up for some speed dating. Is speed dating even a thing any more given the numerous chat sites and general laziness of people behind a computer screen these days?

At first Ryan is dubious, but it doesn’t take him long to warm to the idea of possibly making a connection and finding true love. The rules ar simple; 5 minutes sat at a table talking to someone and hopefully making an initial spark before moving on to the next person. During that time, you are tasked with asking questions or responding to them being asked of you. Make the right impression and it could lead to a second date.

OK, the idea isn’t exactly enthralling however as it is speed dating there is a time pressure added to your responses and you do have to think on your feet. The whole idea boils down to being able to successfully get to a third date with someone and for it to be the start of your happily ever after and with a whole range of characters that is easier said than done.

Ten Dates PS5 Review – Streamer Mode?

Wales Interactive have cleverly added a Streamer Mode into the game which does take off some of the time pressure with responses which gives said streamer chance to interact with their audience {if any of them actually do… I personally refuse to give any of them views} and see what their responses would be. I do feel that this is a good idea for the game as it isn’t going to be a mainstream release rather than a niche for streamers.

Ten Dates PS5 Review – Lights, Camera, Action

The issue I have with FMV games is that if you are going to make something like this a success then you need solid actors throughout. Yes, there is some talent in front of us here, but there are also a few let downs that do not feel natural acting in front of a camera. It does lend itself to an indie production and {being an actor myself in my spare time} if I am honest, doesn’t quite stack up to a lot of productions I have seen or been involved with.

Scenes outside of the live action video, like setting up profiles, relationship status tracking and so on, have a well-designed UI that’s simple but effective. The text is clear and easy to read from a distance for us old timers whose eyes are not as clear as they used to be. The settings menu gives options for subtitles with various options to customise how they are displayed. All nice little touches.

Ten Dates PS5 Review – Did I Fall In Love?

Although my initial playthrough lasted half an hour at most, there is a longevity to the game if you want to see all the possible outcomes and try to be a hit with all the date options available. There are 5 to choose from for each character and even same sex dates should you choose.

Once you have played through once, you can go back into the game and pick which dates you want. You can also now skim through a lot of the scenes with the R1 button making it feel less of a grind to go for the platinum trophy which is actually really easy to achieve.

For me, the game had more cringe moments than stand out performances. It is let down by some of the acting unfortunately and it isn’t ever going to be a big hit. Wales Interactive have made a great title and I do get that they are limited in what they can produce within the world of FMV, but for me I wasn’t a fan of the game. That being said, its not exactly bad, just not for me. I feel that Wales Interactive would be better sticking to making more games like Maid of Sker which was fantastic.

7.3

Good

Story - 6
Gameplay - 6
Graphics - 9
Sound - 8

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