...Also, the concept of the game is absolutely extreme. Nothing like that has been done before. You rape women and control every action of the rape. "RapeLay" has the same ground-breaking gameplay as in Des Blood series and other revolutionary Illusion titles: you control the movements of the protagonist's body parts; you have the illusion (maybe that's why the company is called like that...) of a totally physical interaction with the girl. It's the most realistic sex simulation ever seen.

Only in "RapeLay", it is being used for an evil purpose.

Rape is something for sick, despicable people, and the game made me feel sick. Raping an innocent girl and hearing her screams is not my idea of entertainment. Please note that I really like sex games, particularly those developed by Illusion; I have nothing against hardcore and most shameless stuff. Sex is the best thing in life, and I really love it when it finds its way into video games. Sex is great. Rape is not. It's as simple as that. Don't tell me about the relativity of all morals, or about the need to understand a rapist's soul, or about the fact that the rapist's aunt didn't give him a toy bear when he was three years old, and hence he became a rapist out of social protest; I don't accept this crap. Rape is bad. Period.

For the record, I only don't accept playing as a rapist, and the game's inability to condemn the player's acts; I'm not against a mere depiction of rape in a video game. It's not a problem of censorship; it's a problem of good and bad taste.

But let's suppose for a moment that you have no qualms about becoming a virtual rapist. Even so, the game is not interesting. It shocks you, using the most primitive, unclean means, like hitting below the belt; but it cannot really immerse or fascinate you. There are two reasons for that: the lack of any realism in the game, and the stupid, limited gameplay.

In Oppai Slider 2, you had three long, challenging seduction scenarios. You had to use your brains, figuring out how to unlock the next scene, how to make the girl do what you want. You were rewarded for your efforts; the game had a pace, it was a process, not an instant achievement. In "RapeLay", however, all you have to do is to deplete the available options before you actually corner the girl where nobody sees you, and then you rape her. There is no connection between your previous actions and this rape. The previous actions are nothing but a "trigger" that leads to the rape scene. There is no inner logic in this gameplay, it's simply messed up and absurd. Result: no sense of achievement or reward.

And generally, the whole game process makes absolutely no sense. What happens in the game is ridiculous beyond belief. On a crowded train, you tear off a girl's bra and stick your hand into her panties! I know lots of weird stuff can happen in Japan; but surely it is impossible to just undress a girl and caress her most intimate body parts in front of everyone! Nobody reacts, and, what's more, all the girl does is sigh, moan, and occasionally have a weak attempt at covering herself. What the hell is that?! All right, Japanese women are submissive and all, but everything has a limit - any woman would either run away or alert people. And any passengers would react to such insane things. Why, my wife started a scandal in a subway train just because some guy touched her back!

This also kills any sense of progress you might have had. I understand then slowly crowded train without her noticing who did that, then luring her somehow to a secluded place could be exciting - in a perverse way, of course. But this is simply ridiculous, lack of any resemblance to reality means this game cannot be seen as a "simulator", it's just a bunch of incoherent, badly presented events.

Everything is very, very sick, very unhealthy in "RapeLay". The game is morbid in a bad way; it depresses and tires the player. Compare it to the tricky situations and pranks of Oppai Slider 2; the sunny, nonchalant atmosphere of Sexy Beach series; the sweet, gradual seduction of Battle Raper 2 (no, there is no rape there, despite the name). In "RapeLay", there is only hatred and violence; there is no seduction, no eroticism. It is not sexy, not attractive; it is sad and dull.

The Bottom Line
+ Impressive character graphics
+ Insane concept...
- Which is also absolutely sick
- And another minus for being so sick
- Totally illogical
- Boring gameplay

Personally, I was rather disgusted by this game. I don't want to force women to have sex with me, not even digitally (in real life, I don't really have to force anyone, being married and all). But even if you are okay with the whole rape concept, you can't ignore the fact that "RapeLay" has particularly dumb gameplay and no inner logic, no coherence in its events. I'm a big fan of Illusion, they are talented and creative developers, but this product is a failure no matter how you look at it.

"We are simply bewildered by the move," said spokesperson Makoto Nakaoka.

"We make the games for the domestic market and abide by laws here. We cannot possibly comment on (the campaign) because we don't sell them overseas."

Once aboard the train, you'll engage in a "groping" scene. Basically, you control a disembodied hand with the mouse. You can fondle, pat, or stroke the poor girl to your heartless soul's content — even when she gets fed up and swats the hand away, she can't ever escape from the most intangible villain since Lucifer Alpha. She just looks really, really uncomfortable.

"Who... who's there?" Yuuko is unable to locate her assailant, even though there are only four or five people on the train. The other girls aren't any smarter. If they scowl when you jiggle their breasts, just move your hand and massage... down there. Maybe your arms are invisible, like in Elfen Lied. Maybe the girls are just stupid. Either way, you have to fondle the women as their Horniness Meter slowly, slowly, slowly creeps its way up to the limit.

Crazy people — the types who try to rationalize virtual rape fantasies — might claim that these "groping" scenes are built upon the principles of diligence and delayed gratification. Me, I say they're boring and pointless, since you can't possibly lose.

After several painfully tedious minutes, the poor girl runs away in fright, presumably to tattle to the police, a neighbor, or a Junker. Unfortunately, all three women choose to run somewhere secluded where it's easy to pin them down, tear off their clothes, and anally rape them. There are other options too, such as coerced blowjobs, but none of them are consensual. It all boils down to raping women and jizzing into or across their bodies.

"Sniff... sniff... I w-w-want to die..."

That's the kind of dialogue you'll hear after each rape. Then you'll either snap some quick photographs of their desecrated bodies or rape them again to shut them up. RapeLay contains a lot of rape.

In an attempt to blend actual gameplay with its cutting-edge character models, RapeLay incorporates a flexible sex system that lets you adjust positions, techniques, and vibrator placement. You can even impregnate the women (and then rape them some more). Unfortunately, although saucy schoolgirl Aoi can't protect her own virginity, she'll get really, really mad if you knock up her mother or sister. And when Aoi gets mad, she gets lethally violent.

Don't panic! Abort the baby and she'll never find out.

After you've completed the story mode, the remainder of the game focuses on transforming each hot little number into a devoted sex slave. You do this by raping them some more. As the girls learn to enjoy being raped (a disturbingly predictable trend for these kinds of games), you'll unlock the ability to watch some hot lesbian action or engage in threesomes, foursomes, or gang-bangs with creepy Taneo Tanamatsuri look-alikes. RapeLay even keeps track of how many times you cum inside each girl (that's what the nakadashi count is for), so you're encouraged to rape them repeatedly in every orifice. Then you can boast to friends about your nakadashi achievements, unless your friends happen to disapprove of rape.

This is one way to get more rapists out onto the streets.