Delicious! Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire (Android) Review

Nearly half the screen is taken up by a (typically large breasted) young woman for the player to look at. Let's get this said straight away: The women have no skills in the game, nor do they have any personality or significant interaction. There is no storyline and there is no point to them being there. This is clearly something that will appeal to some people and not others, and, of course, there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. They do, however, occasionally spout a few Japanese phrases. The fact that they have not been translated may be surprising, but it reflects the thinking of the designers. They know that the game is a bit niche, and it makes sense to appeal to the market they're trying to sell to.

The character selection screen also spells it out rather blatantly. The female characters show a varying degree of nudity, and two images show characters almost totally topless. Surprisingly, though, this is actually the worst (or best, depending on the perspective) it gets, with most outfits being suitable for almost any audience. Anyone that wants to ignore the fan service and focus on playing some Mahjong Solitaire definitely has that option. Having said that, Delicious! Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitare is clearly not suitable for young children, despite the lack of full nudity.

Having said all that, it is, of course, the gameplay that really counts. As Mahjong Solitaire games go, this one is both fun and engaging. There are time-combos, and a star system depending on how well a stage is completed. For those not familiar with Mahjong Solitaire, there is a training mode, which suffers from being too easy, but the real game is surprisingly difficult. It can take several attempts to complete enough stages to unlock a new outfit. It is somewhat counter-intuitive though; if the aim were merely to provide fan service, as the game title and character selection screen suggest, why is there a requirement of patience, skill and luck?

Regardless, the skill required is appreciated. It has a classic "one more go" feel to it that almost all mobile games try so hard to achieve. The rewards for progress are small (a new skin for a female character is as good as it gets), but the effort required to make progress means that there is a real sense of achievement to it, regardless of the reward itself. There is even pleasure in revisiting stages again to beat a previous score and improve on combos.