Original Release: Illusion Soft, 2001, PC
There isn’t really a “VR” element; this follow-up to the original Interact Play gives you a crop of new girls to pursue and changes up the gameplay to make things much easier
Interact Play VR (PC, Illusion Soft, 2001)
Where to Buy: eBay
Review by: Master-B
Interact Play (and the “VR” follow-up) was released during Illusion’s turn-of-the-century shift to fully 3D PC games along with titles like Biko, Des Blood, Battle Raper and Sexy Beach that vaulted it to international attention (first with pervs, then with moral busybodies). While a bunch of those went on to be foundational titles for the company that received multiple sequels over a decade or two, Interact Play was a branch that fizzled out after just two rather samey games. I think part of that was that it already shared a lot of ground with previous titles, specifically Biko, but just with less gameplay. But it also sort of transformed into the spiritual follow-up RapeLay a few years later, which was the first game to get the company in enough legal trouble overseas that it felt pressured to take it off the market.
You can already see the legal problems and the material for the morality police shaping up in this one. It’s basically “Biko but even darker,” if you can believe that. Both games are centered on stalkers following women and then catching them in an opportune area for a little non-consensual hanky-panky. But Biko gave you the option of solving some problem in the girl’s life with dialogue choices and entering into a consensual relationship with them instead, and while it always had Raep Option those branches were also a dead end that was immediately followed by the protagonist getting killed or arrested. Interact Play is only about Raep Option, and every scenario is done in a weirdly specific and fetishy way.
I also mentioned it was “Biko but with less gameplay.” There are five girls to pursue, and every scenario unfolds the same way. You open on a subway platform, which (at least in the “VR” version) is abandoned except for you and the girl. You’re basically just waiting for time to run out in this segment, the only way to fail is to swing the camera around so that you’re looking at the girl’s face, which startles her and makes her run off. The only other thing to do of note here is sink into the Underworld for panty shots, though the girl can still spot you even if you’re embedded in concrete. Don’t let anyone tell you being a sex demon is easy.
Once time runs out on the initial platform segment, you jump to Grope Mode. Our duder Super Joe the Super Raeper corners the poor girl and begins with the fondling and licking of certain key hotspots (set to Lethal Weapon music). This is broken into three segments, in each of which you have to raise her Lust meter to the max with your techniques before time runs out (and without filling a Resistance meter that rises when you persist with stuff she doesn’t like). Completing a segment takes a piece of her clothing off, starting with top and ending with panties, though this is Censorship Era Japan so the downstairs bits are covered with a giant black void unless you install an anti-censor patch. Grope Mode is the only bit with real gameplay, as the key to success is finding particular sequences of touching that each girl likes (which amusingly is accompanied by lightning effects reminiscent of a slot machine win – “you hit the Lightning Link!”)
Successful completion of Grope Mode moves you on to the semi-free sexing in the subway toilet. This mode is not timed or has any real challenge, but its mechanics are confusing and unintuitive at first. Each girl has two “branches” that you (probably unwittingly at first) choose by picking which direction to throw her at the outset. Each branch has a series of sex positions you can switch between, though this confusingly involves hovering the mouse around until you find hidden hotspots, then dragging them to other random hotspots to switch positions. Once you settle on a position you click the “Motion” button to mongle the mouse around awkwardly and go through the animation cycle, gradually raising the girl’s Lust again. It takes forever to do this though, and you’re trapped in this set of repetitive positions until you mongle your way out of it.
A lot of this game was very mysterious at first, and it’s hard to find any sort of documentation in English; I did finally hit upon this helpful wiki that clears up why there is so little actual gameplay. It seems the original release of Interact Play had you move around the subway platform dodging other passengers, and trying to find an opportunity to grope when they weren’t looking. Apparently this was too frustrating and difficult, so the VR release just kind of clumsily cut it out entirely and let you auto-win the initial part of each girl approach.
It’s actually borderline to even call this one a “game,” I mean it clears the bar with Grope Mode at least but just barely. At least Biko and Battle Raper had a focus on gameplay, janky though it might have been. This one is more of a 3D sim of a weirdly specific fetish about stalking/molesting girls on subways and then having violent intercourse in a manky bathroom with rusty and skiddy toilets. Of course this is in general keeping with Illusion’s publishing strategy, which was about having the highest-quality 3D models, animations and CGs of the time and going into themes that other companies weren’t doing; I don’t think any of their games were ever praised for the gameplay.
Anyway, there’s no translation that I’m aware of but once in-game the key menu buttons are in English for some reason. The biggest challenge is in getting it installed, but it runs fine on modern Windows 10 systems once you do. I do question whether it’s worth the effort unless you’re into its particular horror-tinged and dungeon-y vibe, though.
Links
- To run the game you’ll need to set Windows to Japanese locale, or use a locale emulator. Put the installer EXE on Disc 1 in “previous Windows” compatibility mode before running it, then when it is done swap to Disc 2 before running the game. Once the game launches pick the third button down to start.
Physical release images and official art
Videos