I teach high school in Japan, well I entertain students under the auspices of helping them use English. I do this professionally, which means that at the moment, it is my profession, I get paid to do it. Because nobody really cares that much about what I exactly I do, I design my own lessons and projects! The most recent project we're doing is writing reviews of something, because even though I hate the concept of reviews with essentially every fiber of my being, it's important to be able to express your opinion in some way. The subjects of these reviews tend to cluster in groups around expected topics. The cute and popular girls write about cake and chocolate and parfaits. The athletic guys invariably attempt to review an entire sport or a certain player. Other, fringe groups clutch onto more abstract concepts. One girl wrote, for example, a review of "time." It was hard to encourage discussion in the group about that one. Another girl wrote a review of, I kid you not, "the Nazis." I asked her where she knew the Nazis, she said from her dictionary. One of the best ones was a boy who wrote about a live house he went to. One of his lines was "I was going to see my friend's band there. But I was rocked before seeing them." He went on to praise the band who rocked him.

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The special ones, the ones near and dear to my heart, are the kids who write about what they love, without worrying about what the other kids in the class will think about their topic. Especially when that topic is video games. One girl began writing a review of "Emerge from the screen: The forest of animals" which I think was Animal Crossing: New Leaf (or as it's known in literal Japanese, Jump Out: Animal Forest). But she switched topics to write about a stationary store. I was sad. Most of them will never know that we are kind of the same, since I don't say much more about it than "I play games" and do not delve into the unabashed extent of what exactly this means (though I have met more than a few of my students on StreetPass, with some personal messages like "I'm in 1-7!" or "Branton!"). As a result, their reviews are quaintly honest and entertaining to me. Anyway, what follows are the honest, unedited words of a few of my students who like games. I hope they don't mind that I share them with you all.

Reviews of video games (and systems) by current Japanese high school boys and girls, aged 15-16


A review of PSP

By Yuya


PSP is a kind of video game. It's have many colors. I bought it in Toizarasu. It's about sixteen thousand yen. I bought it because I like video game very much! I like that it is very fun. And it can play every one. But I don't like that it use long time to study. Its good point is that it can play many games. And Its movie is very beautiful. Its bad point is that its make me that I can't study. You should buy it!

A review of Dairanto Smash Brothers X

By Saito


Dairanto Smash Brothers X is a video game for Wii. Because four game players can play this game together, we can be excited and enjoy it. But if there are more than five people, anyone can't play it together. Because a lot of famous characters everyone knows appear in this game, everyone can liven up. This game is a kind of battle games. But I think everyone will find this game nice.

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A review of Gran Turismo (GT)

By Yutaro


It is a video game for Play Station. It is apt to be thought to be a racing game, but it is a simulation game. You can drive real automobiles in this game. It is faithful in physic phenomenons. So, the good thing is that you can feel riding real cars and driving them really. However, because it is realistic, you may think that it is too difficult to enjoy. So, the bad thing is that it is so difficult that it may take you a long time to get accustomed to play it. Therefore, I think there are both people who like it and people who dislike it. But, I like it very much.

A review of Kingdom Hearts

By Runa


Kingdom Hearts is a video game. It can play by PS2, PSP, DS, and 3DS. It was made in Square Enix. It is kind of action games. Many Disney's characters and Final Fantasy's characters appear on the stage. They cooperate with me, but sometimes I fight with the character of a villain. After all, the story of this game is very fantastic. I have moved when I saw the end. Also, not only boys but also girls can enjoy playing it. The operation is easyer than other games. And the background is a very beautiful, characters are very pretty. Among all characters, I like Sora the best. He is quite considerate. I have given courage by him many times. So, I recommend it.

A review of BIOHAZARD 6

By Kaho


I'm reviewing about BIOHAZARD 6. It is a game of PS3. I bought it because it was very popular. It's very expensive but I wanted it very much, so I decided to buy. BIOHAZARD is a shooting game. But it isn't normal. The enemy is zombies in the game. A player defeat them coming to take us. The graphic is very beautiful, and it's a game full of things of reality. This game was made into a movie, it created a big boom all over the world. Please play once.

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A review of 3DS

By Ryuhei


It is a video game machine of Nintendo. We can enjoy various game soft with it. And we can carry it and make friends with people who have 3DS. Its screen is smaller than PSP, but it has two screens, so it has bigger screen than PSP in all. What is more, it sounds good, I think. We can put music into it and listen to it in high quality. The other side of the coin is that, 3D function is sensitive. If you expect only the 3D function, I don't recommend it very much. I want you consider it when you buy it.

A review of play station 3 (PS3)

By Shohei


Play station 3 has many kinds of games. For example, sports, action, and car race. PS3's picture is very clean. but, it is very expensive. Its price is 29400 yen. I want to make it cheaper. My favorite PS3's game is Winning Eleven. It is soccer game. It is very real, powerful and fun. I want you to play it!

A review of video games

By Akinobu


Do you like video games? I like them. Video game machines for example, "Will" "PS3" "XBOX" cost about twenty thousand yen. Video game softwares for example, "Pocket Monster" "Dragon quest". "Sonic" cost about five thousand yen. They are made in game company for example, "Nintendo" "Sony". They are very famous for all generations because there are many games. For example, "No-Tore" "Mario" "Sho-gi" "Igo" "Doraemon" "Golf". We must dicide playing times not to become our eyes bad.