"Sweet Basil Retells a Popular Japanese Fairy Tale"

In the adult PC game Little My Maid, created by Sweet Basil and published by Peach Princess, you are Ohji Kamogawa, a high school graduate who failed his university entrance exam. Heartbroken over a breakup with your long time girlfriend, Yukari, you went to the beach to mend your broken heart and clear your confused mind. While wandering around, you stumbled upon Mari, a maid from a nearby island, and took her back to the mansion where she works.

When I started playing Little My Maid, I was reminded of the fan favorite English bishojo game, Nocturnal Illusion. Like in Nocturnal Illusion, the game takes place inside a secluded mansion, and the mistress of the place is mysterious yet alluring. Little My Maid gets philosophical when the mistress, Hime, talks about focusing on the present rather than the past. Ultimately, this turns out to be a red herring as you go further into the story, and learn more about the residents of the mansion or castle (the terms are used interchangeably in the game), and the stories behind these characters.

A highlight of Little My Maid is the voiceacting. The female cast deliver wonderful performances, and the voices are appropriate for each character role. However, the game music doesn't match the quality of the voiceacting; the music is good, but not great or memorable. The character designs and background scenes are generally good. Fans of the bishojo game Snow Drop will appreciate the graphics in Little My Maid since the same illustrator did the character designs for both games. Unfortunately, the game recycles a lot of the dialogues and graphics, particularly for the sex scenes. And after a while, you'll find yourself skipping the boring scenes. It should be noted that there are some scenes involving rape and bondage in Little My Maid; and those scenes are not avoidable if you wish to unlock all the endings.

Little My Maid is a complex and challenging game. With 83 CGs and 11 possible endings, it is very difficult to unlock all the graphics and endings without using a walkthrough (such as the one posted at Gamefaqs.com). The game utilizes status bars for Love, Trust, and Stamina for each of the three maids, but players could generally ignore them if the walkthrough is used to play this game. The game uses the same controls as outlined in my Gamefaqs.com review of Gibo: Stepmother's Sin; readers should refer to this review for more information regarding controls for Little My Maid.

Little My Maid is an interesting game. Despite its age (originally published in Japan back in 1999), the game delivers an entertaining spin on a popular Japanese fable. If you're willing to tolerable lackadaisical sex scenes, Little My Maid is a vintage title for your English bishojo game collection.

Storyline: 8/10
Graphics: 7/10
Music: 8/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Replayability: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/05