If you're a big fan of stories in casual games then you won't want to miss Fatal Hearts. From independent game developer Hanako Games (the makers of Cute Knight), Fatal Hearts features a deep choose-your-own-adventure story where the choices you make affect not only the ending of the game, but how you get there.

The story centers on fifteen-year-old Christina, a high school student who's enjoying spending her summer vacation hanging out with her new best friend Lucy. Through text narrative and dialogue presented overtop of charming backgrounds drawn in the style of Japanese anime, you'll soon learn that things aren't exactly peachy in the girls' lives. Lucy's parents are behaving strangely, going out at odd hours of the night and carrying around a strange old book. Christina starts having vivid dreams featuring a young man and woman who are somehow familiar, she swears she can hear wolves howling at night, and, to top it off, there appears to be a killer on the loose who preys on young woman.

The story features some graphic images and scary situations, and for that reason Fatal Hearts is something that younger children should probably steer clear of. (The publisher gives the game a rating of "Teen.") However, older players will relish the chance to explore a mature story that explores themes of love, death and friendship with a supernatural twist.

One of the most enjoyable features of Fatal Hearts is that you get to control what happens next by making choices at certain key points in the game. After spending the day with Lucy, does Christina walk home or call her Mom for a ride? Does she go to the party hosted by the two strange boys, or reject their advances? Does she lie to her Mom after staying out late, or tell her the truth? Although these decisions might seem trivial at the time, they can set certain events in motion that will drastically alter the gameplay experience and send you down a path to one of fourteen possible endings...

Oh, have I got one for you gals and guys this week. I actually had to tear myself away long enough to write this blog, but you can bet I'll be playing again when its written.

Fans of Cute Knight (like myself) are cheering Hanako's new release, Fatal Hearts. It's a “choose your own adventure” story, much like an interactive novel, but with numerous original puzzles that are integrated into game play. During the game, you might find yourself searching through foreign language dictionaries, putting together elaborate puzzles, or playing board games. The game autosaves, but I also recommend manually saving often, in case you get stuck and want to go online for help.

If some of the puzzles are really driving you crazy (like the leaf puzzle that had me stuck for ages), Hanako has released cheat codes to bypass them. There is also a walkthrough which tells you how to unlock different endings. Once you've beaten the game, you can go back and skip over puzzles you've already played. It's worth playing through a few times, since taking a different route unlocks puzzles and storylines you haven't played before...

Hanako Games develops games for girls that go beyond Barbie’s, pink, dolls, and shopping. Though the games are of the fantasy genre, don’t expect to see cutesy unicorns. The company’s latest addition, Fatal Hearts, combines anime-style art with girls who take the lead as the protagonist. The result is a modern adventure where you can choose your way to one of fourteen possible endings.

15-year-old Christina and her best friend, Lucy represent the typical teen girls who like going to the mall and noticing boys. Although, this sounds like a typical girl’s game, it’s only a tiny part of the story. The mysterious part of the story enters when Christina turns in for the night and encounters a strange, yet familiar man in her dream. Those puzzling dreams continue, but they’re hardly as perplexing as Lucy’s parents’ behavior.

In the charming scenes, the anime characters face the screen making players feel a part of the game. Beware — sudden sounds easily startle players when Christina runs into scary situations such as finding a dead body in the woods and running away from people without knowing why. I’m no fan of scary movies or games, but I could handle the creepy and eerie moments...

To call The Great Tree an anomaly would be an understatement. Combining New Age mysticism with arcade-style, mouse-thrashing mayhem, it's a formula that, by all rights, shouldn't work. However, created under the loving auspices of Reflexive Entertainment (Big Kahuna Reef, Ricochet Infinity) and featuring stunning visuals by the same artist as Wik: Fable of Souls, the game's sure to leave you enchanted nonetheless.

As revealed in a series of periodic, lengthy cutscenes blessed with gifted writing - albeit awful voice-overs, seemingly phoned in by a female development team member - here you'll take on the role of a collector. Or, more specifically, a winged sprite whose duty it is to save benevolent race of pixie-like forest dwellers the Wren from the evil Ixies and their plans to destroy the life-giving Great Tree. While the tale's sure to prove a tad too fey and verbose for some, you can always skip the gorgeous, hand-drawn movie sequences and jump right to the action itself, sure to please all comers.

Basically, each stage - a single screen set atop a static, computer-generated image such as a castle wall, petrified goblin or eye-sporting branch - is a self-contained scenario. Your goal on all: Collect magical pollen, depicted as glowing motes of light, by floating over them (which causes each to be added to your ponytail) and then deposit the payload at a "transient star," or glowing portal, located at the top of the display...