Re:Alistair++ is a nice-looking, polished, fun and intriguing Dating Sim.

STORY
You're Merui, a typical high-school girl if not for the fact that she's addicted to games, especially a MMORPG named Rivenwell Online. The plot starts inside Rivenwell Online, when Merui (whose RO alias is RuiOfTheSword) and her friend FionaWings are trying to defeat a huge boss in order to get some valuable game item. They're close to killing it when some character named Alistair shows up, delivers the final blow, kills the boss, and gets the item for himself. Merui gets super mad and swears revenge.
It happens that she discovers Alistair to be someone from her school. Now she's got one month to find out who he is.
How cool is that for a game story introduction?
There are only three possibilities, and they're the only three characters in the game other than Merui: Travis, a nerdy computer geek; Shiro, a shy guy with a mysterious background; and Derek, the handsome sports dude.
Your main goal in this game is NOT actually finding out which of them is Alistair, but to get a a boyfriend. Throughout the game, will have many activity options basically regarding which guy you'll hang out with more, and which stats (Intelligence, Social Reputation, Network Reputation) you'll increase, seeing that each stat makes more likely that you'll get more cutscenes and a better ending with one of the three guys. All the story of the game is developed through these cutscenes interactions, and they all involve getting to know the guys better, finding out about their past, likes and dislikes, problems and issues, and even getting some very subtle clues to which of them is Alistair.
Dialogs in this game are a lot of fun, and they do their job in building the gradual intimacy between Merui and each potential Alistair. All three guy-characters have their unique personalities, and their background is full of surprises and details. Hard to say much more without spoiling. The only somewhat uninteresting character is Merui herself, who seems to be pretty bland, excessively-mature and problem-free... but I guess that is expected from a game in which you have to develop the main character's style through your own choices.
The thing about Re:Alistair++'s plot is its complete lack of linearity. There's not a single story to be unfolded. Not only there are many ways to reach the different endings, but you'll never find out everything there is to be known playing the game only once. There's just a lot of details and little plot-twists, and they're developed well enough to make you want to play this game more than once.
I played this game 3 times to get all 3 different endings, and I liked the game more after each playthrough.
Overall, Re:Alistair++ story concept is a very clever and appealing one, and it's definitely what makes this game worth playing.

PRESENTATION
This game is absolutely flawless in this aspect. If there's such a thing as too good, that's what I would say about this game's graphics. Everything looks very beautiful and colorful, from character drawings to menu layout. Music tracks are nice, fitting and soothing, and so are the sound effects. Re:Alistair++ has possibly the best presentation I've ever seen in any game (yes, I'm going there), and I said it's "too" good because this is a relatively simple, short game (to deserve that much of an effort?). Sometimes there even seems to be an excess of detailing, like when you're playing Rivenwell Online and there are a lot of stats and huds on the screen, even though they're just decoration. But hey, I'm not complaining. My hat's off to whoever is responsible for this.

GAMEPLAY
Like I said, the whole story happens in 30 days. Each day is divided in three moments: morning, afternoon and evening.
In the morning, you can choose where you want to hang out during lunch break, and each choice affects the likeness of meeting one of the 3 characters and possibly having a moment with him. When you actually meet a guy, you'll watch a cutscene with him, usually a long one with a single dialog choice along the way that somehow affects your relationship with him.
In the afternoon, you can choose if you want to help at school, go to the mall, or work on your school project. Your choice also makes it likely that you'll meet one of the guys. At the mall you can also buy some stuff, and you get money by helping at school. There's a lack of symmetry in this part that bothered me a bit, because, for instance, helping at school for money will get you closer to Travis, even if that was not your intention, and going to the mall for items will get you scenes with Derek, even if that's not what you wanted. The downside of this is that, if you DO want Derek, you'll have to go to the mall often, even if you don't want to buy anything, and with a big possibility that you won't meet him there, making you completely waste your afternoon.
In the evening, you can choose to study, watch TV, or Surf the Net. Each choice increases one of your stats (intelligence, social reputation or network reputation).

The first time I played this game I hadn't read any FAQs or readmes, so I thought my goal was just to find out who Alistair was. Believing that, I really saw no point on increasing my stats or buying items. I guess it's obvious for some people that having a high intelligence is related to Shiro, a high social rep. is related to Derek, and a high network rep. is good for Travis, but it wasn't obvious to me.
Some items increase certain stats, and others unlock cutscenes with specific characters or make them like you better. That wasn't clear to me before I read the FAQs either.

I have two main complaints about the mechanics of this game, and they're important ones:
The first one is about the obscurity of the stats and item mechanics. I was completely lost before reading the FAQs, but everything became too obvious after reading them... it was just a matter of making the appropriate choices to get whichever ending I wanted. In my opinion, having clearer numerical pointers and indicators would be good. Apparently there is a numerical relationship counter with each of the 3 characters, but it's never visible. It would be better if it were visible. And there could be a counter showing the percentage of scenes you unlocked with each character, and things like that. It would make the time budgeting aspect of the game clearer, and reduce the guessing aspect. I just think the game kept me guessing too much, and there were many times when I felt I was doing something completely useless.. like working on my school project even after I had done everything related to it.
My second complaint is related to the first one, and it has to do with repetitiveness. More often than not, you'll play through an entire day in which nothing happens, even though you get to make many choices along the way. The real problem is that it feels like nothing happens because you made the wrong choices, and since it's a timed game (30 days), it's really frustrating to waste your time like this. For a game that is intended to be played over and over, such repetition of nothing can get annoying. This issue is just not critical because the game is so short, and playing it over is definitely worthwhile.

REPLAYING
Re:Alistair++ is meant to be played more than once. You'll get a good feel of the story and possibly a good ending if you play it only once, but you'll be missing the point completely.
-SMALL SPOILER ALERT-
The thing is, even though only one of them is actually Alistair, all three characters are somehow related to the Alistair issue, and that's something you can only understand by getting to know as much of each character as possible. That's not possible within a single playthrough.
Luckily, the game is short and fast, and it can get even faster because there's a Skip option which allows you to race through dialogs you don't want to read.

SO WHAT?
Re:Alistair++ is an extremely beautiful game with a short yet clever story that will make you want to play it over and over. If you like Dating Sims and Visual Novels, this one is definitely a must-play. Just make sure you read this before you do so, or you might get lost and frustrated.