Familiar, Yet New
4th Heart takes a lot of things from 3rd Story Premium, so anyone that has played that game will not feel too lost on several aspects in this game. The Live 2D animation has been improved a bit, but the main aspects of the game are still the same as in the previous games.
The chocolate making minigame is still picking an ingredient and decorating a base, leading to various types of chocolate to make, but it was shortened from picking a total of three toppings and then putting a big piece on to merely picking one topping, then the special big piece. This can lead to difficulty figuring out 'how' to make the style of chocolate you want for your designated love interest.
The other minigames are basically identical to 3rd Story, except the ball-rolling minigame at the sports festival has been replaced with a simplified tug o' war one, which I personally think is an improvement. The Rose Queen event is still around, as is the fact that you can level up your fashion to unlock improved styles or mixed styles, and the fashion-conscious friend Michiru will still give you items for each playthrough you achieve a max level of 5 for fashion, a total of five times until you get the Rose Queen Training Suit.
The guys in the game are overall what is expected from the series previously, though it also mixes things up a bit, with the fashion guy actually being very unpopular and unknown in school, despite being a rather popular model, the studious guy is not wearing glasses, a first in the Girl's Side series, etc. An interesting aspect is that you can get a regular confession, but you can also get a 'true' confession from the guy, which seems to be based on doing very certain things during a playthrough, and without a guide handy or being incredibly lucky on stumbling upon them, you won't know that you are getting the true or regular confession.
One more major addition is the fact that the heroine is now recruited as a Habataki Watcher journalist, which is its own thing and has a level to it, similar to the fashion mechanic, and using it does lead to some events. Including being the key to unlocking the obligatory secret character one can find and date.
Overall, I will say this game might feel a little disappointing because it reuses a lot from 3rd Story Premium like the setting at Habataki Academy again, the minigames, the Rose Queen Event, etc. But the changes to the confessions, an addition of a four person thing, compared to the 3P/PvP from 3rd Story Premium, and minor changes to character stereotypes or aspects do keep the game fresh in the sense that there's a lot to discover.
Japan 
