VN - Ren'Py - Mech Academy [v0.5.3] [Space Samurai Games]

Having played version 4.18 I must say that the story concept is good. Story presentation suffers a bit (ESL). Animations are ok. There are still a few lines where your native language (not English) bleeds through.

Had some problems with bugs in v4.9.2 but those were fixed.

FIrst of all i rarely give reviews to any game. But this game got my attention.
This game is hilarious and terrific with a touch of SC-FI. I love the dialogues especially the humor and douche one. MC is an alpha who doesn't give a f*ck about what others think about him. Glad he doesn't act like a BETA. Now about the gameplay
Graphics are 5/5
Renders are 3/5
Models are 4/5
Over all its a very good game with good sense of humor. There are things to develop like renders. I hope dev will have a look on it. Please support this game and dev, if you liked the game. Good luck to dev.

The protagonist starts as a chauvinist douchebag, and at least half of the options stay that way. The women aren't great - Lydia is a weak coward, Mei is annoying, Irina is an infidel. Elara gets mad at you for not taking advantage of her when drunk (alcohol isn't consumed in the future, so she doesn't get everything about it, but still.)
Opal is a rapist, and the character is basically forced to be with Mei.
The sex scenes aren't great.
The decisions people make are presented so biasedly. War means tough decisions. But anything that doesn't go the protagonist's way is automatically horrible leadership? That's bad writing.

It's not atrocious, but I don't see any reason to continue.

I like how the "reviewing rules" says to try and be objective but at the end of the day people just want different things. People either want a non stop sex roller coaster or to experience a novel so deep and soul touching that it will inspire them to get their life together. Mech Academy lies somewhere in the middle.

Well to be more accurate its just a fun VN with more than competent writing. The thing I like the most would be the premise of a soldier from a time where men were on the top of the food chain and can get away with everything. Then after (SPOILER) being sent to the future he experiences a culture shock of having various women in positions of power that would normally be unthinkable in his time. You get some dialogue choices were you get to act like a guy from the 70's which honestly is kinda funny sometimes, honestly he kinda reminds me Johnny Bravo if your familiar. At one point (HEAVY SPOILER) they even kill off a character which led me to believe that this writer has some balls, killing off a love interest. But since its an avn that fact that she did not die is to be expected. it is an avn after all.

Now for some nit picks. kinda of a let down that for something called Mech Academy there are not that many Mech scenes. To be fair I cant imagine how much work goes into rendering mech scenes, I just think it would nice to see a mech in a hanger or something. Although the writing is good every now and then the MC says something that feels out of character. For example at one point he says to someone that they should be "ashamed of themselves". Hindsight is 20/20 so it's pretty easy to criticize a handful of things that stick out.

All in all this is a pretty solid vn with above average renders and writing.

Typical stories, nothing new, MC's personality are gained alot of inspirations form old movies.

Not to mention almost every main girls in games have a romance relations but a failed one before meeting MC, so MC could invade their valnerable hearts to gain advantage of it.

It's a very cliché way to write the romance lines, u don't have to make they have a terrible ex love stories to porgress mc and girls's relation, just think of your own version of romance.

The reasons why I can't rate the game higher than that is because the MC is dumb, his thoughts, of which there are billions, are just debilitating, the guy is definitely under 50iq.
Even though we can play him as a sarcastic dumbass, we are forced to watch him come out of the character we choose for him and start complimenting or apologizing to women with whom we are on a complete warpath by our choice.
Another problem, why giving the player the option to change his name at all, if in 90% of cases which we can count in the hundreds we are called by everyone anyway with the rank of Lieutenant, which btw no one recognizes and they laugh at it as a relic or the name Knight.
The extra line of code to change the name has outgrown the dev, making the whole point of changing the name and all the imersion go to hell.

The girls are diverse though in my opinion either too aggressive and unpleasant or just a slut.

Having played through the game I have to say, I had a lot of fun in the end, though the start was rough, the MC starts out so horrible and disgusting, and it really takes some time until the game (or maybe your choices) steer him away from that, and tbh. the LIs aren't much better at the start.
The most positive ones are one who is just scientifically curious and one who is horny for the MC, the others range from hating your guts for racist and sexist reason, over thinking you are a caveman, to being afraid of you.
That's not exactly endearing as well. And I have to admit, as much as the MC CAN be an asshole, at least two of the LIs are at least as bad, and it kinda rubbed me the wrong way that I had to basically take all the shit they pulled without getting back at them, to get the best development with them. One or two of them should at least have been a little bit humbled by the MC, before they change course. This way, it's all a bit convenient that they just stop being assholes.
But enough complaining, I think a lot of the humour hits, there is a lot of work done on environments and there is obviously a lot of thought put into the story, not necessarily as far as originality goes, but on the world-building.
The visuals are fine, personally I like big boobs, so I am fine with all the LIs as far as looks go. Animations are alright as well, like I wrote I like the story and the humour, so the writing is also fine. Overall, I really like where the story goes so far and would definitely recommend going beyond the frustrating start.
Yet, I do think I have to come back to it once. Due to how the MC behaves at the start, even if you pick rational and friendly reactions, and to how the commander and the alien princess act, and how his and their behaviour changes later on, there is a dichotomy between the two parts of the game,
which might lead to many people stop playing the game before the changes really set in, which would be a shame.

Thor, I mean the MC is a manly man from 1970, and a trained soldier. He gets put into cryo and ends up in the year 2175 during a 50 year alien invasion that only happens occasionally.

This is a good plot, but poorly executed. Choices either make the MC a dick, or submissive to get them relationship points.

Choices will change the interaction with the women. I mean, I've got multiple saves, and each is different even if you chose the exact same thing. Except with the supreme commander in the bar. You can skip going, but it doesn't matter. Couple days later your commander throws it in your face that you slept with her enemy ( even if you didn't)

It's things like that that confuse me.
So for me it's a hard pass on this VN. It's only my opinion.

Great: hidden gem!

Writting is better than 90% VNs on the site

The most immersive thing here is that all seems real. There are some exaggeration here and there, but it doesn't break the magic

Each girl has her unique character, motivation and background story. They are not just paper dolls with 2 lines of text and different appearance, each one has layers of her character that you may know if you try to be closer to her

Pros:
- no stupid humor
- no annoying friends
- story feels real
- LIs are great!
- interesting setting
- good writting
- your behaviour affects dialougues with other characters

Cons:
- animations in first chapters are clumsy
- no routes (so it's basically a kinetic novel with slight variations)
- harem, girls are completely fine with each other, but they should oppose sharing you between them (at least Drana because of her culture and Elara, becaus of her personality )

PS: alien girls are great !

Great setting and idea, horrible execution. You have a manly gruff trained veteran soldier as the MC yet all of the dialogue options are you being a little bitch to these women. The only dialogue choices are going to either be pick the emasculating option and get relationship points with the girls, or pick choices you want your MC to make and get punished by having everyone hate you. Cool game dude. There are also no kinks here or anything like that. You don't get to choose and content for the sex stuff either. Either you want to see it or you don't, no in-between. Also, for some reason, the game runs like ass. I have an amazing PC yet this game chugs for seemingly no reason. In addition to this, the renders look like they are all in 720p or something and they are grainy and sometimes blurry. Overall, this game is a massive disappointment. Great plot idea and story, horrible execution with no control over the game.

excellent casting. good sex scenes. coherent alien girls behavior. good scenari work, with a good humor dose. the game is pleasant to play.

all that remains is to expand the team of section 2. develop some exotic excursions in the old town, to meet other extraterrestrial ladies. and then, export the armed conflict outside the field of terrestrial protection, on the ships of the Noxas

Played a couple of hours. I am enjoying the story and the universe. The main character is an insensitive asshole making it such a joy to stubbornly revolt with him in a world of sexual and racial prejudice. The girls are kinda cliché, rated from easy to impossible to bang, but who cares - we all know he is going to get them in the end Five stars from me.

Story 4/5
Its a fun story

Characters 5/5
The girls are gorgeous and have their own personalities. How they respond to the MC is interesting.

Graphics 4/5
Great graphics.

Music 3/5
Its about average

Choices 5/5
As the MC/Player they make sense and the story flow is good. I feel like I'm driving the narrative forward and not being railroaded in to choices.

The graphics do look nice
Quite nice!

But then . . . . .. what's with all the thoughts explaining the choices we made.
Chose to be nicer?
(I should be nice to her/respect her) or some bullshit.

I suppose this is one of the first times I see how "saying'" your thoughts is a serious boner killer

I dunno what the og language is for this.
The english is mostly average. Has its moments when it's bad and clearly needs an editor.

I think it's a mistake to "limit" the five 'heroines', as the "extras" are as much or more interesting than some of the main ones...
But even so, the story continues to become more and more interesting...

I kinda did enjoy the story, its a pretty basic sci-fi where MC wakes up 200 years in the future and is for some reason better then anyone else to use mechs due to hes genes or something, so hes the best choice to winning a war against some aliens.

One of my issues is that someone just over used the boob slider on pretty much every LI, its pretty rare to see a 100% big tits fetish game and cant say that iam a fan, they should have made something for everyones taste instend of just a single focus.

Anoter problem is the MC, i kinda liked him and hated him, but ending up hating him most, i liked that he can speak hes mind and call a bitch a bitch that was very refreshing, but hes thought process was to idiotic at times, not just the him thinking about big tits but also hes personalty changes in weird ways and out of nowhere.

Like with Elara, hes hated her from day one and been pissed at her constantly, then he gets stuck in a room with her where its a bit cold which she apprently cant stand, so now MC is forced to go all nude which is stupid on its own, absolutly no need to trow hes dick out in the open infront of a girl he hates, but fair enough he saves her from hugging her sharing bodyheat since hes a good soldier, but this shouldent mean that hes forgiven her in any way.

You got to think about i went all out against her in my playtrough, so MC blames her for getting the one girl he was close to killed or at the very least shes in a coma maybe forever, and shes been treating him like shit none stop, even called the guards on him to take him away, so he really shouldent like anything about her.

It was also weird that he dident speak up at the commanders meeting about MC and Elara when they said "atleast no one got hurt or killed from Elaras mistakes" got to say i was waiting for the option to speak up about the girl that pretty much got killed and is in a coma and the only one MC liked and wanted to be with in my playthrough, but apprently MC already forgot about her, which was very stupid.

Then she shows up in hes room with a bottle of wine or something to thank him for saving her ass and her job which is fine but when you send her away mc thinks "have i done crazy?" "A woman dressed in red, with a stunning neckline and a bottle cognac comes into my room" "and i send her away?" "Not good, not good at all"

It makes 0 sense and its absolutly idiotic thinking that way when he hates her, there is not one good reason for letting her stay and fuck her or whatever would happen, this is where the devs goes very worng thinking everyone loves big tits and expect people to fuck all they can, but game dosent even have a harem tag so you arent even supposed to do that.

Story 3/5
Its not bad but its petty vanilla and nothing you havent seen before, i tried to stay for the story but its wasent really worth it when there arent any LIs that i would ever like.

Girls/Lis 1/5
Well its a big tit fetish game only, and since big tits is just a huge turn-off to me, i cant really invest my self in any of them, i tried going with one that had a fun personality but since pretty much got killed off there was just 0 girls left i would ever touch.

Animations ?/?
Never saw any sex scenes since i dident go for any of them so cant really add or remove points due to that.

Music 3/5
Its about average, nothing special but ok as background stuff.

Choices 5/5
So far ive been able to turn anyone down and nothing has been forced so choices are pretty much the best thing about the game, but it dosent make it more playable.

I would have given it 3 stars but due to how MC thinks and how he just turns around from hating someone to wanna fuck em was in my eyes just to idiotic, so had to remove a star due to that.

This one went under my radar for a bit. Noticed it before, but I thought it was the usual sci-fi harem shit, with one dude and a bunch of chicks on a spaceship or something. While I wasn't completely wrong, I definitely wasn't right either.

After playing the three episodes available, I can definitely say this is far above the average game of its genre. The characters have actual personalities, and those personalities are its best feature. A major problem I have with many of those games is the cardboard characters they have. Here it's the opposite. At first glance you have an ultra-macho MC, a time traveling Vietnam vet, who acts like a caricature of "toxic masculinity". On the other hand you have the usual cast of girls including the dominant bitches, the shy nerds, the slut etc. And yet the more you play the game it inverts tropes, without making fun of them though (just as important). Yes MC is a macho dude who feels like a fish out of water in this progressive and kinda fem-led community. And yet under that facade, we see actual intelligent thinking and some accommodation for different views. To a varying degree since you are still allowed to RP him a bit. Pretending to be a toxic dude just to rile 'em up makes for some of the best dialogue in the game. And the girls have layers too. Getting to know the commanding bitches reveals they are anything but. Often forced to roles they don't necessarily want, when they actually need a man of action like our toxic dude. Without making them useless to prop him up. And more importantly, they aren't just dolls waiting to jump on MC's cock. Sex scenes are earned and seem organic as relationships develop. Unlike most games of that type.

The graphics are very good, and they really fit the sci-fi setting. The girls are gorgeous and for once, we get an interesting male MC model that fits the character portrayed. Too often we have twinks acting like badasses in these games. Here, the dude has the physique to back it up.

If you are looking for the standard pokemon collector shit, full with thoughtless porn, this might disappoint. If you are looking for a child of "Demolition Man" and "Pacific Rim", that happens to have some porn in it, it IS a game for you.

High quality renders with nice characters
Good sci-fi set-up and interesting contrasts between the MC as a Vietnam war veteran and a bunch of post-modern chicks that wage war through computers.
Sex happens when you deserve it.
Animations are the weak point, for now.

The developers obviously have talent but the end result is disappointing.

The story and characters are interesting and have personality. The dialogue has optional selections that are creative, interesting, and funny.

Unfortunately those options are all the wrong answers. The main character, who is supposed to be a tough manly man, is forced to play a lame passive uninteresting character to advance the plot. The interesting situations that he finds himself in are never leveraged into anything. It's like watching a porno where obvious situations should occur but just don't.

Eventually, if you pick enough lame answers, he builds points with the ladies after which he gets to ask them nicely for consent at every step of the way to the point of nausea. Its a game, you don't have to make it like reality. Its just overall very bizarre. You have an attractive man surrounded by attractive women who all just want to lecture him, over and over, well into the story. I'm not saying it has to be written like a porno, but it doesn't have to be written like women don't enjoy sex either.

There are some real missed opportunites for the MC to behave badly, which would really spice up the game. Make them bad endings if you want.

Overall it has a lot of potential but falls flat as an adult game. It starts off as if a male domination game but then starts to feel more like a female domination game. I think this will confuse people especially if they start picking the male domination answers but then never get anwhere with the women and miss out on content.

Other feedback:
The visuals and renders are good. The character details are good.

The story pacing and camera movement during scenes is good.

The grammar and spelling are good.

The amount of content is good but lacking punch.

The dialogue is good but I had to start skipping it because the "correct" answers were all boring.

Fantastic start - I'm adding this to my current watch list. Great Gen-X male personification, and even better post modern feminist "oh shit, the world's in trouble and maybe we do need real men" portrayal - the sexual tension between those two almost polar opposites makes for fantastic humour!