Preface: When it comes to Adult Interactive Fiction (AIF) I look for more than just masturbation material. I, generally don't even do that. The primary thing I'm looking for is a story that draws me in and makes me care about the characters, first and foremost.
Review for 1.0:
Story: Melody is, by far, the single best AIF visual novel I have ever played. It has a very slow paced story, focusing on the growth of the MC and his student, Melody.
The MC is a thirty-ish year old session musician who has just had a breakup with his girlfriend of ten years, Bethany. After being kicked out of the house, the MC takes his things, including a guitar he gave her as a gift that she never used and stays with a friend of his, Tim, to lay low. The MC lists the guitar online where a woman named Amy quickly contacts him to inquire about it. She is searching for one for her niece, Melody, who has had her guitar stolen by her ex-boyfriend. They meet up and she offers the MC a job as Melody's tutor.
Melody is a 19 year old college student with aspirations of becoming a singer-songwriter. Her mother, Melissa, passed away four years prior and the guitar Melissa gave her is the only thing she had to hold onto. She is a rebellious young woman who is prone to speaking her mind and making things difficult for those around her.
Over the course of the novel, the MC's relationship very slowly goes from student-teacher to being friends to being her manager to becoming her lover. If you want some action quickly, you will not get that here. You slowly grow her trust in you. It would take in the area of five to ten hours to get to the point where he and Melody start exploring their lust for one another and another couple of hours for them to start having sex.
Gameplay: Your progress is measured on a scale of 0 to 400, with seven piano keys being specific points where their relationship changes.during the course of the story, the MC has the option of pursuing a handful of women. Tim's sister, Izzy; Melody's aunt Amy; Melody's best friend, Sophia; the MC's neighbor, Rebecca; and a young woman named Xianne whom he meets during an evening out with Melody. Interestingly, the game sometimes has you making choices for the girls when you are in pseudo-control of them. Examples include Melody taking tests or her choosing to be intimate with Sophia.
I have only ever played through Melody's route so I cannot speak for the other relationships. Regardless, the story is extremely important and highly satisfying to experience.
Visuals: The renders are top notch, in my opinion. The characters look great with the women ranging from large A-cups to C-cups. There aren't any outlandish proportions and the girls feel natural. The MC is of average build. No outlandish penis size, nor is he walking around looking like Adonis. The female characters actually have a wardrobe. Every new day, Melody has a different outfit, as do the other girls. I found this very refreshing and immersive as most VNs have characters wearing the same outfit all game long.
The story is told from a first person perspective for 90 percent of the story, with it moving to a third person perspective for sex scenes, several kissing scenes or when the story pans to sections with the MC not being present. You never see the MC' face with the back of his head or his mouth and chin being all you see. Your romantic progress with Melody heavily hinges on your choices with other women. I tend to always go with the faithful to her route.
Audio: I tend to play video games muted so I cannot comment on it here.
Content; The content is pretty tame with standard stuff being the most common. Male/Female, Female/Female, Male/Female/Female(choice dependent) , Vaginal, Masturbation, Cunnilinguos, Analinguos, Handjobs, Blowjobs and a lot of foreplay. Exhibitionism also happens infrequently. Anal happens extremely late in the story and there is some footplay but that is minor. You have standard positions including doggy, missionary, spooning, cowgirl/reverse cg, sixty-nining and standing.
Overall: Melody is most certainly worth the time for at least one playthrough. I have, personally, played it four times and I love it. The character interaction and build-up is top notch. So much so, that it is the one VN I always have installed. I vehemently encourage you to give it a go, especially if your looking for a story-driven experience. If I could give it more than five stars, I would. It will take some time to complete if you don't skip dialog. If I had to guess, you would be looking at fifteen to twenty hours of story.