Version 0.08.1 Alpha
This definitely went much better than I expected. Academy Live boasts adequate storytelling, interesting characters, comedy and dialogue as well as a nice gameplay experience that balances resource management and choices without getting too convoluted.
Although it is not as famous or well-rated as the other two similar "MC runs schools to corrupt girls" counterparts, I personally felt Live is just as good, if not slightly better.
Story
After getting fired from his teaching job, MC was offered the role of a Chief Academic Officer for a private academy for working adults. Turns out said academy is simply a front to run a reality TV show with hidden cameras for elite subscribers to satisfy their voyeurism on female students.
Thus begins MC's role to facilitate scenarios to corrupt and have sex with the girls in school to pander to the viewing audience. Four students are identified as popular enough to be appointed as main targets and they are basically your main LIs for this game.
A notable observation is this developer is very good at posing and using sound effects to drive home humour and WTF moments. A lot of subtle changes in facial expressions match the dialogue and makes what is essentially a corruption driven story funny and endearing at the same time.
Game Mechanics
It's a creatively blended setup that borrows elements from visual novel choices and resource management without descending into the usual sandbox grind. You mainly juggle between various points like board satisfaction, student trust, perversion, viewership, academy results etc. using a combination of policy setting and in game VN choices.
Many of these choices are similar to the ones found in VN like allowing you to reject side girls, avoid NTR, increase corruption or love elements with the LIs etc. The catch is these choices all come with costs - a lot of times they will result in changes to some points which you will have to in turn find some other way to balance them back.
For e.g. if you choose to reject certain acts with a LI, this will lead to a drop in board satisfaction and viewership which you then have to be more spontaneous on other fronts to compensate and bring these points up to avoid a game over.
Background / Character Renders
Although made with Koikatsu, the character renders are actually quite different from the usual fare made with a similar engine. The character designs are much more intricate and "solid" with an end result that looks like a halfway house between standard Koikatsu assets and conventional anime.
For someone like me who doesn't like Koikatsu, this is a great plus.
Character Development
I wasn't expecting much given the premise of this genre, but am pleased to report the characters are actually very well modelled and multi-dimensional. For a start, MC is surprisingly not a total jerk. Most of the time he does what he needs to do to corrupt the girls and placate the board, but within that he seems to also care about the LIs.
LIs like Emie and Mai are somewhat tropey playing the archetype of the innocent virgin and bimbo respectively, but it's well-executed even for a trope. It doesn't come across as cringey and makes you go "not again".
My initial impression of Izumi is that of the typical nympho nerd you see in AVNs, but turns out the developer assigned this trope to a minor character Yoko instead. Izumi is more of a smart girl who has quite bit of emotional back story and also some perverted kinks which MC gets to unravel as he interacts more with her.
Haruka is a pleasant surprise and highlight of the whole game. She started off playing the usual slut role, the kind writers use to introduce sex scenes early in the game while other LIs are still warming up. But it turns out she has a very robust character build up - funny, quirky, pals with the MC, kinky during sex and even ends up being his co-conspirator in the academy. Most of the comedic moments come from her.
Sex Scene
Impressive for a Koikatsu game - all of them come up adequate sexual tension build up by dialogue, BGM and sound effects. The animations are superb with good camera angles (many scenes have multiple angles you can switch at anytime you want) and the attention to detail especially facial expressions is not something you see often in Koikatsu.
Some of the notable scenes like Emie's deflowering (one of the best virgin scenes I have seen to date), kinky high energy scene with Haruka at home, Izumi's masturbation in the toilet listening to audio erotica and also the domination of Natsuha were fun.
BGM and Sound Effects
There are enough BGMs to fit the mood from serious to funny to kinky. Sound effects are mainly used to drive home certain dramatic scenarios and also sometimes during lewd scenes.
Conclusion
Academy Live is a pretty innovative all-rounder game which you can't tell from the way it's marketed. It features a system that amalgamates macro attributes management with visual novel flow without the nitty gritty micro decisions.
The renders are different from the usual Koikatsu types and should appeal to players who prefer conventional anime. The story is standard for the school management cum corruption genre, but the commonality is more than compensated by good humor, interesting characters and nicely done NSFW scenes.
This definitely went much better than I expected. Academy Live boasts adequate storytelling, interesting characters, comedy and dialogue as well as a nice gameplay experience that balances resource management and choices without getting too convoluted.
Although it is not as famous or well-rated as the other two similar "MC runs schools to corrupt girls" counterparts, I personally felt Live is just as good, if not slightly better.
Story
After getting fired from his teaching job, MC was offered the role of a Chief Academic Officer for a private academy for working adults. Turns out said academy is simply a front to run a reality TV show with hidden cameras for elite subscribers to satisfy their voyeurism on female students.
Thus begins MC's role to facilitate scenarios to corrupt and have sex with the girls in school to pander to the viewing audience. Four students are identified as popular enough to be appointed as main targets and they are basically your main LIs for this game.
A notable observation is this developer is very good at posing and using sound effects to drive home humour and WTF moments. A lot of subtle changes in facial expressions match the dialogue and makes what is essentially a corruption driven story funny and endearing at the same time.
Game Mechanics
It's a creatively blended setup that borrows elements from visual novel choices and resource management without descending into the usual sandbox grind. You mainly juggle between various points like board satisfaction, student trust, perversion, viewership, academy results etc. using a combination of policy setting and in game VN choices.
Many of these choices are similar to the ones found in VN like allowing you to reject side girls, avoid NTR, increase corruption or love elements with the LIs etc. The catch is these choices all come with costs - a lot of times they will result in changes to some points which you will have to in turn find some other way to balance them back.
For e.g. if you choose to reject certain acts with a LI, this will lead to a drop in board satisfaction and viewership which you then have to be more spontaneous on other fronts to compensate and bring these points up to avoid a game over.
Background / Character Renders
Although made with Koikatsu, the character renders are actually quite different from the usual fare made with a similar engine. The character designs are much more intricate and "solid" with an end result that looks like a halfway house between standard Koikatsu assets and conventional anime.
For someone like me who doesn't like Koikatsu, this is a great plus.
Character Development
I wasn't expecting much given the premise of this genre, but am pleased to report the characters are actually very well modelled and multi-dimensional. For a start, MC is surprisingly not a total jerk. Most of the time he does what he needs to do to corrupt the girls and placate the board, but within that he seems to also care about the LIs.
LIs like Emie and Mai are somewhat tropey playing the archetype of the innocent virgin and bimbo respectively, but it's well-executed even for a trope. It doesn't come across as cringey and makes you go "not again".
My initial impression of Izumi is that of the typical nympho nerd you see in AVNs, but turns out the developer assigned this trope to a minor character Yoko instead. Izumi is more of a smart girl who has quite bit of emotional back story and also some perverted kinks which MC gets to unravel as he interacts more with her.
Haruka is a pleasant surprise and highlight of the whole game. She started off playing the usual slut role, the kind writers use to introduce sex scenes early in the game while other LIs are still warming up. But it turns out she has a very robust character build up - funny, quirky, pals with the MC, kinky during sex and even ends up being his co-conspirator in the academy. Most of the comedic moments come from her.
Sex Scene
Impressive for a Koikatsu game - all of them come up adequate sexual tension build up by dialogue, BGM and sound effects. The animations are superb with good camera angles (many scenes have multiple angles you can switch at anytime you want) and the attention to detail especially facial expressions is not something you see often in Koikatsu.
Some of the notable scenes like Emie's deflowering (one of the best virgin scenes I have seen to date), kinky high energy scene with Haruka at home, Izumi's masturbation in the toilet listening to audio erotica and also the domination of Natsuha were fun.
BGM and Sound Effects
There are enough BGMs to fit the mood from serious to funny to kinky. Sound effects are mainly used to drive home certain dramatic scenarios and also sometimes during lewd scenes.
Conclusion
Academy Live is a pretty innovative all-rounder game which you can't tell from the way it's marketed. It features a system that amalgamates macro attributes management with visual novel flow without the nitty gritty micro decisions.
The renders are different from the usual Koikatsu types and should appeal to players who prefer conventional anime. The story is standard for the school management cum corruption genre, but the commonality is more than compensated by good humor, interesting characters and nicely done NSFW scenes.