Ren'Py - Campus Confidential [v0.21] [Campus Confidential]

  1. 2.00 star(s)

    CoffeeSaint

    [note: this review refers to “Campus Confidential” version 0.13]

    First of all: I agree with some of the previous review’s content, written by Aj Atkinson. If played by the book, this game becomes a solid pain in the butt — a nightmare of boredom.
    When trying it for the first time, I understood that the Dev’s most profane (or stupid, or both) error was to block the player the access to the Rollback feature.

    Further: there’s also a clear lack of information regarding the side mini-games that pervade the main story. From the top of my head I recall:

    1. The Debating mini-game: a Question & Answer idiocy from where the player gathers the Charisma trait. There are 5 general-knowledge questions per debate, and the MC needs to nail them and win at least 10 debates to get the full Charisma trait. The debates occur during the evening, in the Geo auditorium at the Uni from Mon to Fri;

    2. The Arrows mini-game : a Simon-Memory-Type game where the player has to repeat a building sequence of ups/downs/lefts/rights keyboard arrows by clicking on the correct arrows. When winning, the MC improves his Intelligence trait by one point, and again: ten points are required for him to get the full Intelligence trait. The Simon-Memory-Type game occurs in the Uni's Library during the afternoon from Mon to Fri;

    3. The Gym Workout mini-game: the MC runs on a treadmill and the player needs to fast-click (somewhere around 20 clicks) on any area of the game screen in order to nail it. The workout helps the MC to gather the Strength trait, and at least 10 days in the gym are needed to achieve it in full. The Gym Workout mini-game occurs in the gym during the mornings, afternoons, or evenings, seven days a week. A note: a treadmill session costs the MC $50.00;

    4. The Paid-Work (or Clear Away the Rubbish) mini-game: by clearing eight random objects — two water bottles, two broken bottles, two juices packages and two coffee cups (the rubbish) — the player gets a total of $40.00, or $5.00 per object. The Paid-Work mini-game occurs in the Liquor Store during the mornings, afternoons, or evenings, seven days a week.

    There are other games that help improving the story; yet, these four mini-games are obligatory.

    (My apologies if I forgot anything)

    ABOUT THE GAME MECHANICS

    It is mostly pretty straight forward. After playing the game once you should get the hang of it.

    The cellphone on top-right corner of the screen holds girls’ messages as well the MC’s stats and the game’s hints.
    There’s a Config area as well; this allows the player to unlock the game’s cheats.
    I didn’t get any bug or exception while playing the game, so it seems solidly coded.

    Now: Money and the Rollback feature are a must-have, otherwise “Campus Confidential” becomes boring and nearly unplayable.

    In order to unlock tem, I used Ox52’s Universal Ren'Py Mod URM — which can be downloaded from this link.

    If you do so, search for a couple parameters/variables — _config.rollback_enabled and cheats_locked — and change them to:
    Code:
    _config.rollback_enabled — True
    cheats_locked — False
    This shall allow you to change the amount of money you have — access the cellphone's config section and click on the “Get Rich” button to easily find an extra $1,000,000.00 in your pocket — as well as to Max MC’s stats.

    save both as variables in case you want to revert their values.

    ABOUT THE GRAPHICS

    In general, they could be improved. There’s a flair of nostalgia imbued into them, as if the game takes place sometime during the 50s.
    Some of the girls are cuties, some others are curvy, but I didn’t find any stunning hottie in the game.
    Yet: if you like them young, there are some cutesy NPCs around campus, so I hope the Dev will make them available for fun in a future update.
    The only sex so far — Vanilla HJ and Vanilla BJ — occurs with the Asian Masseuse in the Spa. But they come with a price: $50.00 and $100.00 each, respectively. And if you're a fan of masturbation, the MC can smack the schlong while laying on his bed.

    ABOUT THE MC

    The MC is a feeble and petulant dude who carries a horse-sized schlong and is definitely not cut out for College life. He resembles a 13 y.o. nerd who would do a lot better as a brainless Middle School kid or a moronic High School Freshman.

    GENERALLY SPEAKING — TL|DR

    I believe there’s plenty of room for improvement, but the game's main idea is there.
    Despite this awful vibe I get from the MC — a feeble and weak douche — this is actually a fun game. If the MC grows a spine and gets into the panties of some of the Campus' girls, “Campus Confidential” should become a good experience.

    Thanks for reading.
  2. 2.00 star(s)

    Aj Atkinson

    Despite the good story idea of the game at the beginning, the player is faced with many repetitive actions that are not immediately clear to the player. Not only the characters are drawn very unattractively, but also the interiors of the rooms resemble some post-war premises and not a student dormitory, it's a complete horror! The artist either has a very bad idea of how people live and learn, or he simply has a mental disorder that he wants to convey to the players!
    If you don't want to "earn" 20 bucks in the game, but want to immediately add money in the game through the editor of saved games, then don't even dream - such a game will simply not load afterwards. The same will happen to you if you try to add money through the console. This immediately repels even those who wanted to give this "game" a chance... Let the author play himself first and bring the game to order.