Game: Knockout Master
English:............6/10
User Interface:.....5/10
User Experience:....6/10
Art:................8/10
Dialogue:...........4/10
Story:..............2/10
Opinion:............2/10................
Avg:..............4.71/10 [2.35/5]
Way back when this initially came out I tried it. From what little I remember, not much has changed outside of adding that DUMB, USELESS feature that is a phone. Do you know what your poorly translated, boilerplate story, fedora wearing MC game doesn't need? A useless phone that is just a stand in for the pause menu. Either make the pause menu a phone, or better yet, don't bloat out the game with a phone that does nothing but say "You did the only thing you could do, good job!" Rant aside, yes, this is a barely passable translation, with milquetoast interactions, an MC that reads like a cringey nice guy "Just ditch the job and live in my mansion because boxers are so wealthy and you don't need to be an independent woman, just drop the act and fulfill my desires." Only make that sound a little more robotic because it should be google translated. This game also overuses the one ImageDissolve they have constantly. Use a 'fancy' dissolve to change scenes, not randomly during a conversation. It honestly feels like for every .1% of effort that a dev puts into UI, aesthetics, or animated sex, the story and dialogue get worse and worse. You cannot tell me that ANYONE has ever talked to another human being the way these robots interact with each other. And you can't tell me "Chill it's just porn" No. if it was just porn, just make sex animations. Don't waste people's time with a story that if it was a soup it'd be boiled ice.
So lets get through the story. MC had rich parents and wants to box. The end. He has a FWB named Leah and wants more but likes how things are. She obviously wants a relationship because subtlety doesn't exist in this world, but also is a bottom bitch cuckquean that want MC to have other girls too. Every character you meet belts out their innermost personal desires and thoughts at that exact moment. My little "Nice guy" speech in the intro paragraph is an actual event that happens with Leah right away. And she counters it by saying she wants to be independent but wants sex. Do not get me started on the sex talk, it is laughable at best. It almost reads like terms and conditions it's so dry. After date night with Leah, MC meets Alice. A damsel in distress that as of that moment literally has no home, job, ID, or life of any kind and falls right into MC's lap. She's a blank slate and now her only existence is thanks to MC. It's a little weird. They have breakfast and when MC asks about her she says nothing about herself, just that she quit a job. And they have this so in-your-face psychology where MC has this monologue about how he loved his dad but they only spent time together watching boxing. So she chimes in with "Maybe that's why you wanna be a boxer!" And he says "Hmm never thought of it that way." Who COULDN'T come to that conclusion? No one was smart. I'm pretty sure a trained bird could make that assumption. And her retelling how she was attacked reads like a court statement. It's pretty fresh, she should be shook up and dishevelled. And the whole time MC just comments like "I would NEVER leave a woman to fend for themself. Your Ex is a coward and dumb and not as cool as me." Then before the fight, MC goes to sleep. I want to point out this is day two of the story and MC has gone to sleep at least three times. Time can just pass, MC doesn't need to sleep. And Alice, his now captive, wakes him up before the big fight interjecting with I'm assuming it's supposed to be alluring talk wanting to "connect" with him. And MC robotically blurts out he wants one special person, so she equally robotically says "That could be me *twiddles fingers*" If I rub my temples any harder I will poke a hole in my brain I'm so frustrated by this writing. I'm still in the first "round" and already have this nightmare of a paragraph, to whoever reads this, I'm sorry lol.
Onto the first fight. Once again, every character you meet has to verbally solidify MC's importance to their lives. And not even just to him, each other as well. You meet his manager and they gush how perfect MC is almost completely instead of introducing themselves. If you need to be coddled this hard, I honestly feel bad for you. MC's first opponent even looks like he's in a weightclass or two below him. You know what would make this story even remotely better? Doing the opposite. Make MC have a tough fight, seeing as he's had his life handed to him on a silver platter. But no, two punches thrown. I'm honestly surprised MC got hit at all. Alice rewards him with breakfast for dinner. Partly Im assuming because they had like cooked chicken for breakfast. It's all backwards in this world. Then MC "Um Actually"s Alice when she says he's rich. Bro, we DO NOT care about how little you don't wanna be called rich. You're rich, shut up. And Alice doesn't want to be called a gold-digger to which he replies "I would NEVER" YOU DO NOT KNOW THIS WOMAN. She was robbed, coulda been staged, and nothing else. This simp/white knight attitude he has is laughable at best. Then, the issues in writing don't stop there, Alice's ex somehow shows up to MC's house and begs for her to come back. MC continues to buy her stuff(expensive cocktail dresses, not actual clothes) and they return home... To continue bashing the ex? To be fair, they were assaulted by two people in the middle of the night, and the ex was chased off. They could have had weapons or even more friends. But now, suddenly, he's this piece of shit that never did anything good? But MC is this altruistic philanthropist that could never harm a woman. Also he's rich and a great boxer(as long as the other guy is 50-100lbs lighter than him) Come on.
Then at the bar, suddenly Liam is a drug dealing kingpin that beats his girlfriend and she's aware that he was gaslighting and manipulating her. You know, things that you'd need YEARS of therapy to discover. Nope. She knew all of that was happening to her and just let it happen. She also said "I was completely reliant on him" You know, exactly what's happening with MC? He is now her home, provider, job, and wallet. Leading to a week long time skip saying "MC and Alice hung out and got closer." YOU the READER still know nothing about this woman. You know more about Leah and she solely exists to be a sex scene and facilitate a harem. Nothing happens until MC gets attacked by Liam, the ex. SUDDENLY Alice is so distraught she can't speak. Not when she was about to be beaten and raped. But when MC is bonked on the head. He also got a long running jump before the assault. She'd know his face, being so traumatized, and seen him coming a mile away. But no, Liam teleports to hit MC. Then, as per usual, the game stagnates. Between the attack and end of "season 1" three things happen, Alice is or isn't pregnant based on your choice, you finally meet Violet, and Rose dumps MC. The rest is N O T H I N G. Some fights that are nothing more than 4 images going back and forth. MC gets dizzy due to a head injury and because Rocky had it, it's gotta be in this. Oh, and that useless phone mechanic eventually halts the game to read text messages that take over a minute to get through. Fun. If my review ends here, it means "season 2" is more of the same and I chose not to continue ranting.
All I have to say about season 2 it's a slog to get through with all the hard pauses added. That and every time there IS a hard pause the cutscene is hilariously grainy and we wouldn't notice if we could skip them. No one needs a "Two Weeks Later" wipe with baby's first tree in blender taking up the screen. Or an establishing shot of a dumb coffee store. Also, it's been two weeks but Alice has a baby bump. Why? But really, nothing happens, outside another attack that puts Mike in a hospital. THAT should have been the end of season one for a much better cliffhanger. But no. And 'round 12' is SUBSTANTIALLY longer than all the rest, at least it felt that way. If that is to be justified, the writing HAS to get better. If I want to waste my time doing nothing, I'm better off watching paint dry.
The English is almost there, I guess. The UI is partially customized, and the UX is cut down a bit from the dumb phone gimmick. The art is decent. Some grainy renders and stiff faces, but not bad. The dialogue is brain dead robotic, and it's written like some red-pilled fedora wearing women hater, I don't think anyone should hold it in high regard. And the story doesn't exist. Stalker ex that's suddenly a crime boss wants MC dead in S2 because S1 was so boring and empty. Woohoo. The Dev also discovered how to add shitty hard pauses in season 2 so you have to see the non-animations static on screen for however long each one is. But No one wants that. If it's a fully animated cutscene with dialogue and effects and effort, sure, I'd get that. But in-between frames and transitional movement? Stop. Whoever writes this needs to not. If this is a solo dev, fire yourself from writing and find someone else because this is just bad. If you enjoyed it, great, if you're reading this before you play, run, if you made this story, do better.