VN - Ren'Py - Mech Academy [v0.5.10.1] [Space Samurai Games]

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!

Interesting game. I like the art style, and the setting is right up my alley. I don't understand some of the other reviews. It's a porn game but they get upset at the main character being un-PC? Pray tell, what is PC about porn games? ]

Also, if anything, this game seems to lean far on the side of the feminist history revisionists, where men are allegedly the source of society's ills, and if only women ran things, we'd all be better off and more enlightened. Lol, propaganda at it's finest. Historically, female rulers have actually enaged in more wars, on average, than male rulers. I'm not judging, unlike others, but I have nothing but contempt for an unearned sense of superiority.

So, I took one star off for forcing us into the "woman good, masculine male bad" path in order to get better in-game outcomes, but I overall am very entertained and willing to stick with it. As I progress in the game that may change, but I hope not.

If you like the idea of (as other commenters have said) a cross between Pacific Rim, Demolition Man, with some sex sprinkled on top...check this game out.

The initial story idea is interesting (a bit like Demolition man plus Mechs) but every interaction is tainted by an obnoxious and unlikable MC and none of your options really tone him down. I don't mind the MC being a bit chauvinistic and backwards in certain social aspects but you would think the best soldier would have some brains or common sense.

The creator may think 80's action film characters were like this, but he should probably go back and watch them as only 80's villains cannon fodder thugs were like this (Dutch, Rambo, John Spartan, etc were all very civil)

A few years ago this game would have been a 3.5 however the AVN landscape has moved forward quite a bit not only regarding renders/setups and animations but also story and character writing

The slightly above average render and visual quality keep it from being terrible but the writing keeps it from being average (in comparison to real non milking AVNs) if you want to compare to against every AVN ever instead of its contemporaries you could probably call it average .

I think the story and premise is pretty good or at least standard for a sci fi adventure. It seems like they put a bunch of ideas from different movies and put it in the game.

The renders are good, the girls look great,

Yet the writing is what kills it for me. Mostly when it comes to the MC. He acts like a total douchbag. Almost like a chauvinistic pig. The dialog can make him sound like a guppy or basically an unlikable idiot.

Only time will tell but for now, roleplaying as a douchbag is not on my agenda.

This game has a lot of potentials, and it all hinges on the MC being a very dynamic character, he can lean into his chauvinistic action-hero military man and save the world and fuck bitches at the same time, or he can be a regretful war veteran who does his best to learn what the future has to offer. Personally, I think the game has more depth if he grows as a person while convincing others of his true value.

The girls are all very set in their roles and that's okay, I think my least favorite character is Mei, who throws herself at you and says she loves you within 5 seconds of being alone with you, but I have a feeling that will be explained in the future based on how the Mechs work and how the MC has near perfect synchronicity to the mechs.

All in all, play this game, I think it has a good science fiction story and while the sexual content isn't fully there yet, I feel this game will offer something for fans of pure sex vn's or story-driven vn's!

Very very good game:.great renders, funny story, board selection of girls, each with different body and personality.

Only thing that I dislike is that the funny over-the-top dialogue options always lead to lesser output: you can be and asshole, but to fuck the girls you have to play it nice.. bit sad, 'cause the abusive chooses lead to funny interactions.
So you have to play it twice, one for the fun (lot of bad language, dirty jokes and not politically correct sentences) and one for the sex (be brave but respectful). I would have loved at least in a porn parody game to be an asshole AND get the girls.
But I'm really just trying to find something not perfect in this game.

Played version 0.1.0.
This game is only at the beginning but so far it's an excellent game.

Pros:
The girls are very beautiful:
-Elara is amazing
-Opal, Irina, Lydia are very beautiful
-Mei is ok to good, could be better
The girls have different and well defined personalities and their degree of affection to the MC varies a lot
-from Mei who falls for him from the beginning
-to Drana who hates him immediately
Also the dialog/banter between the girls is interesting, funny and lively and keeps the player engaged.
The story is interesting and provides a good backbone to this erotic game.
The MC has a lot of funny moments when he talks in a non "politically correct" way to the women.

Cons:
Unfortunately, the game punishes the player who chooses those replies for the MC by reducing the points/affection associated with
the corresponding girl.
Also it's not clear which dialog choices lead to more points with the girls, therefore I had to try each one and see their effect on the score.

Recommendations:
Maybe the game should not punish the player who chooses the funny/insulting dialogues for the MC, otherwise why put them there ?
It will be useful to have a mod which indicates the best choice with the girls, so that the player doesn't have to waste time trying each of them.

Conclusion:
It's definitely a 5 star game, it was hard for me to stop playing it when I had to.

A very promising start.

The setting:

The basic premise is that aliens made contact with Earth in search for protection from another alien race, set on conquering the universe. These refugees are eventually accepted by humans for the most part, and they work together towards finding a way to repel the invaders. This initiative culminates in a huge protective shield being cast around the Earth, but some monsters manage to get through, and humanity created mechs to fight them.

The society:

While we have only seen a small part of how this society functions, it currently (as of v0.1.0) seems to be female dominated. All known positions of power are held by them. Common vices like tobacco and alcohol are banned, people don't seem to know that meat is a food, half of the cast seems extremely prudish. Some of the cast view the earlier humanity as primitive and self-destructive. This comes into a huge contrast with the protagonist, who is a soldier from the 70s, although there is at least one character who is as "bad" as him.

The protagonist:

This is probably the most controversial part of the game. He is depicted as an extremely straightforward manly man, who is prejudiced agaisnt women and views them as incapable of holding important positions. His behavior makes sense, considering that the 70s were not known for powerful women in important positions. Additionally all the girls dress provocatively, even for our modern standards, so he thinks that they are sluts that fucked their way to the top. He tends to be overly aggressive, even when choosing the milder options. But keep in mind that some of the cast, especially the vocal ones, are equally offensive and prejudiced against him.

So while this isn't necessarily a "protagonist" problem and more of a "the game has a scenario that includes the two extremes", If you can't stand that type of MC, then you should avoid it for now because despite having some milder dialogue choices, the fact remains. It's obvious that there is going to be a lot of character development down the line, both for him and the rest of the cast. If the last scene of this update is of any indication, the dev has put a lot of thought to how this will play out.

I personally think the protagonist is at a great spot. I expect him to eventually gain more respect for the opposite sex, but he seems to be exactly what this world needs.

The girls:

A fairly diverse and beautiful cast. Everyone reacts differently to the protagonist and they generally have very different personalities. Click the spoiler for a short description.


The visuals:

The game looks very beautiful, the girls are extremely hot. The scenes tend to accentuate the girls' mannerisms with small animations. The sex scenes have a lot of detail, and the animations are great. The only thing that I didn't like was the walking animations. Characters "slide" and it looks a bit clunky.

The sex:

As of v0.1.0 there are 3 sexual scenes. One of them is a full blown sex scene, while the others are a handjob and some foreplay that gets interrupted. I found the scenes a bit abrupt but they are very well made and for the most part they have a reason for being there, augmenting the setting by introducing an element of repression in the society.

The writing:
Way better than average. The story is interesting, the setting seems expansive, the dialogue is appropriate and engaging, even if a bit over-the-top at times. The dev seems to be italian, because the main script is written in italian, but the english are prefectly fine.

Some suggestions:
The game could use some more aggressive music. Currently it has a few mild ambient tracks but I don't think that they do the action/dialogue justice.

While the animations are great for the most part, used to make the scenes more lively and to introduce mannerisms to the characters. However, walking looks like sliding, which is very odd and distracting. To be honest I was surprised that the sex scene animations were so good as I assumed that movement was the dev's weak point.

While you've given the option for the MC to be more mild in his prejudices, some things he says are too offensive for no reason. It doesn't seem like they are important for how the scenes play out, but I think they create some confusion because the player assumes that there exists a possibility for a different outcome. For example when MC returns to base and speaks with Elara, he can leave a fairly good impression. Then during the health examination scene, he goes back into being an asshole, calling her a mutt and later he calls Irina a jester unprovoked. So all in all, it kind of "teaches" the player that the game is supposed to be played a certain way, which again isn't correct, because you can't get the Valentina scene without being a bit emotional/nice.

The verdict:

This game is already in my watchlist. I think from the very first release, the dev showed that he is to be taken seriously. There is a lot of great looking content here, a lot of emotions, good dialogue and an expansive setting that promises an epic story.

Best of luck to the dev.

Surprisingly good. I nice mix of Gil Gerard Buck Rogers with Pacific Rim. I enjoyed it and the premise. DIalog can be kinda stilted... could really use with some going over and polish but the point gets across if maybe somewhat harshly. He'd probably make a better Captain given his experience and maybe less talking about prostitutes all the time. Even for the 70s veteran that probably would have marked him a creep. Good stuff nonetheless, I'll follow it up and look for more releases. Decent art though I'm not a big fan of ridiculously unrealistically large breasts. There's good quality and direction here.

Bumped into the game on steam. So far it's good, very promising. And my favourite theme as well - space, aliens and jada jada.

The game looks like some movie cliche, but damn, that's so funny. A man from the past appears in a future, surrounded by women who believe they can manage without man. It's funny, but in 1970x (where our MC is from) there was actually the opposite believe, male - dominant, female secondary and all that.

Anyway, I understand this is a AVN, but I really hope there will be also funny story besides lewd scenes.

Looking forward to it on steam.

Mech Academy looks great and has a good sci-fi hook with several potential love interests. It's unclear yet if this is a harem style game or has multiple playthroughs.

MC is a chauvinist throwback to old action movie heroes - he's literally called a loose cannon at one point! - but there is some leeway in how he answers and how the scenes play out. I'm expecting him to corrupt the world more than for him to fundamentally change, but I'm interested to see how he develops and how much the different relationship points matter.

It's a bit early to rate this, but the first version has a good amount of story and a couple scenes. It's worth a try.

This game took me by surprise. After the very Japanese opening of aliens and mechs, I was not impressed.
The MC is a common 'pervert', thinking with his dick so as not to overload his two braincells. But he can fight...just as well because he's up against the women's liberation front! Sexless females who think they can live without men...until a male appears and challenges their opinions and beliefs!
I'm totally interested as to where this game goes next!!