This is a review of My Early Life Episode 3, the fifth game in the CeLaVieGames series. I don't want to be repetitive, so look back at my review of MEL 2 for many details that also apply here.
The episode is splendid. It starts out with a surprise that I certainly didn't expect. It leads off with an event in the Hallway (the only one so far), and you will have to spend the first part of your playing time dealing with it. No way around it. I enjoyed the challenge, and after that, it is possible to proceed with CLVG's specialty, very slow corruption or should I say, liberalization. CLVG puts a fourth FC into the game for a brief interval while all this funny business is going on: it is for a sexy photoshoot, so there is some relief here. After the challenge is resolved, FC18 gets most of the earliest atttention, then it shifts over to FC19, and never gets far with FC20. For FC18 and 19, it is simple homebased attention, but for FC20 the goal, never achieved in this episode, is to liberalize her attire for her job, so she doesn't lose it.
CLVG has used the same tricky methods to make playing into a challenge: events to achieve that require multiple visits to the same time and place, up to 8 as far as I counted. And they are not all actually the same time, they might bounce between times; I don't remember any bouncing between places, except for inventory type situations (buy a gift downtown and give it at home). Fortunately, the highest count one in Ep2 was a weekend only, so it took 4 weeks of gametime to finish it. That doesn't happen in Ep3. The same unpopulated location that gave an event in Ep1 and 2 is here, cooking dinner by the MC, so you have to go to the nav chart and click on an unoccupied location. But CLVG has added a new one: doing laundry alone. Try to find it. There are actually two laundry events, but one is where the MC does something mischevious, the other one is him just being helpful.
It took me 6 hours to finish, without hints, just playing leisurely but attentively. I think this could be cut down if someone wanted to, but why. That's what we came for. I missed 8 events this time: I didn't think there would be an event at midnight, so I missed it, and same with very early morning. The whole daytime schedule is used. I accidentally wasted time by killing the game without making a save just before, so I had to go back over some events, and one during the replay didn't seem to work right and it was coupled with one or two others. Then there was the laundry. The rest were from not going up high enough in the multiple visit count so don't give up too easily. I think with these hints someone could get all 91 by just playing smartly.
There were no bugs that I found which affected game play. Sure there are typos, but so what, they don't slow anything down.
This is really a five-star game, imho, so don't forget to leave a rating if you agree.