Review for Paradise Lust 2 v0.6.0b:
Overall: 4/5 - This game is simply a continuation of Paradise Lust. Just as with other movies/games/etc., the sequel needs to be better than the original in order to garner reviews that are at least as good. Paradise Lust 2 is off to a great start, and has already made noticible improvements.
Story: 4/5 - The story is set a few months after the events of Paradise Lust. The theme seems to be the MC and his harem of fashion models are starting a porn studio in addition to running the island resort. This made me roll my eyes, but the porn studio hasn't been so much of a focus so far. The characters are getting a lot more depth than the previous game, and the annoying characters from the original game are gone (except for some phone conversations).
Writing: 4/5 - The writing is good. It still uses terms and slang that are going to cause it to become dated too quickly, and it's sometimes way too verbose, but it's engaging and it uses proper English.
Renders/Art: 3/5 - Similar to the original, the art is good, but the art in the regular renders don't always match the animated scenes like they should. There's also the cheap impression from most of the scenes being sprites over a generic background instead of models actually posed with the background. Note that some scenes are actually posed, but they are rare.
Animations: 4.5/5 - The animations go well with the art style, and the idle animations are really nice and help take away some of the cheapness of using sprites on a generic background.
Content: 4/5 - There's a decent amount of content and lewd content. I'm actually surprised that there isn't a bunch of reused content, and that's a good thing. Content quality is the same as the original game.
Gameplay: 3/5 - The gameplay took a big step forward in v0.6.0. Several of the minigames are actually challenging now (there is still a skip option for those that don't want to bother with minigames). Some of the more rudimentary minigames still exist, too (removing vines, matching flowers, and digging through junk) if you liked them. Like the original, there are a lot of choices that appear to have no effect other than to change the dialogue of characters talking with the MC. The island map works really well for navigating the sandbox, but about half of the locations aren't accessible yet.
Sound: 4/5 - The generic background music is better than average. Ambient sounds are mostly good. Some sound effects (e.g., footsteps when walking between areas) that were previously annoying have been toned down.
Bugs: 4/5 - I encountered several bugs in earlier updates, but I haven't encountered any recently. The only bugs that are still there are quest/hint dependencies where the hints will say to do something, but you can't until you do something else, or you can trigger something for a quest that hasn't started yet. Also, the game lets MC chat with some girls to improve their relationship, but it doesn't actually do anything.
Other:
Overall: 4/5 - This game is simply a continuation of Paradise Lust. Just as with other movies/games/etc., the sequel needs to be better than the original in order to garner reviews that are at least as good. Paradise Lust 2 is off to a great start, and has already made noticible improvements.
Story: 4/5 - The story is set a few months after the events of Paradise Lust. The theme seems to be the MC and his harem of fashion models are starting a porn studio in addition to running the island resort. This made me roll my eyes, but the porn studio hasn't been so much of a focus so far. The characters are getting a lot more depth than the previous game, and the annoying characters from the original game are gone (except for some phone conversations).
Writing: 4/5 - The writing is good. It still uses terms and slang that are going to cause it to become dated too quickly, and it's sometimes way too verbose, but it's engaging and it uses proper English.
Renders/Art: 3/5 - Similar to the original, the art is good, but the art in the regular renders don't always match the animated scenes like they should. There's also the cheap impression from most of the scenes being sprites over a generic background instead of models actually posed with the background. Note that some scenes are actually posed, but they are rare.
Animations: 4.5/5 - The animations go well with the art style, and the idle animations are really nice and help take away some of the cheapness of using sprites on a generic background.
Content: 4/5 - There's a decent amount of content and lewd content. I'm actually surprised that there isn't a bunch of reused content, and that's a good thing. Content quality is the same as the original game.
Gameplay: 3/5 - The gameplay took a big step forward in v0.6.0. Several of the minigames are actually challenging now (there is still a skip option for those that don't want to bother with minigames). Some of the more rudimentary minigames still exist, too (removing vines, matching flowers, and digging through junk) if you liked them. Like the original, there are a lot of choices that appear to have no effect other than to change the dialogue of characters talking with the MC. The island map works really well for navigating the sandbox, but about half of the locations aren't accessible yet.
Sound: 4/5 - The generic background music is better than average. Ambient sounds are mostly good. Some sound effects (e.g., footsteps when walking between areas) that were previously annoying have been toned down.
Bugs: 4/5 - I encountered several bugs in earlier updates, but I haven't encountered any recently. The only bugs that are still there are quest/hint dependencies where the hints will say to do something, but you can't until you do something else, or you can trigger something for a quest that hasn't started yet. Also, the game lets MC chat with some girls to improve their relationship, but it doesn't actually do anything.
Other:
- This game looks for saves from the original game and carries over some info, such as MC name. Nice touch.
- The game is about an island resort that earns money from guests. The characters talk about how busy they are dealing with guests, but the game never shows any guests (except for two that are part of the story).