VN - Ren'Py - Race of Life [Ep. 3.1 Extra Fix v3] [Underground Studio]

  1. 5.00 star(s)

    desmosome

    [Ep. 1]

    This is it boys! This might be the next big one to shoot up fast if the development doesn't stagnate.

    This dev duo shows competence in all the areas of development. They also show broad knowledge in various fields that are explored within the story. I was constantly impressed while playing this first release. The episode is very meaty and has enough content for an accurate review.

    The visuals are top notched. The render quality and models are great as anyone can see. That's not too unique these days, but the camera angles, simulated movement during conversations, and expressions are also quite immersive.

    One thing I have to specifically mention in regards to the visuals is the noticeable effort in fitting the clothing on them DAZ boobs. As we all know, "boob socket syndrome" is a condition affecting so many chicks in this industry. It requires extra effort to remove this absurd condition from DAZ autofit, so props to them. The only negative thing I can say about the visuals is that the 7 year old daughter has a grown woman's head pasted on a child's body. She looks more like a small person than an actual child.

    The sex scenes are excellent. It fits my definition of a perfectly executed scene in a DAZ game. The situation is sufficiently erotic. There is nice lead up to it. There is sufficient sex dialogues that run alongside the animations. There are multiple positions and smooth animations. The scenes have a nice flow to it.

    The coding, aka choice and impact when it comes to VNs, is done very well. There are enough calls for variables and flags to keep the story consistent with the choice the player makes. It could be flavor text or slightly bigger variations, but there is enough there to keep the player engaged without bloating the project with route creep.

    Now the most important aspect. The writing. Overall, I'd say it's excellent, but it's not without its flaws.

    First, the characters are extremely well realized. We see their personality, motivations, and values through mostly natural interactions and conversations. I say mostly because the dialogues can get a bit heavy on the "witty banter" stuff that can be a bit grating if you are a grump like myself. Still, the actual interactions between these characters seem genuine.

    As for the actual plot, this is where I could make some critiques. It doesn't quite land on a consistent tone and focus. Each segment being explored is very convincing on its own, but it just lacks that little bit of extra polish to tie everything together in a smooth narrative.

    We have the porn adventures of a college professor. There are college thots he can perv on. There is a sweet but clingy English professor "kinda gf." This segment plays like a typical porn thing. Then there are the bits about his daughter and wife. This relationship is explored extremely maturely. This segment is incredibly grounded and honestly makes for some amazing drama about divorced parents. Then there is some incredibly well researched medical segment that morphs into sort of a sci-fi thing. There is a bit of mystery/thriller thing going on too. Then there is the titular action packed racing stuff.

    Obviously, stories rarely follow only one single genre or tone. Mixing drama, action, and comedy is nothing new. It's just a bit jarring when we go from incredibly emotional and serious drama involving the wife and daughter to a bar where the MC is shooting the shit with his buddy, cracking jokes, making puns, and banging a random chick.

    All in all, this is definitely an "Excellent" VN. The flaws I mentioned are more than covered by the overall quality of the game. You really can't ask for much more than this when it comes to a DAZ game in the broad "non-fetish based story" group.
  2. 5.00 star(s)

    Obanama

    Very strong start with some pretty good writing and characters, renders are top notch and fitting this many animations in ep 1 is quite impressive. I can't wait for next update and would recommend giving it a try, especially if you like cars.
  3. 5.00 star(s)

    Freki.g

    I agree with the best reviews, one of the best few around.

    Phenomenal start, but the enthusiasm to follow it will depend on the update times which if too late / sporadic will not allow to follow it, like other rare good games in this forum for which hopes have been lost.

    It lacks accumulation / tension to make the approach to the present sex scenes exciting, it would be perfect if made also in function of the latter aspect, however I rate it the best both for the story and for the static and animated art.
  4. 5.00 star(s)

    Guktar13

    Excellent start. Hope things continue this way in the future. Interesting story and nice characters, renders, animations, etc. I'am fairly impressed with the visuals. Look promising and have potential.
  5. 4.00 star(s)

    1steverogers

    REVIEW OF V0.1 - Very Promising

    Lets start with the best bit of praise right off the bat.... for a 0.1, this has a lot of content... i would say around 1.5/2 hours play time with decent lewd content which is excellent for a first release.

    Characters are well drawn and the animations are good aswel... this all bodes well for a really good VN

    Falls Short of a 5* as the early releases can always be improved... some of the dialog is a bit wordy, the mobile phone convos dont seem to have any impact on the story regardless of options chosen and the MC's best mate is frankly a bit of an arse...

    But other than that, i cant really place any negatives here. The story is different compared to other games... very fast and furious vibes, Models seem fairly unique and the game is very playable.

    Biggest compliment i can give here, is if the next update doesnt take forever to arrive (ie: nice regular updates planned) i will probably subscribe officially to the dev.
  6. 5.00 star(s)

    Cirilla1253

    Pretty great story so far, and it is only chapter 1! Getting into details, if you are looking for a game with a well created pace, interesting and believable characters, nice looking girls and a great future ahead, get into this one. It truly is too early to say if the game will maintain its wuality, but it certainly deserves 5 stars.
  7. 5.00 star(s)

    avent0001

    Ep3:
    Still think there´s too many LI. The dev should really edit the dialogue for those cheating Veronica. Also for the non cheating ones: We go from "on the fence" to "madly in love" too fast.
    Ex-wife route on par with the very best on porn games. Keep it going.
    Ep1:
    This one is very nice. It´s gonna be about street racing and making money. The part where you´re an (almost) college professor and you do street racing is a bit iffy and also the guy is applying for grants and we never get a hint that he ever works on the research... but whatever.. the rest is ok.

    Some random thoughts about the ladies and future:

    - 4 of the women are nicely introduced to the story, they each have their place: ex-wife, co-worker- neighbour and student. Don´t know why Jasmine comes up at 2 places, Natalya´s introduction is also poor. Both these women feel forced into the story.
    - Dont know what Jasmine was doing at the races. Did i skip a part?
    - we already have 6 women that will surely be LIs, the doctor will be one too for sure... too many? Are we gonna have 30 chapters? Choose 3 or 4 and make it count, you dont need more LIs. Add 30 one night stands for the wankers. Or do 30 LIs and do a harem game, wich would be a pity because Ch1 could be the basis to something great.
  8. 5.00 star(s)

    Rannell

    FMS such a good start. Animations are absolutely amazing. Renders are as well. Story is really good. Models are absolutely gorgeous.

    A little above my head as I don't understand mechanese. Learning new things with an AVN, who would have thought.

    Now if the creator can solve the problems that have plagued other attempts we will be golden.
  9. 5.00 star(s)

    Deleted member 4923166

    Really enjoyed this game so far. The story is intriguing, the characters are attractive and there is enough going on to keep you entertained. I never felt myself skipping dialogue because I was bored. Looking forward to the coming chapters.
  10. 5.00 star(s)

    sunaboz

    Most impressive debut I've seen. Renders and animations are top-notch, the story and writing are superb (which is extremely rare in games like these), there's a right mix of humour and drama in it and all in all I can't find even a single flaw. Characters are interesting too, they behave like real characters and the game feels more authentic than your usual erotic game where porn logic is a prime directive.

    Pros:
    + Renders, sex scenes
    + Variety of beautiful women to play with
    + Very good writing
    + Perfect mix of humour and drama
    + Interesting premise
    + Meaningful choices
    + Interesting and believable characters
    + For a 0.1 release it's very long
  11. 5.00 star(s)

    Kuokaman

    Episode 1 is quite long.
    When a good graphic designer meets a good writer a great game is bound to happen.

    Overall Rating:
    853​
    per 1000Great
    CATEGORYIMPACT ON RATINGPOINTSMAX POINTSComments
    1. Graphic10%95100
    1.1 Faces3%1010Perfect (mabe the jap student looks a bit too cartoonish)
    1.2 Bodies2%910-1 point for Veronica ass during sex scene - it looked unnaturally fat and ugly
    1.3 Background, details5%1010Perfect, there are some good animations too
    2. Female characters20%90100
    2.1. Attractive girlfriend (or best option)8%1010Veronica now but probably can choose someone other later in tha game
    2.2. Attractive Female Characters (AVG)4%1010Ex-wife and neighbours 10/10; Students are less attractive (I hate tattoos) but there is a girl for every taste.
    2.3. Many female characters to choose from5%810You meet 6 love or FWB interests and some other attractive women.
    2.4. Personality of female characters3%910The women feel like a real persons with each having her own mindset.
    3. Plot20%92100
    3.1. MC personality (best option)4%910MC resembles a bit the protagonist of Californication.
    3.2. Not boring7%910Very interesting and creative non-banal story but a bit too much technic jargon & male-only dialogues
    3.3. Realistic4%910I don't believe that you can earn 5M$ on street racing and the therapy is abit too far-fetched but all the other action seems quite plausible
    3.4. Well written3%1010The dialogues are natural and the story unfolds in a good tempo, the language is very sophicticated.
    3.5. Non-sexual content2%910There's a bit of everything: college, car racing, family drama.
    4. Mechanics40%75100
    4.1. Large number of decisions5%710Quite many.
    4.2. Meaningful choices, separate story lines10%510The interaction with girls can be different but no paralell paths in the story so far
    4.3. MC Character Building6%810You can choose if you want MC to be an asshole or a nice guy but there's no any open character point system
    4.4. Can choose relationships & sex10%910In theory MC has a girlfriend but it's not anything serious and so far you can avoid her if you want
    4.5. Relations building5%710You can develop some better or worse relations with women through your choices but there's no any open relations point system
    4.6. Smooth navigation ( no sandbox, puzzles, mini-games)3%910Only the texting requires a bit of clicking.
    4.7 Point of View2%810Mainly the world is seen by MC only but unfortunately sometimes you learn the thoughs of other characters and see the scene not with MC eyes but like there was a camera.
    5. Sex10%82100
    5.1. Preferable Content6%710Nice regular sex so far.
    5.2 No Disgusting or Unwanted Content4%1010No repulsive kinks.
    See my VN games ranking on: https://vnrank.blogspot.com/
  12. 5.00 star(s)

    sunqian3000

    Great game ! This game makes up for NFS's regret ! The picture quality is high and there is excellent animation . As long as the author does not do some strange manipulation for income, it is a very collectible work .
  13. 5.00 star(s)

    Deleted member 2030943

    I'll keep this simple as to why I think this deserves 5 stars so far:
    1. Good story with well thought out plot.
    2. Writing and grammar is good.
    3. Excellent render quality.
    4. Nice animated sex scenes.
    5. Good looking cast of characters.
    Bonus for having some naughty girls, but maybe that's subjective. One thing I'm not a fan of is one of the planned tags "blackmail" but we'll see how that goes. I haven't seen very many AVN's where the blackmail didn't make me eye-roll.
  14. 5.00 star(s)

    Dqslime

    I beta-tested this game and even before it was refined it was incredibly well-made. The renders are high-quality, the concept is unique, and the story (apart from slight grammatical errors) is incredibly well-written. I can't wait to see the finished product.
  15. 5.00 star(s)

    MississippiQueen

    A very strong start. Excellent models and animations. The stories of the characters and the story of the game are tremendous. I can already sense that the story will go much deeper in the future.

    It's a pretty long first chapter. It far exceeded my expectations. I will be looking forward to the updates of the game.

    Good luck to the producers...
  16. 5.00 star(s)

    doc-jones

    This might be the best first episode to a game I've ever played, recency bias aside I am really excited for the future of this project. I cannot wait to play more and get into the meat of the game, and explore what looked like a time jump at the end of chapter 1.
  17. 5.00 star(s)

    JLP603

    Strong start. Graphics look good, UI is good, models of the girls is good. No Spelling mistakes and no engrish. Plot makes sense or doesnt break my suspension of disbelief has emotional momments and a likeable mc. Gives me the same feelings as artemis had from the first release. Which is to say has the potential to be one of the greats! Giving it 5 stars for now to encourage others to try it and for the dev to not abandon the project
  18. 4.00 star(s)

    rafaaa

    Renders are good and the story is good too, there is that time skip on how to get money to save the daughter to the race with jasmine there (i dont know if chapter 2 the dev will tell how jasmine know about the race and to help to get money). Hope the future updates we get more choices for story and for races, hope more choices matter and have impact on the story and the relations with the girls,hope to see more girls,hope not all girls arent slutty. The game has potential to be a good game but the dev needs to know what story he want to tell and not get lost and always remember the choices with impact in everything.
  19. 5.00 star(s)

    Ashley young

    Story - 4/5
    Renders - 5/5
    Lewd Content - 5/5

    Excellent start to the VN. I am honestly surprised by the amount of content, current version has around 1.5 - 2 hours of content. The story flows well and I did not really notice any spelling or grammatical mistakes or any errors in general.
    The characters are also well written and look hot. And most important of all, the MC is likeable and acts like an adult.
  20. 5.00 star(s)

    windshowling2

    This game has the chance to be one of the top 3DCG games out there.

    Gorgeous women, hot animated sex scenes, and an interesting and unique story in a lot of aspects. Looking forward to this games development!

    Also cars go Vroommmmmm.