FULL DISCLOSURE: I had a previous review, but, after some thought and replaying a bit of the game, I decided to change some of my opinion and the add a star to the score. (3 to 4)
TL;DR Sugar Style is a very sweet (lol) VN that that plays with the school theme but thankfully, they are all adults with some life experience. The MC is super cringe, but he does get better as the route progresses, so, if you want some more SMEE after Making Lovers, this is not terrible.
FULL REVIEW:
After playing Making Lovers, I was in the mood for another slice of life VN and Sugar Style is pretty much more of the same. It leans a lot more into the comedy aspect than Making Lovers, and thus the situations that the MC and the LIs get into are a little more wackadoodle then the more grounded situations from Making Lovers.
THE LIs:
All very sweet and lovable girls. While I have my own preferences, they typically have very nice dialogue and surprisingly (for these games) they seem to carry the humor of the VN a lot more than the MC (we will get to him later...).
For my personal list, here is where I would put them:
1 - Kaname: Honestly, she is probably the best person I would put the MC with considering that all of her dialogue is just so funny and matches well with the overall "humor" the MC has. I also just kinda like the whole kuudere trope, so, she gets my number 1. She is also a very present member in all routes, so I appreciate that she does not just disappear from the VN.
2 - Ichika: While the dialogue and the H-Scenes made me cringe quite a bit (mommy kinks are not my thing) over all, the MC becomes not as bad of a shitter in this one, and I think the whole baker story that comes up in this mkaes this route probably the most solid.
3 - Mao: Very sweet girl, but I think the relationship dynamic was ruined for me when it was clear that she was going to be mean to you for really no reason a good chunk of the route. While she ended up being the most loving, her brand of tsundere kinda turned me off of her character. The route itself suffers from how little development happens for the MC when compared to Ichika's route (He just becomes a random business dude at the end) but, to the routes credit, the MC probably becomes to most mature in this one.
4 - Hare: While nothing wrong with her characterization or anything, the unfortunate thing is that she kinda disappears a lot from the story and her route was the least interesting for me.
THE MC:
He's a massive shitter and he annoys me. While the MC shares similar pervy characteristics from the MC in Making Lovers, this dude takes it up a notch. Imagine being in a room full of virgin frat boys all trying to convince each other that they are all good at sex, and you would get a tenth of the cringe that this guy makes me feel.
However, to his credit, he does show character development during the routes and become a lot more self-aware of his words as he builds these relationships. Some routes are better than others when it comes to that, but, overall, I found it hard to read his lines and even relate at all to why he would think it would be a great idea to attempt to blackmail one of the LIs into going on a date with him since he walked in on her masturbating. He's a shitter, but, at least it gets better eventually.
Overall game:
The OST is nice and catchy and provides decent ambiance to the scenes. If you liked Making Lovers' music, you will like this, although, I will say, Making Lovers' h-scene music blows everything else out the water.
The side characters are decent enough, but your guy friends share similar issues with the MC. Sex-crazed, and cringe, but at least you don't interact with them all the time. On the other hand, the two other female characters that you don't date were actually pretty fun to interact and read about.
The art style is nice, and there are a decent variety of locations and CGs. The only complaint I have is that all the LIs have pretty similar body styles (thin, big boobs, long hair) which is a bit of a disappointing thing consider how Making Lovers felt like the visual components for the LIs were nice and varied (Karen v. Saki for example). However, apart from that, the VN is very nice and colorful with nice details that you can expect from SMEE (moving eyes, plenty of facial expressions)
Overall, if you can get over the initial cringe of the story, you will find a sweet and vanilla experience to fill the lonely gap where your heart should be.
TL;DR Sugar Style is a very sweet (lol) VN that that plays with the school theme but thankfully, they are all adults with some life experience. The MC is super cringe, but he does get better as the route progresses, so, if you want some more SMEE after Making Lovers, this is not terrible.
FULL REVIEW:
After playing Making Lovers, I was in the mood for another slice of life VN and Sugar Style is pretty much more of the same. It leans a lot more into the comedy aspect than Making Lovers, and thus the situations that the MC and the LIs get into are a little more wackadoodle then the more grounded situations from Making Lovers.
THE LIs:
All very sweet and lovable girls. While I have my own preferences, they typically have very nice dialogue and surprisingly (for these games) they seem to carry the humor of the VN a lot more than the MC (we will get to him later...).
For my personal list, here is where I would put them:
1 - Kaname: Honestly, she is probably the best person I would put the MC with considering that all of her dialogue is just so funny and matches well with the overall "humor" the MC has. I also just kinda like the whole kuudere trope, so, she gets my number 1. She is also a very present member in all routes, so I appreciate that she does not just disappear from the VN.
2 - Ichika: While the dialogue and the H-Scenes made me cringe quite a bit (mommy kinks are not my thing) over all, the MC becomes not as bad of a shitter in this one, and I think the whole baker story that comes up in this mkaes this route probably the most solid.
3 - Mao: Very sweet girl, but I think the relationship dynamic was ruined for me when it was clear that she was going to be mean to you for really no reason a good chunk of the route. While she ended up being the most loving, her brand of tsundere kinda turned me off of her character. The route itself suffers from how little development happens for the MC when compared to Ichika's route (He just becomes a random business dude at the end) but, to the routes credit, the MC probably becomes to most mature in this one.
4 - Hare: While nothing wrong with her characterization or anything, the unfortunate thing is that she kinda disappears a lot from the story and her route was the least interesting for me.
THE MC:
He's a massive shitter and he annoys me. While the MC shares similar pervy characteristics from the MC in Making Lovers, this dude takes it up a notch. Imagine being in a room full of virgin frat boys all trying to convince each other that they are all good at sex, and you would get a tenth of the cringe that this guy makes me feel.
However, to his credit, he does show character development during the routes and become a lot more self-aware of his words as he builds these relationships. Some routes are better than others when it comes to that, but, overall, I found it hard to read his lines and even relate at all to why he would think it would be a great idea to attempt to blackmail one of the LIs into going on a date with him since he walked in on her masturbating. He's a shitter, but, at least it gets better eventually.
Overall game:
The OST is nice and catchy and provides decent ambiance to the scenes. If you liked Making Lovers' music, you will like this, although, I will say, Making Lovers' h-scene music blows everything else out the water.
The side characters are decent enough, but your guy friends share similar issues with the MC. Sex-crazed, and cringe, but at least you don't interact with them all the time. On the other hand, the two other female characters that you don't date were actually pretty fun to interact and read about.
The art style is nice, and there are a decent variety of locations and CGs. The only complaint I have is that all the LIs have pretty similar body styles (thin, big boobs, long hair) which is a bit of a disappointing thing consider how Making Lovers felt like the visual components for the LIs were nice and varied (Karen v. Saki for example). However, apart from that, the VN is very nice and colorful with nice details that you can expect from SMEE (moving eyes, plenty of facial expressions)
Overall, if you can get over the initial cringe of the story, you will find a sweet and vanilla experience to fill the lonely gap where your heart should be.
