After 5+ years, Illusion finally released an actual game. A game(series) that they should have chased after, they've done quite a lot on it.
The concept(Artificial Academy 1) clearly shows. Then AA2 comes and just makes it better, having the teacher role, mod support, actual sandbox style with some incentive of being an actual student by taking part in classes and club. It is small, but the concept is clearly shown. Every character's personality is unique(in AA2), their poses, expressions, Intimate mode(sex) poses. It is what Sims could have been, if every character was unique. It clearly shows how each personality differs, even slightly and behind the scenes.
Having played so much of AA2, it is always a joy to watch the artificial japanese class world. The negatives are more for the lack of immersion, as the game clearly targets a male protagonist and uses a lot of neutral words, so you never know if they address you as a man or a woman. It is a big concept being able to play as a girl in such a sandbox world.
Now comes Summer Vacation(SV). I truly feel it compliments AA2, it isn't AA3, but l could say it is a Remake. It complements AA2. After all those years, they released something that has potential and it is interesting.
Most of Summer vacation is similar to AA2. But not everything, though.
The music is lacking, annoying so I muted it. AA2's music is more unique, even to the main menu(there is even a modded personality that hums the main theme motif).
There are no male personalities(no voices), which is a shame they didn't go full route.
The game still uses neutral words, probably because it would take more voice lines for each character if you played a boy or girl.
They have less "Eccentric" personalities, unlike AA2. AA2 had a real anime feel to it, some personalities like "playful,creepy,quiet" are truly hilarious because of their One-liners.
The game feels lacking; AA2 gave you a purpose, but this one feels empty. Yes, you can have relationships with everyone, like in AA2, however, there is no Teacher role. The young with the older type of relationship, or the “forbidden relationship”.
I really wished they used a “Senior” role(like (like the teacher role) for each of the part-time jobs. Café owner, Senior Lifeguard(or coach), and senior shrine Maiden.You get the point. It would spice things up than just people having a summer vacation.
Other than that. For a Unity game, on my PC which is weak and AA2 runs worse than SV, it runs pretty well. The map loading screens and interruptions are the main problems, it isn't as simple as just enabling "Cheat options" like AA2(AA2 is simple) had.
But at least, the game has more unique interactions, and it even has a proper futa, proper 3P system(Which is a bit of a pain to acquire), along with dialogue and the inner thoughts of your lover(Futa girls acknowledge their status).
For people who know AA2 pretty well, will of course know what I did miss or imply, who knows, knows.
But for those who have never played AA2, this game is a good start(as AA2 can be scary to some) to enjoy the unique gameplay of a Sandbox, simulated Japanese world. There is nothing like it, really.
I am sure, it can be done better though, both for AA2 and SC. But I sense the developers are “afraid”, they don't push for creative and wild ideas(like the ones from the 90s and PS2 era). So these 2 games feel like a small bite.
The reason it is so good is that it gives a reason to have sex. All intimate(aside from the "forced" interactions) acts are romantic, one on one, with the wild 3P thrown in the mix. It works great. And if the game combined gameplay elements from legendary games, it would truly sell and succeed.
I learned a lot of concepts to take from here(to create a game) but it all shows in the action scene and not the speech scene.
Try it, learn it, and love it. Maybe one day we will surpass Illusion "cowardliness" in making full, unique games and not taking bites of them when it clearly shows they can do more, even a tiny bit more.
I like the game just like AA2, they are obvious differences if you played both of them but you get the feeling( like I did), that both games give you the same feeling.
). With a modern art style I'm buying it.
