This is an excellent game with some really funny moments, if you can get past the visuals. There are some great references to other AVN's and to loads of movies. To be fair, the look of the characters makes it a 4 to 4 1/2 VN rather than 5 stars but I enjoyed the story so much, its still 5 stars for me.
The downsides are the visuals, with three related problems:
1) The characters look is done with a 'heavy / strong style' with prominent features, chin, cheeks and brow ridges, lots of muscles on arms and legs creating strange shapes under clothes on female characters in all the wrong places. Kayla particularly has an odd combination of shapes in her body. Her hips to tits ratio just looks all wrong? I know she meant to be a fitness enthusiast and take after her father who is very heavily muscled but she never looks right to me, particularly side on. Then added on top there's lots of make up, some tattoos and dyed hair. Its up to you whether you like it but its a strong look and to me isn't something that appeals. This sadly makes it easy to turn down some of the LI's. As virtually everyone looks like this, it's like this VN is set in a different, almost cartoony, world to me. Where everyone lives on a diet of junk food and coffee but everyone is strangely ripped!! It such a shame as the dialogue is very good and very much this world.
2) The expressions on faces are sometimes incorrect or too expressive at times and seem over the top and sometimes comically bad. The characters do improve as you go through the story and some of the new characters look better but it is the weakest aspect of the VN. So many characters often have the "I'd like to lock you in my basement... lets go outside and get in my creepy van" expressions on their faces (the ticket guy at the waterpark, the first major-domo you interview or the hostess at the barbeque restaurant, when she starts talking). Alternatively faces can be over expressive of emotion such as the cougar teacher, making it hard to enjoy the hotel bedroom scene or Kayla's (over?)reaction to things early on in the restaurant and hotel. They can have the wrong expression at the wrong time in the story, throwing you.
3) The images vary in quality with some really grainy images, particularly in the coffee shop. Also, why do the MC's eyes look dead and black in some scenes and bright blue and alive in others? The blue eyes soften the face, the black eyes are dark and sinister affecting the mood of scene unintentionally.
Overall, I got used to how everything looks but you do notice it at times and lose immersion. For example you often have one character say to the other "wow, you are incredibly beautiful" it really brings it home that they really aren't. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I really wonder if the dev likes how they look and thinks they are beautiful.
For me, most of the LI's, looks range from okay, to disappointing, to odd. In some VN's you can say this makes it feel more real but in this case the characters border on strange. Bizarrely some of the side / background characters in the same scene can be better looking than the main characters suggesting some strange choices were made. Such as the opening scene in chapter 1 set in the MC's past at the garage. Personally I think Mindy (design unaltered by the dev?) is much better looking than Sharron, (altered by the dev in the heavy / strong style?) MC's ex and Kayla's Mom. Another example with more detail is at the barbeque restaurant Jackie v Mina the waitress. Yes, I appreciate Mina is younger and Jackie is a construction worker, but I get the impression Mina is a stock, unaltered typical VN character in face and body with changed hair colour but Jackie's face and body look deliberately altered to me to create the "heavy / strong style" the dev wanted. Personally, I prefer Mina's look but is it just me? I just prefer the more natural look. To me Jackie is okay looking but Mina is beautiful, even if she does have some strange (wrong?) expressions on her face in certain frames in this scene and I'm not a fan of her hair. The option was there but the dev chose to go this way. Why??? This really could be one of the best games around if the dev could either get some help with or a different opinion on how the characters look and express emotions. I presume the dev prefers the look but this has possibly stopped the VN from reaching a wider audience. If you here to fap you will probably move on quickly as soon as you see how everyone looks in the first chapter. There just not enough visually to hold you. Even if you do go with an LI, the bedroom scenes are very short, often with very odd "O faces". Sad you'll miss out on a brilliant VN.
Finally, I am surprised given the name is UC8, or University Cinemas 8, how little content there is so far in the cinema but it is increasing as we go as I have enjoyed what we have seen so far. We skipped over a lot in the UC30 with a montage which I think could have helped give the novel more impact and some fun, before we get into the more emotional storyline of MC's estranged kid(s). The storyline in the cinema is interesting. It's something I've seen only seen once before in a VN (does the phantom shitter strike here too?). I would be more interested in finding out more about this than the typical military backstory that is focused on early on, that so many VN's seem to have. The interview process for getting a cinema job is hilarious. Are you a nutjob? No, you're hired! Judging by my local cinema, this could be correct. On the upside, it is great to find a good guy who does the right thing without hesitating. He treats people the right way, particularly the staff at the cinema and at home, rather than the usual exploitative sh*tbag that justifies his actions to get his own way, as in so many VN's. The story does have quite a few "I can't believe how easily that worked out" moments so if you believe that if a character isn't suffering strife and hardship, its not a good story then this will probably not be for you. If you don't care about this, just sit back and enjoy.
