1. To reiterate, spoilers will be hidden behind spoiler boxes, so feel free to read even if you haven't read the visual novel (just don't click on the boxes if that's the case, obviously). Here is an example box:
This is a test
2. Muv Luv Alternative, as well as its prequel Muv Luv, are mature games for those 18 and over. While this review will not have any explicit content (bar, potentially, a bit of profanity), don't play the game unless you meet the age requirements of the game.
Preamble
This review was originally on another site , but I wanted to repost it here so I can have all my reviews on my blog. Before beginning, let me say that this review was originally just going to be about Muv Luv Alternative. However, because Muv Luv Alternative is part of a trilogy of games, I thought it would be apt to provide a brusque overview of the other two games so people who have never read anything Muv Luv related wouldn't be completely lost.
Brief Synopsis
The Muv Luv trilogy consists of two games made by âge, which are split into three parts. The first game, 'Muv Luv', includes the first two parts called Muv Luv Extra (MLE) and Muv Luv Unlimted (MLU); the second game is the third part and is called Muv Luv Alternative (MLA).
As this blog is going to have a lot of it devoted to visual novels, I suppose I should clarify what visual novels actually are, since many people outside East Asia (primarily Japan where VNs are well known) may not have even heard of them.
A screenshot from the visual novel Rewrite
Classifying whether a game is a true 'visual novel' or only 'visual novel-esque' is pretty subjective, but, generally speaking, VNs are video games with large amounts of text. Usually the text is used in along with both music (sometimes called 'background music' or BGM) and 2D artwork. Newer visual novels often have voice acting included, too, and various degrees of animation (keep in mind as most VNs are Japanese in origin, the voice acting is also in Japanese, although that doesn't really detract anything for me). In this respect, reading a visual novel is much like reading a book but watching anime at the same time; it's pretty unique.
A CG, or 'computer graphic', taken from Muv Luv Alternative. CGs are like still
shots that you see occasionally in game that help to encapsulate what is happening in the story
