Nutaku asked us to take a look at this game, and here's our opinion.
For you guys, this seems like another review for another week, as expected. But at the time of writing this I’ve actually had a long break from the porn game scene. I knew I couldn’t stand to come back and review something that looks like a piece of shit right off the bat, so it took a little perusing before I decided on this title. You might say I overheard someone saying “i wish this game was as good as Shining Song Starnova”. Okay, it was a comment somewhere (which you can’t hear) but whatever. Not wanting to miss out, I decided to dive into the world of idols… and porn.
Shining Song Starnova was released on Nutaku on July 25, 2018. Huh, this is the first time I’ve seen this in a review. Apparently there’s not one, but two developers working on this VN. Apparently Sekai Project and Love In Space have joined forces to tell a tale about the idol industry. It was published by Denpasoft and packs a 4.5 GB game size.
Production Value
This game shines like a polished rock alright. Someone had a budget worth my life five times over. The backgrounds are clean as fuck and there’s a fair bit of them, the character art is beautiful and each individual has several poses, there’s several BGM tracks that compliment the scenes’ tone, the list goes on. My friends, this game had a fucking opening. Yeah, that’s right, I’m talking opening like you see in an anime. I’ve only ever seen that in my review journey in Kindred Spirits on the Roof . My point is, all the assets are high quality and plentiful barring a few bad choices for backgrounds. I'll forgive those weird missteps since we got legit idol songs out of this bitch.
The expressions, the background, the amount of characters, hell yes baby!
Story/Characters
The premise here, a dude trying to make an idol group, comes across as more intriguing than your typical “OMG the girl next door called me to come over, what do I do??”, but still isn’t the uniquest concept in the world. I fapped to a hentai about idols a few days ago, in fact. However, for what this VN lacks in the story department, it makes up for it with the character writing. The game has a pretty decent sized cast, especially including the MC, but the introductions and voice acting of each girl came across completely unique. And the best part? They didn’t seem very one dimensional. While they modeled the ideas of stereotypes and idols, the game constantly hinted at deeper layers. I knew this writing was above your typical porn game when the MC questioned whether one girl’s act of “playing a stereotype” was a defensive mechanism so she wouldn’t have to genuinely interact and show her own identity with the others. That’s that shit I DO like. Also, I really enjoy this game’s MC. The Producer has his own jaded views on the industry, and isn’t afraid to voice them. Furthermore, he feels realistic when he rejects certain idols’ advances and distractions. I can tell he actually wants to succeed deep down, and that causes me to root for him. Overall the characters and their interactions definitely steal the show in my opinion, which is a good thing because then fucking them means something.
The Sex
“Wow! Another amazing segue!” Ay baby save it for backstage. Unfortunately, the lame segue was the best achievement that you’ll find in this paragraph. Why? Because they fucked up, just like they always do. Perhaps they wrote the main story and dialogue first before kicking those writers to the curb and hiring other writers to do the sex scenes. But for whatever reason, someone once again decided to omit the characters’ personalities for the sex. Come on man, this is not a 30 minute quickie. This game has a story spanning several hours. What’s the point of giving me so much time to understand and appreciate these idols, only to say “Oh, that bitchy girl? Nah, she’s a little slut in bed. Oh the upbeat and friendly one? Nah, she’s a little slut in bed. The dominant one? Nah, she’s a little slut in bed.” Well thanks. I wish I didn’t bother reading the dialogue in the first place then if the setup never amounted to anything during the sex. On the bright side, many scenes are animated nicely and look gorgeous. They’re some of the hottest animations I’ve seen to date in an anime-style porn game. It’s just a shame that the player’s investment into the characters doesn’t pay off when you’re fucking them. Oh, and remember how I mentioned the girls are voice-acted? They don’t voice act their lines during the sex. It’s just a loop on repeat of moans and sex sounds. Who authorized this?
Look at that smug motherfucker.
When you’re doing anything but having sex, I don’t have many bad things to say about this experience. And I’m aware that I might care more about dialog during the sex then the general public so…
Solid writing and quality assets tell a cute story with an engaging cast of characters, just don’t expect said characters to stay engaging during sex; 4/5
… You know what, fuck that. The inclusion of voice acting only to stop it during the sex is too inexcusable. 3.5/5
Do you watch anything idol related? Do you want a game on Nutaku reviewed? Tell us in the comments below!
