This isn't going to be easy. How do you review a "masterpiece?" That's the question I'm asking myself as I type this. For many many years I heard about a "little" Japanese series called Muv-Luv, and how it was one of the craziest experiences out there. It's a series that surprised everyone who played it, and went on to greatly influence Japanese media as a whole. So when the game finally released on the PlayStation Vita back in 2018, I knew it was something I had to give a shot. I didn't exactly know what I was in for, nor did I really understand why people loved it so much; all I knew was that it was a series that would shock me, and it was something I couldn't take at face value.
Well, all of that was true.
The original Muv-Luv contained "two" games within it. One was titled Muv-Luv Extra, with part two being called Muv-Luv Unlimited. Muv-Luv Extra began as a dating simulator slice of life visual novel, where everything was completely over the top. You have our main character walking up in bed next to some strange girl, and that same strange girl bulldozing the entire neighborhood so she could build a mansion and connect it to our hero's room. Then you had the rest of the cast who were equally just as insane with what they pulled the main character into, and then you had each of their "drama" story arcs you had to resolve. Doing so eventually lead to their "romance scene" (which now days no longer contains the graphic images or descriptions for what is going on, yet the scenes still happen), and then you're free to go down the other character's routes. It's genuinely funny, and heart warming, and a fun story... But then it turns into something else.
When Muv-Luv Unlimited starts up we find our main character Takeru waking up only to find that things are now "back to normal." The door to the strange girl's mansion is gone, and when he goes downstairs he finds that he's all alone as he should be. Of course by this point things being "normal" is odd to him, so it honestly worries him a bit. That is until he walks outside and sees a giant robot crushing his neighbor's house.
"THIS IS THE COOLEST DREAM EVER!"
That's basically Takeru's reaction, and it fits well within what Muv-Luv is. We go from the craziness of his weird new rich neighbor Meiya, to having giant robots laying around in the middle of a giant city. Up until this point the story has done nothing but continue topping its crazy stories, and giant robots is the logical next step. But how do you top that even further? Well, by introducing aliens of course!
The thing is though... This is the moment you realize the series has been a lie.
Upon returning to his school in his "dream," Takeru is met by two guards who beat the heck out of him, arrest him, and throw him into jail. Then when one of Takeru's teachers, whom was also a main character in Muv-Luv Extra, shows up to bail him out, you realize she actually has no idea who he is. It turns out, no one knows who he is, and the school is actually a military academy to train soldiers. The teacher then informs Takeru that the world has become overrun by an alien race known as the "BETA," and that humanity is losing. With how Muv-Luv presents this it all feels like just another joke, but the reality is that it is anything but.
This is when Muv-Luv goes from romantic comedy, to full on horror.
Muv-Luv Alternative is the follow up to Muv-Luv Unlimited, and the game that has gained the reputation of being a "masterpiece." Again, I didn't know why going in, but after completing it I completely understand. While it isn't a perfect story, it's one that has continued to stick with me even after all these years. It's something that is permanently burned into my memory, and it's pretty much the only video game I've ever played that simulated PTSD so realistically... To the point that it still bothers me to this day, but that's actually a good thing. It's a testament to how well this story is told, and it's a story that will surely stick with everyone else who reads it.
With the game now being released on Nintendo Switch, this is the perfect time for newcomers to jump into the series, and today I hope to help make the decision even easier for those who are even remotely considering it.
Alternative's Place in the World:
Muv-Luv Alternative is the direct sequel to Muv-Luv Unlimited, and as such cannot technically be played without going through Unlimited first. Of course you "can" start here if you really want to, but you will be skipping out on roughly 60 hours of previous story content (assuming you did all paths as you should). Extra focused on Takeru and his friends in the "normal" world, and dove into their character development, and personal relationships pretty heavily.
While the world with the aliens features slightly different versions of these same characters, their personalities and other story events are still relevant to who they are. There are some differences here and there, especially considering they were born into a world where the BETA kills and eats everyone, but for the most part they are still the same characters you got to know and love! Moving past that however, into Unlimited, things become even more closely linked with Alternative.
Unlimited tells the story of Takeru jumping into this new world, and focuses on his journey as he trains to become a solider. He's a dumb kid who grew up playing video games his entire life, so he's not really able to match up to his "friends" who were born into this hellscape. What's second nature to them, such as putting together guns and hand to hand combat, is something Takeru has to work hard at to even attempt to learn. Unlimited covers all of this, and ultimately leads him down a bad path.
Unlimited is very up front when it comes to just how bad the situation is, so it's not really too surprising that the story takes multiple dark turns. On the other hand, Unlimited still has the "dating sim" elements, with Takeru once again learning more about each character, and eventually this leads to your typical "romance scene" at the end. This character development further adds to what you already know about each of these characters from Extra, but is even more key in understanding what is to come in Alternative.
So, again, even though you can start at Alternative, it's really not recommended.
Returning to the Beginning:
When Alternative starts, it's a unique situation. The story actually begins with Takeru opening his eyes in his room once again. Assuming all routes were played through in Unlimited (and the story will expect players to have done this), this is a familiar site for Takeru as he once again assumes he's in a dream. I mean, come on... Aliens? Really? We REALLY went there? It's a huge relief to Takeru as well, but his dreams of it being a dream are quickly squashed once he steps outside his house. As expected, it was no dream, and Takeru is back at the beginning.
Having gained all of his knowledge and experience from his last go around in Unlimited, Takeru heads back to the school gates and completely derails the previous game's events. He's able to tell the guards what they need to know, he's able to meet with his ex-teacher and quickly get her on his side, and he's once again able to enroll at the military academy to begin training as a soldier. The difference is however, thanks to the previous game's story, he's already trained. And that makes a huge difference!
Takeru goes from the worst soldier in history, to the only person there who has seen actual combat with the BETA, and can operate the mechs with ease. He also knows everything that will happen in the future, and has his own ideas on how they can prevent the worst events, while also coming up with new ideas on how they can improve the robots they pilot. It's a really interesting part of the story, because it plays on the whole fantasy of what it would be like to go back in time with the knowledge you have now. For example, if you could go back to grade school with your adult mind, and just completely outclass everyone, including the teachers. Takeru gets to live this dream, and it's a lot of fun! It can also be boring at the same time however, and that's honestly where some might have complaints.
Really, this intro to Alternative, and how good it is, is really going to depend on the reader. Some people, such as myself, will really enjoy this repeat of the first part of Unlimited. Meanwhile others might find themselves annoyed that they're repeating a part of the story they've possibly read multiple times already. Yes it's different, but the same events (or mostly same events) do still happen at first. So you know exactly how far along you are into this story, and it's not until Takeru makes some major changes that it derails the original timeline. Once this moment happens however, then we're in full on sequel territory.
Advancing Past That Day:
The moment Alternative reaches Unlimited's ending, things change greatly. The story completely opens up in new ways, new characters are introduced, and the scale of the world is greatly expanded. The story goes from being one that is centered on the military base, to a nation wide fight against the BETA themselves. This means following the stories of different groups of characters, while also integrating our original core cast into their struggles. This is when the game's story truly begins, and the start of the wild ride that is Muv-Luv Alternative.
Enhanced Action Scenes:
Going forward Muv-Luv Alternative is a very action, and horror, heavy story. Up until this point the visual novel mostly had still characters set in front of backgrounds and very basic animations. There were some unique poses and CGs that popped up throughout the games, but overall it is your pretty standard visual novel setup. With Alternative however, the developers clearly stepped up their game.
Featuring nearly full animated fight scenes, things get crazy this time around, and all of the combat is shown in great detail. You get to see every shot in graphic detail as they blow chunks of BETA across the battlefield, and every gory detail of what happens when a pilot messes up. Did someone say acid? No? Well, I'm saying it now... There's acid.
Of course all of these scenes are fully voice acted as well (as is the entire game in general), but what's even more surprising is that other countries are voiced in their own native language. It's a bizarre experience for an English speaker to go the entire game reading subtitles while listening to Japanese voices, to then suddenly realize the dialogue is now being spoken in perfect English instead. It's a really nice detail when it comes to the other countries though, and it helps improve the action scenes even more. I know that may sound weird for me to say, but one particular action scene is done so well and having the other languages was perfect.
Outside of battle there's quite a bit of animation and CGs spread across the entire story as well, so overall the game is presented in a really nice way. But then "those" scenes happen.
Psychological Horror Warning:
I'm going to be blunt here without ruining it. Muv-Luv Alternative has some extremely screwed up moments in it. They are simply bad... Really bad. Not as in the game is bad, it's just what happens is really, REALLY, bad. There are some infamous scenes in this one, and even though I was warned about them ahead of time, it really messed me up seeing it. The scenes themselves are setup perfectly, and it's because of that perfect setup they have such an impact. Again, this is actually one of the things the game does amazingly, but it's not for the faint of heart.
The PlayStation Vita release actually censored these scenes, but the psychological impact was still completely terrifying. Even now just looking at specific pictures of the game is enough to bring back those memories and make me feel sick, simply because it bothered me that much. But I'm also GLAD it did, because it's one of my all time favorite parts of the game. It's one of the moments that took me from "this is really good" to "OH CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And then made me want to tell everyone to play it. So it's a good bad, but it's also still bad.
With all of that being said, I still feel like this is something players should be warned about before going in, but PLEASE do not look it up or spoil it for yourself. Just know that the imagery is extremely graphic, but the psychological effect it'll have on you is even worse.
A Kinetic Novel:
Another one of the biggest changes for Alternative is the fact that it is a "Kinetic Novel." This means it basically has no input from the player, and is something you fully watch and read. While Muv-Luv Extra and Unlimited had dialogue choices, and a route for each girl, Alternative had none of that. This is a straight shot story from start to finish, and it's extremely long because of that. Instead of spreading the story out across multiple playthroughs, it packs the same amount of content into a single path instead.
The story does still contain "romance" scenes like the previous two, but they are no longer chosen by the player, and are simply canon to the story. It's natural story progression and not dating sim elements, and the scenes are "censored" in the same way the previous two stories handled it. The scenes happen, and the game explains what is happening, but the explicit dialogue and images have in fact been removed. This also actually changes a scene later on in Alternative as well, but that's honestly something many fans are thankful for.
Should You Read It?
If you are a fan of Muv-Luv already, then there is no reason you shouldn't read Alternative. It's one of the best stories in the entire series, and the conclusion to what was started all the way back in Extra. Especially with the way Unlimited ended, this is a game you'll for sure want to play.
As for everyone else, if a dark twisted psychological horror alien story sounds like something you'd be interested in, then for sure go back and start with Muv-Luv Extra. Again, that game is an over the top romantic comedy and doesn't really reflect what the rest of the series is, but it's an entertaining story that's also key when it comes to understanding the characters. It's a story worth going through, and honestly doesn't take that much time to complete. Unlimited on the other hand will give you a taste of what Muv-Luv really is, but Alternative is when the gloves come off and things get insane.
It really is a series that everyone needs to try for themselves, but they also have to be willing to give Extra a chance. At first glance it might not look that interesting, but once you dive into it you may find yourself pleasantly surprised. Overall though, I completely understand why fans consider this game to be a "masterpiece," but it's also not a game everyone will enjoy. Personally? I wish I could experience it again for the first time; it was that good!
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