Bare Boob Brawlerz Visual Novel: Vol 1 is a collection of three games centered on characters from the BBB universe.
At-a-glance
(Adult) Content?
(FxF, FxM) Sexual content.
Censorship?
No. Woot! Woot!
Hours of Gameplay?
Four or five hours.
Modding Support?
No.
Patch Available?
No, not necessary.
Foreword
I wasn’t sure what to think about this title when I picked it up; on one hand, I was excited to see a visual novel with a 3D anime art style; on the other hand, I was leery to play a title from the creators of the “Bare Boobs Brawlers” (or “BBB”) series. While I have yet to play a member of the BBB series, the trailers I had seen for the other entries on Steam have left a bad taste in my mouth. This game is the first BBB game I have played before.
I would wind up very disappointed, though I now hold an admiration for the world building the developer has done on the series.
Gameplay
. . . in a nutshell
Choose one of three game modes; “visual novel” is your basic, linear story with no player agency; “Sci-fi Lapdance” is a collection of customization sex scenes; and “Bonus Brawl” is a poor man’s beat ’em up/fighter game with awful navigation and sticky controls.
out the shell. . .
There are three game modes to choose from; visual novel, Sci-fi Lapdances, and Bonus Brawl.
“Visual Novel” is what is sounds like; you smash through text boxes to advance the story. The story is divided into chapters; interestingly, all chapters are unlocked from the get-go. There are no player-choices to make.
Overall, the Visual Novel mode isn’t much different from reading a real book.
Sci-fi Lapdances is essentially a collection of sexual animations with interchangeable characters. You select your choice of female companion, and watch her bang a disembodied man in one of eight animations. While I’m impressed by the jiggle physics, I don’t understand what’s the point of “Sci-fi Lapdances” as a standalone “extra’.
I feel like the “lapdances” would have been better suited for offhand sex scenes in the visual novel mode.
Bonus Brawl is a set of five 2D beat-’em-up levels. It was a painful experience playing through them all. It’s difficult to hit enemies, and combat is extremely monotonous. My fingers became winded from smashing the same key again and again. The final level of Bonus Brawl is a long, drawn out boss fight that can be ended with a single “super” move. I’m not sure how I did it — but I hit the boss with an attack so powerful I grew tired of watching her health bar go down!
. . . no, this is not a game you can play one handed.
Story
In the world of Bare Boobs Brawlers, men are absolute degenerates and lieing scumbags, and women are the best creatures that have graced the world. You know, given the sexual exploitation the adult industry puts women through, I think we oughta throw ’em a bone.
So uh, death to men (except for that one brooding guy in chapter seven!)
Vestal waits on the shores of Jali. She is approached by a shadowy figure, who seeks her mother Kayori. She passed away, leaving Vestal to take her place. The figure escorts her to her submarine, where they sail to Glwtwn. There, they exchange fish to append their travel funds.
To my understanding, the remainder of the story involves the adventures of the figure, and her newfound servant Vestal.
Visuals
The titlescreen was boring, but serviceable. I didn’t appreciate the off-centered text, but the user-interface as a whole is stylish. You may select a variety of game modes from the main menu, but I could not spot any “options” or “settings” — this is unacceptable. The mouse cursor is disabled, which is a minor nuisance. Having a mouse cursor would have dramatically increased the ease of navigation between menus.
Something needs to be said about the character models.
Between the three modes, a combination of anime and realistic models are used. I find the differences to be jarring, and I think the developers should have stuck with one or the other. In my opinion, the more traditional, “realistic” models were ugly. I had no interest in seeing them naked — unfortunately, it’s hard to avoid their goodies in a series called “Bare Boob Brawlers”. The anime models looked alright, but I found the gross use of filters to be distracting. When I see filters, I think “cheap”. Thankfully, most of the “anime” renders were actually pretty decent.
It’s too bad the other two game modes didn’t feature busty anime girls.
The Goods
The bulk of the sexual content is in the “Lapdance” and “Visual Novel” modes. In the former, you get to choose your favorite lady and subject them to a handful of sex positions. You cannot rotate the camera or interact with the subjects, although you can speed up/down the animations. The jiggle physics are really something. I found the oversized breasts and water-like movement to be dreadful.
Also, the user-interface can’t be hidden.
Sex scenes are sprinkled within chapters of the visual novel. They look pretty alight, and consist of static CGs. They include some. . . kinky scenes that I’ll admit were right up my ally. The user-interface is hidden by default, making them the best sexy stuff this game has to offer. I wish more effort was put into the anime content and visual novel; had it been, I think the sexual production value could have been bonkers!
. . . expect female-on-female and male-on-female sexual content.
Verdict
I find it difficult to recommend this game; but at the same time, I almost feel bad. There is a ton of love and content in Bare Boob Brawlerz Visual Novel: Vol 1. While I found the story to be grossly overwhelming, I could tell that there is more than meets the eye. I think this game would most appeal to pre-existing fans of the Bare Boobs Brawlerz universe. This game is too rough around the edges for my taste; however, if you’re interested in this game, I think that it is reasonably priced, especially when it goes on sale.
