There aren't masterpieces this month, but I can't let an average bakage to be the winner, so I nominate Shinsetsu Ooedo Tantei Kamiya Ukyou as VN of August 1994.
1. Mujintou Monogatari 無人島物語 [940805] KSS Inc. 1
Mujintō Monogatari is a self-described "survival life simulation". A plane crashes into the sea, but the protagonist survives and reaches a seemingly deserted island. The protagonist finds a cabin with a few basic supplies. From that point on, the player has to manage the hero's activities. Water, food and light sources have to be provided. The protagonist can team up with other survivors and explore the island, gradually revealing new locations; this can be done in co-operative mode. Expeditions to other places take place automatically, and must be planned in advance by the player. The protagonist's statistics (stamina, speed, etc.) will change depending on the activities chosen by the player.
A survival online game, no less! Jeez, it even has co-op mode of up to three players. All the fun seems to be in finding new locations. Forget about the story here. I have some real doubts it has much to do with VN - unlike its sequels. No story, no character personalities - nothing, really.
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In the future, space travel has become an inseparable part of human civilization. Humanity spread all over the Milky Way. Most of the problems concerning war, ecological disasters, and others were successfully solved. Human beings have entered an era of peace. But human nature never changes, and most other aspects of human culture haven't either. Since the galaxy became a huge urban playground, a new type of criminals have emerged - interstellar thieves. Piloting their own space ship, they terrorize the galaxy with their cleverly planned tricks. Particularly notorious is a duo of two young and pretty girls, Sati and Shiori... which are the two protagonists of the game.
I've got a full review prepared.
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In the year 2065, the Earth's ecological system has collapsed. Global pollution made it impossible to further dwell on the planet under natural conditions. Human beings were forces to construct huge cities in artificial environment, known as "cyclones". New technology has opened ways to new kinds of entertainment - namely violent battles between cybernetically enhanced fighters...
A raising SIM to train a fighter. We choose one of four girls and put her in intensive training and leisure schedule. Fights are non-interactive and depend only on parameters of fighters and tactics that trainer supposes to use before the match. There are two qualification leagues and the fighters with the high score follow into a drop-out challenge. There's a shop in the game that sells some buffs and some weapons that are mandatory in some of the battles in order to win. Trainer is not too picky ... there are h-scenes with all the four girls and with majority of enemy fighters.
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Sayaka Kimura is a twenty-six year old woman married to an older man who has two teenage children, a boy and a girl. Controlling different members of this household, the player follows a plot that mostly consists of sexual encounters of various kinds.
There's the synopsis, but not no story follows, it's purely erotic. The notorious feature is that in contrast to previous Red Zone works the picture is light and even background uses rose color. That was a welcome change for me.
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5. Shinsetsu Ooedo Tantei Kamiya Ukyou 真説 大江戸探偵 神谷右京 [940826] Altacia
Female college student is found beheaded. Kamiya Ukyou will hold investigation again.
Third work in the series and first of four works of serious nature. As always, real case is taken as the basis and this time even investigation is based on real one. Case is held with all the formalities and real impediments, so it's the first work using "True theory". While year 1993 became one that allowed extreme H-scenes and CG, year 1994 became first year to allow extreme gore CG. In this work backgrounds are using live-photo, but characters are same anime-like.
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6. To Five ~Natsu no Tobira no Mukou ni Kimi o Mitsukeru~ ＴＯ ＦＩＶＥ ～夏の扉の向こうに君を見つける～ [940826] Palm Tree Soft
Protagonist is a graduating high school student who has only one summer left to create memories till his life changes.
This seems to be the first game with falling in love with childhood friend concept. On top of that there is a attempt to draw a truthful psychological portrait of the hero and his anxieties. Game also features point-and-click sequences. The picture composition is disappointing since usually there is a window for background, a window for house, a window for protagonist with his text bubble and the active character is depicted on top of it all. So it's a game that experimented with many concepts and failed to get noticed because of those experiments.
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7. Tsumobaka Nisshi つもバカ日誌 [940830] Tsumobaka Nisshi 1
You play a long-haired salaryman as he visits random clubs to play in 4-player mahjongg against girls, who strip if they run out of funds. The games don't end until you either strip all of the girls or run out of funds yourself.
Yet another strip mahjong game that I don't have words for.
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Metal Eye 2 is set in the same sci-fi universe and is closely related story-wise to the first game. In the future, people have built the floating city Zeron, where the best scientists work on creating androids, artificial human beings who look the same way as real ones. Harvest Corporation is the biggest company that creates androids. The hero of the game is a scientist named Wirg, the father of the first game's protagonist. His work is to train the androids after they have been created. One day, the company building is attacked, and Wirg has to escape. He is saved by a nun and brought into a small town in the middle of wasteland, where his adventure begins.
For those who forgot - Metal Eye was crap of a game. In the sequel setting finally has a chance to bloom, but scenario is too bad to enjoy. Again, only rpg fans may find it satisfactory - party consists of 3 to 4 people and defeat of a single party member means game over. Battles are done in turn-based move first person view. On the bright side graphics got better, creating illusion of pseudo-3D isometrics.
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Psyluth Decker is a young English nobleman. Upon hearing the news of his father's death, he goes to the family mansion, a place surrounded by strange rumors, from which he tried to distance himself. Shortly after his arrival the young man notices that almost everyone he encounters has a secret, and becomes involved in a battle between powerful shapeshifters and mechanical creatures, aided by the trusty maid Marian.
There's a surprisingly good English review here.
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