Muv-Luv Extra: A shockingly good stand alone romance story when you accept it on its terms. Yes its a dating sim and yes there is lots of borderline cartoon tier stuff, but there is a real sincerity that shows through the longer you play with some genuinely emotional moments. Like despite having actual sex scenes its somehow still less horny then the average anime. It also helps that the alternative routes actually greatly change the story and run the gambit of more wacky to more dark and down to earth. There also enough mystery in the form of the Mitsurugi group and the foreshadowing with Yuuko's alternate reality theories provide the edge needed to link this game to its follow up. Really I think this game is overhated and stands alone as a fun and sincere romance story with some solid plot beats in particular the Chizuru route is a very good drama. I think part of the issue is people come into it expecting it to be a satire and deconstruction when it isn't, but you accept it for it is it is a good time. 7/10
Muv-Luv Unlimited: This is the part of the package which makes Muv-Luv well known. Its the same set of characters but in a far darker set of circumstances. I think its an interesting idea to have most of the characters be developed so you know their personalities and the story can instead focus on building the new world and how these personalities are altered by this new lore. As a world it combines a lot of influences with the most obvious being the Evangelion visual influence and the isekai like plot, but don't let that fool you as this is way different and more of a military sci fi story then anything. If you come into this thinking it'll be a Gundam or Eva like mech action story you will be disapointed as the story is more about the training, mentally, tactics, and morality of war then actually fighting battles. really though despite the more dire circumstances the story is still pretty light hearted with the characters being mostly separated from the war and its tragedies. I do like how subversive this story ends up being as it doesn't just subvert you expectations by making things more grim and gritty but also by taking things in a direction you don't expect. This leads to the big issue with this story being that it is very insubstantial. The whole thing feels very deliberately unsatisfying as a way to set up Alternate. It doesn't help that the routes this time around are all nearly identical with only really 2 minor sections changing, which all have the same outcome but different flavor text and each one gives you a little more insight into the girl's personality. Its all very tedious to go through with unskippable cutscenes and even the secret ending which I was told would be super important ended up as just another vague cliffhanger. While Extra imo perfectly works on its own Unlimited feels like its just setting up the pieces for Alterative with much of the world building and mysteries being deliberatly unsolved. 6/10
Muv-Luv Unlimited: This is the part of the package which makes Muv-Luv well known. Its the same set of characters but in a far darker set of circumstances. I think its an interesting idea to have most of the characters be developed so you know their personalities and the story can instead focus on building the new world and how these personalities are altered by this new lore. As a world it combines a lot of influences with the most obvious being the Evangelion visual influence and the isekai like plot, but don't let that fool you as this is way different and more of a military sci fi story then anything. If you come into this thinking it'll be a Gundam or Eva like mech action story you will be disapointed as the story is more about the training, mentally, tactics, and morality of war then actually fighting battles. really though despite the more dire circumstances the story is still pretty light hearted with the characters being mostly separated from the war and its tragedies. I do like how subversive this story ends up being as it doesn't just subvert you expectations by making things more grim and gritty but also by taking things in a direction you don't expect. This leads to the big issue with this story being that it is very insubstantial. The whole thing feels very deliberately unsatisfying as a way to set up Alternate. It doesn't help that the routes this time around are all nearly identical with only really 2 minor sections changing, which all have the same outcome but different flavor text and each one gives you a little more insight into the girl's personality. Its all very tedious to go through with unskippable cutscenes and even the secret ending which I was told would be super important ended up as just another vague cliffhanger. While Extra imo perfectly works on its own Unlimited feels like its just setting up the pieces for Alterative with much of the world building and mysteries being deliberatly unsolved. 6/10