Also Available on GOG.com:
Shining Song Starnova Limited Edition
Take the stage in Shining Song Starnova! The girls of STARNOVA signed on to become idols thinking they will become the shining stars of their dreams. Instead, they found themselves trapped in a cutthroat business where only the stro...
Take the stage in Shining Song Starnova! The girls of STARNOVA signed on to become idols thinking they will become the shining stars of their dreams. Instead, they found themselves trapped in a cutthroat business where only the strongest could survive. Along their path to becoming top idols, they're forced to come face-to-face with the harsh reality that being a star isn't as perfect as it seems on TV...
YOU are Mr. Producer - it's your job to make these girls' dreams come true! Will you and the girls successfully navigate the industry and become the greatest idols in the nation? Shining Song Starnova is a dramatic and gripping story about the path to stardom. Just remember: Even though it may seem dark, the light at the end is always shining!
This visual novel features seven different heroines to choose from, and is partially voiced by popular Japanese voice talents!
This Game may contain content not appropriate for all ages or may not be appropriate for viewing at work.
Buying this game on GOG.COM you will receive a censored version of the game.
so far this is the best one I read so far. The characters actually have personalities. There is a Download link when you launch the game for 18+ free dlc. it takes you to the dev site. you just have to search it. its free. copy and paste in game folder (see readme.txt). The english is decent compaired to some I been reading lately.
The story kept my interest, but it is very heavy on the novel part of the game and light on the game. If you go in knowing that it's a solid good time.
Note before I start this review that this game was on Kickstarter and was asking for a $50,000 goal in mind when creating this project. Though keep in mind if you check the patreon for this company they are able to leak an abundance of content in the art perspective which shows that the majority of CG's and spriteworks were done. A demo was also released which let players listen to the soundbytes for all of the respective VA's and their work, and from what it seemed that had been done too. If the art production was nearly complete if not done, and the VA's had an ample of soundbytes when the quotas for VN's aren't even to be voiced. Then what was left that truly warranted needing to rely on Kickstarter to get $50k?
Now for the review, this game is a mess of a product which is held back by it's writer. All art and VA's show clear love for a project, regardless of it's topic. The writer though can't seem to decide whether he wishes to subvert tropes and break the status quo or to roll in it as if he fears he won't be able to reel in an audience.
This game tries to deal with serious subjects within the idol industry, but overall the lack of understanding that the writer has of it, and his general lack of understanding when it comes to how a person works makes it obvious when themes of sexual abuse, and sexism are immediately forgotten in fear in not appeasing people who want a shallow pornographic VN. It's ridiculous how much this product tries to be things that it's not, and also fail at being what it really is.
This VN is over 500k words long, and I will admit this. It was always advertised with this word count in mind to appeal to people, but it's just pointless filler that meanders just to fit an advertising quota, and a very dodgy one at that. It disregards even the simplest rule of writing, "Less is more"
In conclusion, nothing of value would've been lost if this VN's Kickstarter would've just failed. The same applies if it sells awfully as well.
This game flaunts itself as a deconstruction of the idol industry, but falls flat on its pretty face. The art is good, the music nice but the story and characters were hard do bear. It's filled with homophobia, sexism and rape jokes in the form of stereotypes without any trace of self reflection.The characters, which seem to be caricatures at first, end up as their respective trope played straight.
A very disappointing game that could have been much more if it didn't fall into all the traps it halfheartedly attempts to mock.