Moero Downhill Night Blaze review by Harlequin

[Harlequin 17]

Moero Downhill Night Blaze (VNDB)

 

 

 

 

Opening movie:

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Spoilers are all inside the spoiler box down at the bottom.)

 

 

"But if you go too far, it all becomes so meaningless..."

 

 

This is going to be a shorter (perhaps... maybe...) "review" than usual from me. Why? Because I'm someone who has less to say about visual novels that weren't particularly good/great/amazing. And it just so happens to be that at the time of me writing this, I've only actually done reviews of *great* VNs around here, so this'll feel a bit different I think.

 

The Moero VNs all have car racing as their main theme, with comedy+drama+romance revolving around it. And honestly, that theme is probably the main reason why one should look into these titles in the first place. You simply won't find it in many other VNs. That said, we'll be looking at the third and last one in the series now, Moero Downhill Night Blaze, which was recently released by JAST with English translation (in a not so perfect state, if I do say so myself...). What makes Moero 3 different from the previous two is that it has actual racing gameplay in it, instead of just timed choices during the races. But was this a good change, or not? We will find that out very soon.

 

Having personally read all of the Moero VNs now, I can safely say that ultimately only of them is actually good (Moero 2), and that this third one is not truly worth the time spent on it... depending on something in particular, which I'll bring up later. But anyway, let's just get to some of the specifics now.

 

 

 

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Gameplay - Oh dear. We're starting with this part then? As I said earlier, Moero 3 has car racing gameplay. Steer, accelerate, brake and shift gears (if you play with manual transmission). I can assure you that this is not anything fancy whatsoever, but hey, you wouldn't really expect it to be anyway. There are a total of five different race tracks, and you'll do them several times over - especially so if you want to complete more than one route in the VN. You always go three laps on each track every time. Also, it is possible to play with a gamepad, not just the keyboard. I personally played it with a gamepad and quite honestly, it felt pretty good, so I can recommend that you try that out yourself if you happen to have a gamepad laying around somewhere.

 

Now, with the general idea of how the gameplay works out of the way, I can say this: It's not good. For more than one reason. But first of all, I gotta say that I personally didn't mind it too much during my first playthrough. Indeed, it is something different from what you usually see in VNs, right? However that doesn't really mean much because if you decide to do more than just one route, you will come to despise this boring racing minigame no matter what. There is no challenge to it at all, and it just ends up being a big waste of time. But that's not the only problem, no... it's the fact that this gameplay is probably the "main thing" of Moero 3, and yet it actually sucks. It takes time and focus away from the storytelling and character development. Such a shame. I have seen worse gameplay, but this is still really bad, especially so since it does have the secondary effect of lessening the other parts of the VN.

 

As a small sidenote, you can play the racing minigame outside the storymode as well. Just go to "Arcade" in the main menu. But... why would you ever want to do that? No, you wouldn't, so whatever. Go play some Need for Speed game instead. That's a lot more fun.

 

 

Visuals/Art - Same kind of art style as in Moero 2. It's nothing too fancy, but not too bad either I think. It'll come down to personal taste most likely. The girls all have quite a specific look to their faces, and you might very well not like it. It's decent enough to me anyway.

 

Most of the CG art belongs to the H-scenes. But to be honest, that's pretty much how it is for all of the Moero titles, not just this one. It didn't really bother me, though it's hardly a good thing. Moero 3 feels so short in general that it doesn't matter all that much.

 

Movies aren't really worth talking about in this one. They exist. That is all.

 

 

Sound/VA/Music - It was kinda nice to hear the voices from Moero 2 again. They aren't amazing though. My favourite voice would have to be Kei's, although to be fair, that's mostly based on what I heard in Moero 2 (how many times am I going to mention that VN in here?...)

 

The music can be quite catchy at times. Again, this isn't anything amazing either, but there are a few good songs at least. It makes me remember Moero 2 (...), which is a good thing.

 

 

Characters - Same characters as the ones in Moero 2, although not all of them are present in Moero 3. In general, I like the lot of 'em, though some more than others (as usual).

 

Asahina Rinka - The assertive and energetic deredere *main* main heroine, in both Moero 2 and 3. My second favourite female character in this series. She's definitely better represented in Moero 2 though, mainly because the story in Moero 3 is shorter and less eventful.

 

Komachi - ... Doesn't have a VNDB page. But anyway, she's a friendly and proactive journalist girl. In Moero 2, her situation was a bit different to say the least.

 

Narukami Kei - My number one favourite character in the Moero VNs. She's a funny and cute girl with a coodere sort of personality. However, I think she was even better and more true to that personality of hers in Moero 2, for various reasons. But she's still awesome in any case. *jiiiiiiiiiiiii*

 

Asagiri Tomomi - A shy and awkward girl who can be surprisingly funny at times. Not bad!

 

Toudouin Reiko - Least favourite character of mine, although I still don't think she's bad or anything. The typical rich and refined girl, although a very kind one at that - not stuck up. That's a good thing to me at least.

 

These VNDB pages are based on the Moero 2 character representations. It's just that Moero 3 uses them as well for now. So some of the things that you see on those pages may or may not be true in Moero 3.

 

Well, as for the protagonist, Tsuchida Akito, there's absolutely nothing special that I have to say about him. He's an average and normal protagonist. Plain, but not exactly bad or anything. I guess having a simple protagonist can be a nice thing sometimes.

 

Special mentioning goes to Suzukaze Yuu. He's cool and pretty interesting, but mostly so in Moero 2. Oh and Reika's butler, Sendou, is also great... although he's barely in Moero 3 at all unfortunately.

 

 

Plot/Story - A story about cars, racing and girls, pretty much. It's a "what if?" version of the story in Moero 2. "What if Akuto had a driver's license?" Now that probably sounds pretty cool, at least if you've read Moero 2 before. But it's not. It's simply not as entertaining, nor does it contain as many events or special moments that you might even remember after you're done with the VN. Which by the way, the gameplay is most likely at fault for to a quite large degree. To be honest, it makes Moero 3 almost look like a silly fandisc or somethng, even though it's not officially labelled as such. The story is definitely mediocre, although if Moero 3 is the first one in the series that you try, maybe it would actually be a little bit better. But I'm not so sure about that. I can only speak as someone who has read the previous titles before this one after all.

 

There are a total of five routes in Moero 3, each one being pretty short. Now, let me point out a mistake that I made reading/playing this VN: 100%'ing it. Yes, that's right. You should not bother doing all of the routes in Moero 3. Just complete the ones that interest you the absolute most, and skip the others. Because as you know by now, the racing minigame sucks, so it's good if you can avoid playing it as much as possible. But also, the story really doesn't differ much between the routes. Basically the main story (which isn't very good) stays mostly the same in all the routes, while you get the occasional side events with the girl whose route you happen to be on. So if you have a favourite girl or two, go for them. But also, you should at least do Rinka's/Komachi's route, because they have more to do with the main plot of the VN than the others. Of course, none of what I've said really matters if you're a completionist at heart who absolutely must 100% it. It's your decision in the end. I regret doing all of it though.

 

Now I did mention early on that Moero 3 isn't worth the time spent on it, but that it depended on something in particular. Well that something is simply whether you decide to do all the routes or not. It'll be worth the time if you don't, but it won't be worth the time if you do. Going through one route in this VN is really not so bad, even with the racing gameplay. But all five? You'll probably regret it if you decide to do that, and it'll indeed be a waste of time.

 

And no, you won't get anything "extra" for going through all those boring as hell repetitions of races and completing all five routes. Nothing. At all. So... still thinking about 100%'ing it?... I hope not.

 

 

Screenshots (click the thumbnails) -

 

 

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Final words - Disappointing. I personally expected Moero 3 to be pretty much as good as the second one, but it clearly isn't. The new racing gameplay ended up being a bad change from the previous titles. It just takes up time and wasn't good for the overall experience of the VN. The "what if?" story suffers from being much smaller in scope than the one in Moero 2. And while the characters are still nice (to me), even they didn't get such a good treatment in Moero 3.

 

But what needs to be said now, is this: If you're going to read any of the Moero VNs at all, then go for Moero 2. That is the good one. Moero 3 is not good, even though there are worse VNs out there. Moero 1 isn't very good either, although there are some references and such to it in Moero 2, so it could still be worth reading.

 

So who should try Moero 3? Anyone who might like the theme of it, but don't expect to have a great experience or anything either way. Also, if you've already finished Moero 2, then there is a good chance that Moero 3 is going to disappoint you in the end. And again, I highly recommend that you don't do all of the routes, because it'll probably be better that way and actually worth the time.

 

Moero Downhill Night Blaze - Read Moero 2 instead if you haven't already. Unless you absolutely feel like you must try the friggin' gameplay for some bizarre reason.

 

And no, doesn't seem like this "review" turned out to be that short in the end after all. Shame on me!

 

 

 

 

Pros: Great main theme, some nice characters from Moero 2, familiarity with it (if you've read the previous ones in the series).

 

Cons: Repetitive and boring gameplay that is too easy and takes up too much space, below average main story, barely any memorable moments.

 

 

 

Harlequin gives Moero Downhill Night Blaze a rating of...

 

5.0/10

(Follows the rating scale on VNDB)

 

 

Remember, this is only my opinion and experience with this visual novel.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the spoiler box with some spoilerish thoughts and impressions I got from reading this VN.

 

Do not touch it if you have not fully read this VN already:

 

 

What's there to say really? Hmmmmm...

 

Well, that moment when Kei is revealed to be Akuto's non-blood-related sister was surprising. Yes, it was surprising for me. You might be able to guess what that ultimately means... MYSSSSSTERY, OOOOOOoooooooo!

 

There's seriously nothing else that I want to mention here. Moero 3 wasn't memorable, enough said. And hey, it's not like there's many spoilery things going on in it anyway. Suzukaze being sick was a bit of a surprise I guess, but it's not like the VN spent much time on that part at all. There are more interesting things related to him in Moero 2, so yea.

 

Edited February 26, 2013 by Harlequin

[iLoveTsundere 10]

Ok. Now dustmania.

[Harlequin 17]

Ok. Now dustmania.

 

^^...

 

 

Maybe.

[Gerard the Lone Wolf 10]

^^...

 

 

Maybe.

 

Soon™?

[radiantmadness 11]

did the score just get even lower;)

[Gerard the Lone Wolf 10]

I'm pretty sure it wasn't 5.0 earlier.

[iLoveTsundere 10]

from 5.2 to 5.0 harle?

[Harlequin 17]

Yes, that's just how it goes. Been changing the other ones too sometimes. But in general, it's not ever going to change by a large amount. It'll be something around 5.0-5.5, basically. You can change your mind a little when you start comparing it to other VNs you might have read that has the same sort of rating. Just how it is.

[iLoveTsundere 10]

I tried paying attention to what you typed harle , but i kept staring at your Ari icon. She is telling me to do things......horrible things.

 

 

So seriously , i should just avoid Moero 3 then. Point taken.

[Gerard the Lone Wolf 10]

I tried paying attention to what you typed harle , but i kept staring at your Ari icon. She is telling me to do things......horrible things.

 

His avatar really stood out. xD

[Valkyrie 10]

I agree. I expected Moero 3 to be better the second one, but it clearly isn't.