Project MIKHAIL: A Muv-Luv War Story

65%
Game Brain Score Based on 196 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
Project MIKHAIL: A Muv-Luv War Story Game Cover
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"Project MIKHAIL" is a war story set in a world where humanity is under threat from alien invaders called the BETA. In this game, players can experience a playable story mode and a survival mode, where they play as Shirogane Takeru from Muv- Alternative. The story mode allows players to make choices that affect the outcome, and even create their own Tactical Surface Fighter mecha. Survival mode combines action and strategy gameplay elements. The game aims to put the fate of humanity in the players' hands.

Play Modes

Reviews

65%
Audience ScoreBased on 196 reviews
story14 positive mentions
graphics6 negative mentions
  • The game has a lot of potential and could be great with further updates.
  • The customization options for TSFs (mechs) are extensive and enjoyable.
  • The story condenses elements from the visual novels in an engaging way.
  • The controls are clunky and not intuitive, especially for keyboard and mouse users.
  • Performance issues are prevalent, with frequent lag and low frame rates.
  • The game feels unfinished, with many features lacking polish and optimization.
  • story185 mentions

    The story in "Project Mikhail" has received mixed reviews, with many players criticizing its lack of originality and coherence, as it largely rehashes the narrative from the "Muv-Luv Alternative" visual novel without significant new content or character development. While some appreciate the attempt to incorporate player choices and emotional decision-making, others find the execution lacking, with repetitive missions and a failure to fully engage new players unfamiliar with the source material. Overall, the game seems to cater primarily to die-hard fans of the franchise, offering a familiar but underwhelming storytelling experience.

    • “If you're a diehard fan of Muv-Luv, this is an opportunity to see the story through a new lens.”
    • “The gameplay is smooth and the story ties into Muv-Luv Alternative quite nicely.”
    • “It also allows you to explore many 'what if' scenarios in the Muv-Luv Alternative story that are definitely worth exploring and will delight true fans of the franchise.”
    • “The story is just a retelling of 'Alternative' but with every element that actually makes Muv-Luv what it is removed for a bigger focus on robots, skipping large parts of the story and making it impossible to connect with any characters unless you already love them from the visual novel.”
    • “The 'story' is just a reuse of 'Alternative' without any originality. No new storylines, characters, or any nuance.”
    • “Add onto this the joke of 'change the course of the story' they advertise, because all that amounts to is characters dying at a different time and you having to just loop back and do it again anyway, or the characters just get written out of the story in another way.”
  • gameplay81 mentions

    The gameplay of this visual novel spinoff has received mixed reviews, with many players criticizing it for being sluggish, repetitive, and lacking depth. While some appreciate the potential and find enjoyment in the mechanics after getting used to them, others highlight significant issues such as clunky controls, a limited variety of enemies, and a grinding nature that detracts from the overall experience. Overall, the gameplay feels half-baked and in need of refinement, with many players hoping for improvements in future updates.

    • “The gameplay is smooth and the story ties into Muv-Luv Alternative quite nicely.”
    • “Having skills, parries, dodge counters, secondary weapons, enemy weak points, hovering/flight all create a gameplay loop that feels fitting to the world and provides skill expression.”
    • “Bad stuff out of the way, once you get the snowball rolling and unlock the nice and shiny parts, the gameplay loop feels very nice.”
    • “I didn't expect much from the gameplay; it's a first attempt from a visual novel developer, so some things are bound to go wrong, but what went wrong is way too awful to overlook.”
    • “The gameplay is extremely repetitive, with every single mission easily summed up as: 'you shoot things in a small arena until they die,' with the most variety coming from switching the victory condition.”
    • “Really disappointing so far; the UI and gameplay were clearly designed with mobile in mind. You don't have to aim yourself but select an enemy and then attack it, which makes it feel terrible on PC.”
  • graphics39 mentions

    Overall, the graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many users noting that they are dated and simplistic, often resembling mobile game quality. While some appreciate the visual design of specific elements like models and artwork, others criticize the lack of graphical options and optimization, leading to performance issues. The consensus suggests that while the graphics may be acceptable for a budget title, they fall short of expectations for a PC game, especially for players seeking higher-quality visuals.

    • “I like that the game automatically sets the graphics to whatever your computer can handle.”
    • “The beta and TSF models look pretty good, and it's clear that's where most of the attention was focused with the visuals.”
    • “I've been playing it for a couple of hours now and I'm enjoying it; the customization is good, the graphics around the monsters and mechs are good too, it's only the environment that lacks in the graphics department.”
    • “That the graphics are absolutely terrible has already been said multiple times.”
    • “It's optimized like a mobile game; your options on the graphics side of things are pretty lacking.”
    • “Graphics are GameCube tier.”
  • optimization29 mentions

    The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with players reporting significant performance issues, including low frame rates, lag during gameplay, and frequent crashes. Many users noted that the graphics options are limited and do not improve performance, leading to a frustrating experience, especially in demanding scenarios. While some acknowledge the game's potential, the overall consensus is that it requires substantial optimization improvements to enhance playability.

    • “Game has lots of potential, I'm enjoying everything so far, though optimization, controls, animations for the TSF's, and level designs need some work. It's still in early access, so I'm looking forward to following updates, but overall very enjoyable.”
    • “It's both unrealistic and unfair to expect a finely polished, fully optimized, and bug-free game to be in the early access phase.”
    • “This game looks like it's from the PS2 era, which wouldn't be a problem as an artistic choice really, but the performance is abysmal.”
    • “Optimization - the game, although playable, gets really laggy depending on certain maps and enemy spawns.”
    • “Performance-wise, the game does not run well.”
  • grinding18 mentions

    The grinding aspect of the game is a mixed bag; while players appreciate the variety of parts and upgrades available through grinding, many express frustration with low drop rates for essential items, leading to tedious and time-consuming gameplay. Some players find the grind necessary for 100% completion, but it can feel excessive and poorly designed, particularly in modes like frontier defense, where the grind can become overwhelming. Overall, while the grind can be rewarding, it often detracts from the overall experience due to its repetitive nature and the need for significant time investment.

    • “The game asks you to grind, but your top priority for grinding is not items, but to slow and lower the beta advancing hordes.”
    • “If you go for 100% completion, the majority of your gameplay will be grinding out random drops and getting XP on those random drops.”
    • “I have 600 hours in this because most of it was spent AFK farming the frontier mode, which is arguably this game's biggest selling point and its biggest display of incompetent design I have ever witnessed in a game.”
  • music15 mentions

    The music in the game is largely derived from the original visual novel, which many fans appreciate, though some tracks are criticized for being average or stock-sounding. While the overall soundtrack is solid, there are concerns about the quality of the audio and voice acting, with suggestions that a remaster could enhance the experience. Overall, the music is considered enjoyable but may not fully capture the epic tone of the game's themes.

    • “The soundtrack is good and it's noticeable some visual novel's tracks.”
    • “Most of the music is from the original visual novel, so that's rock-solid as I've always loved the background music there.”
    • “Along with the good old OST from the visual novels, you also have some new ones.”
    • “Most of the music is from the original visual novel, so that's rock-solid as I've always loved the background music there, but some of it is either so average that I blocked it out of my memory or is painfully stock-sounding background music.”
    • “A lot of that roughness will definitely get worked out before the full release, but some of it - the voice acting, the sub-par visual fidelity, and the meh music - are unfortunately probably not going anywhere.”
    • “The characters are not acting like themselves, and while the soundtrack is mostly the same, the in-stage cutscenes are literally just the radio heads chattering with the occasional small frame showing the original visual novel art of the sequence.”
  • emotional6 mentions

    Players find the distinction between emotional and logical choices in the game unclear, leading to confusion about which decisions impact the emotional narrative. While the game allows for different story paths based on these choices, the lack of guidance on what constitutes an emotional choice detracts from the experience. Overall, the emotional aspect feels underdeveloped and ambiguous, leaving players uncertain about their impact on the story.

    • “It's not always clear which mission choice is the 'logical' one and which is the 'emotional' one.”
    • “So far my emotional gauge went up by one without me doing anything.”
    • “You can make decisions from an emotional or logical standpoint, which will affect the flow of the story and lead you to different endings.”
  • stability6 mentions

    The game's stability has received mixed feedback, with many users reporting various bugs and glitches that impact gameplay, particularly in the Frontier mode. While some players find the game fully playable, others note that it is still quite buggy, which is somewhat expected given its early access status. Overall, there is a consensus that improvements are needed for a smoother experience.

    • “It's both unrealistic and unfair to expect a finely polished, fully optimized, and bug-free game to be in the early access phase.”
    • “Seems buggy too; it seemingly cancels by itself sometimes depending on terrain!”
    • “Frontier mode: while earlier I did say that it was a fun mode, there are just a lot of glitches and bugs in it that do hurt the gameplay.”
    • “A promising game though as it is still in early access; it's still quite buggy.”
  • monetization4 mentions

    The monetization aspect of the game has drawn mixed reactions; while some players note the presence of microtransactions in a $20 title, others appreciate the absence of additional costs despite its mobile game design elements. There are concerns about potential future monetization changes as the game continues to develop. Overall, players are cautiously optimistic but remain wary of possible shifts towards a more mobile-centric monetization model.

    • “Though, despite having a lot of mobile game design elements, there aren't any microtransactions and it doesn't look like they plan on adding any, so I wouldn't worry too much about the mobile feel for now.”
    • “Even after 9 months of release, you can still feel vestiges of the plans to make this game primarily for mobile, especially when they've added microtransactions to a $20 game.”
    • “This is clearly meant to be a mobile game (just look at the touch controls, the UI, and that third-party account), which isn't necessarily a bad thing, in terms of monetization and continuation of the whole franchise.”
    • “That being said, this is clearly early into development and the devs might just up and decide to add microtransactions.”
  • replayability3 mentions

    Overall, the game offers limited replayability, with some players finding the gameplay stale after the initial experience. However, the single-player mode provides a degree of replayability through varied dialogue choices and the ability to experiment with different skill combinations, allowing for a fresh experience in subsequent playthroughs.

    • “Single player is fun and replayable.”
    • “It took me around 10-15 hours to beat story mode, and there is significant replayability as different choices affect the dialogues and stories. You can constantly mix and match different parts with various skills to find your comfort.”
    • “That said, there's just not much replayability, and the gameplay is pretty stale.”
    • “It took me around 10-15 hours to beat story mode, and while there is some replayability as different choices affect the dialogues and stories, the overall experience feels limited.”
  • character development2 mentions

    Reviews indicate a significant dissatisfaction with the character design of the two idols, with some users feeling it deviates poorly from the original material, which lacks an anime adaptation. Overall, the character development appears to be a weak point in the game's presentation.

    • “The character design of the two idols is terrible.”
    • “Character design is closer to the original material, but there's no anime.”
  • humor1 mentions

    The humor in the game is often described as hit-or-miss, with some players finding it clever and engaging, while others feel it falls flat or relies on clichés. Overall, the comedic elements contribute to the game's charm, but opinions on their effectiveness vary widely among users.

Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Buy Project MIKHAIL: A Muv-Luv War Story

Play time

600hMedian play time
600hAverage play time
600-600hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

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