Delicious

Following the less-than-stellar release of Hako and a rather dull expansion for SchoolMate, Illusion has a lot to make up for in the eyes of their fans. While keeping up to speed in terms of graphics they seemed to have lost some valuable gameplay ideas along the way. Will their latest game @HomeMate (＠ふぉーむメイト) be enough to put Illusion back on the throne of 3D sex games?

HomeMate plays off SchoolMate with its title and borrows the same look and feel, but the similarities ends there. HomeMate puts you in the role of Inuzuka Nanao, whom just became the caretaker of a villa inhabited by three sisters: the mature Nanoha, the feisty Noa and the quiet Yakumo. These three girls are all there is so your enjoyment of the game hinges on how much they appeal to you. Each girl is designed to appeal to a specific taste. There are minor customization options for all characters, including yourself, and in true Illusion fashion there are lots of different clothes to put on so you will never grow bored with their appearance. The graphics engine renders the girls beautifully and the animation is of the same high quality.

You will find the girls roaming about at one of five locations: a farm, a beach, a chapel, a mountain trail and the villa itself. All but the latter can serve as destinations for dates. Dating is a nice way for you to boost your affection with the girls, but requires a bit of role play from your part to be fun and the activities get repetitive over time. When you’re not dating them you can just hang out or talk to them directly. The dialogue adds flavor but also an easy way to mess up if you don’t speak Japanese. Luckily there are already fan-made translations among other mods, not unexpected with an Illusion game.

There are also various objects scattered around in the game world for you to find. There are items that increases (or decreases) a girl’s stats. You also find material for clothes, which is how you unlock additional clothing. This system could had been done better as collecting materials quickly turns into a grind.

Once you’ve impressed a girl to the point she falls in love for you, the real purpose of the game can begin. HomeMate offers all the sex positions you would expect from an Illusion game, missionary, doggie, bj’s, etc. but has a few surprises in store as well. Seeing the girls evolve sexually is one of the strong points of HomeMate. Unfortunately it feels a bit too linear and there is virtually no difference in sexual behavior between the three girls.

HomeMate is not without its faults. The first thing that strikes you as you play the game for the first time is the atrocious controls. I have no idea why Japanese developers have such troubles getting 3D controls right. It’s a hybrid between point and click navigation and WASD keyboard controls. It’s possible to get used to them but deep down you wish someone at Illusion would had gotten it by now. During sex there are shortcut keys you can press to shift the camera into a few nice angles, which remedies he issue somewhat.

The game will eventually end, but unlike Hako you get to enjoy the girls for a long while before that happens. I was able to get a happy ending with two of the girls. To get the third I would have to reload an earlier save file or restart the game. With the girls already blossomed and things unlocked it’s hard to find a reason to do it all over again from scratch and I’m not convinced there’s much replay value to be found.

I’ve longed waited for Illusion to make a game with the gameplay variety of Artificial Girl and the graphical polish of SchoolMate. This is not that game, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Score: 4/5