Love & Sex: Second Base

Dating sims are an incredible thing, even though they have an element of visual novels, they are probably the second cornerstone in the adult gaming world. While games like Honey Select are the perfect example of how adult games can be incredibly straightforward to the action, visual novels and dating sims are the opposite. They try to go after the fantasies in a more story-driven way. So, what’s up with Love & Sex: Second Base?

Geeking out or making out?

In Love & Sex: Second Base you play as a geeky guy (or girl) who gets to live with two sexy roommates. One of them is your absolute crush, she's definitely the woman of your dreams but there is plenty of fish in the sea. In case you don't really get lucky with your crush, you can go for a different girl. But do keep in mind that you'll have to raise your stats for that, it's not like conquering a girl is that easy.

A normal life?

The main character lives in a small house with the two roommates, but even though they are very hot, it's still a boring and fairly average life. You have an average, boring job with a routine and a cubicle in an office. That all sounds awfully boring right? Well, it would be if it wasn't for the fact that there's a ton of hot women all over the place, and if you play your cards well you could end up getting laid. And of course, if you play them even better, you might end up meeting your sweetheart and marrying her.

One day at a time

The game takes place in a year, but it’s actually four months, one for each season. Naturally, each month has 30 days, and one month is especially dedicated to the holidays. These days you won’t have to worry that much about the job and all that, but there are hot women around all year long of course.

Be organized

Since there are many girls from different backgrounds, you'll have to consider that they are not all going to be available all the time. Each girl has her own schedule and locations they are frequent.

You have to be organized, keep your job up, and try to keep up your relationships. This means you'll have to find time to be organized, take the girls you're interested in dates, bring them gifts, and be mindful of the needs of each one of them.

Pros

• Great amount of content
• Beautiful and hot girls
• Fun interactions
• Varied characters
• A lot of scenarios

Cons

• No animations
• Unfinished game

When people ask the rather obnoxious question, what is the meaning of life. The answer that many people tend to give is simply the word, love. Then if you happen to ask a confirmed Batchelor, you might find that their heart can’t answer the question as their trouser region has them reply ‘sex’. Whether you are the former, the latter or somewhere in between, Love and Sex: Second Base aims to be a dating sim with a difference, offering deep and meaningful relationships that will have you enthralled for hours.

This game plays rather similarly to other dating sims such as House Party, Nekopara, Crush Crush and Man of the House. This dating sim offers a number of interesting characters, each with their own unique personalities and stories to tell. However, does this game live up to the quality of dating sims that have come before? We find out in our review of Love and Sex: Second Base.

Love and Sex: Life’s Essentials

Let’s begin with the characters on offer throughout this game’s run. Now, we could focus on the great dating options here, but instead we want to cast a spotlight on the fact that you can play as either gender. You can play as Bree, the college freshmen, the broke and socially awkward student. Or you can play as Mike, the coding star and chick magnet who is still trying to get over a recent heartbreak. We love that this game offers the freedom to play as any gender instead of a set menu and that has to be commended as it is seldom seen within the genre.

Then moving on to the gameplay. Again, we could focus on the great writing or the fun resource management mechanics. However, the standout feature for us was the variety of choices a player can make. Throughout your run, you can play a nice or nasty character, a kinky or vanilla character in bed, you can be polyamorous or stick to one partner and you can be career oriented or just bum around. The scope for role playing within this game is very impressive and it leads to a lot of replay value when you wrap up proceedings.

Then lastly, we touch on the art direction for this game. The game decides to go for a 3D cartoon aesthetic that doesn’t go all in on realism. We personally think this was a mistake as this game would have benefitted immensely from a realistic, picture perfect style. However, it’s not bad by any means and holds up nicely, even in the X-rated scenes.

The Verdict

Overall, Love and Sex: Second Base is a truly excellent dating sim with more freedom than many competitors in the genre. The ability to play either gender and play your character as you see fit makes this game a truly immersive experience. Plus, the stories and other characters you encounter are worth seeing for yourself too. The only let-down was the rather uninspired art direction. It was still competent but perhaps not the best choice for the game they ended up creating.

Pros:

• Male and female representation
• Freedom to role play as your chosen character
• Great writing and dating options

Cons:

• Cartoon art direction was perhaps not the best choice