EXTRA 6 — Alchemical Corruption 3: A Retrospective Review
Hello fellow perverts!
If you are not a pervert, then leave now. This blog is only for perverts of a legal age to enjoy their perverted-ness.
If you don’t know who I am, I am Hentai Sentai Sentry, expert reviewer of weird porn games from the land of the sun.
If you’re still here after that terribly corny opening, then it’s time to begin.
And I begin with an apology!
I’m sorry this review is late! A fight broke out near my house between Beauty Rainbow Violet and Loving Flower Violet. Fans of my blog know very well what happens when those two get together, and this time, it actually erupted into a fight! It was awesome!
Until, you know, their boss grounded them.
Not that it stopped their arguing, but it was significantly less fun after that.
And to answer your first question, yes.
I did get pictures. I’ve already put them in with the rest on my website; click the link above if you want to see.
To answer your second question, I wasn’t hurt!
…Mostly!
I did get a few scrapes, which is what delayed this release.
But! Now that that is over, let’s move on with our Retrospective Review!
If you aren’t aware of what’s going on, please check out my previous two Retrospective Reviews of the Alchemical Corruption series down below. Today, we’re covering Alchemical Corruption 3: Revenge of the Futanari.
Before we begin, I am legally required to note that any mention of a pirated alpha version of the game is considered slander and/or libel. I am legally required to apologize for any previous blog posts that I have made regarding this non-existent prior version of the game. I am legally required to request that you do not use the wayback machine to check out my blog, as anything that you might see is not representative of the Alchemical Corruption series.
Any such claims that I have or previously had a version of this ‘original’ Alchemical Corruption 3 are, I am legally required to state, false.
…Well. I say ‘legally’.
Technically it was just a firmly worded request.
You know you’ve made it big when corporations give you firmly worded not-threats!
I hope everybody understands, and beware the legally required ban-hammer!
Now on to the review!
My original rating of Revenge of the Futanari was D. I was going through all the games at the request of my fans, and after the hellish experience I had getting AC1 and AC2 working on my machine, I was not in a mood to be merciful.
Here’s the old breakdown:
Art: E
Sex: E
Game: D
Lore: B
Average: D
Outside of its outstanding lore, I wasn’t the fondest of AC3. I was finally starting to get a grip on its infamously complicated alchemy system, but I found the art and sex to be… distasteful at best.
Revenge of the Futanari had, in my prior opinion, terrible art and sex scenes that became only barely acceptable when taken into account with its ‘not-terrible’ gameplay and surprisingly deep lore.
Thus, my original rating of D.
Let’s see how I rate it today!
Art: F+
…I’m not gonna lie.
The art is worse than I remembered.
Now, maybe, maybe, it was due to some weird bug when playing the game, but I personally just think that it aged rather poorly. They tried for a more ‘realistic’ style in this game instead of the ‘stylization’ that they’ve done before and after, and it really didn’t age well.
This rating would have been an F-, but the fact that it’s relatively easy to mod has saved it.
Below is a link to a fan-made art pack that salvages this terrible, terrible art. It’s inconsistent and done by a few dozen different artists, but trust me.
It’s better than the default.
Sex: C+
Revenge of the Futanari has sex focused on two particular kinks that I was not fond of at the time.
Namely, girls with cocks and rape.
As I am legally required to only state legally verified facts regarding Alchemical Corruption 3, I can not, legally, comment on the changes that a lack of the goddess Modesty would do to this game.
Instead, I shall only compare this to AC1 and AC2, both of which are ‘harsher’ on women than on later games.
As we all (legally, VERY legally) know, the goddess Modesty rose up some time between AC2 and AC3, making her the ninth goddess in the series. And she helps this series a lot. I would actually argue that she saves it, in a very real way.
…Don’t get me wrong. I play porn games.
Rape happens in porn games.
And yes, it can be hot. In games.
But in AC1 and2 (and legally NOT a legally non-existant AC3), when women were raped, they could experience some really messed up reactions from it. Which is not fun, and part of why my ratings of them remained as low as they are.
But in AC3, the (legally) only version of it, the reactions of the women that are raped are, universally, much, much better.
This shows that Modesty is already doing what she does, and it makes the sex scenes much more enjoyable.
…Also my past self was a moron.
Who doesn’t like futas?!
That said, the game is still a bit too rape-happy for me, and the writing is a bit awkward at times. So the sex only gets a C+.
The Game: E+
I’ve played a lot of Alchemical Corruption.
A lot of it.
An embarrassing amount of it, really.
I have an entire shelf of my game library dedicated just to the game cases, and another two dedicated to fan paraphernalia!
I also have a personal collection of letters the company has sent me. I’m currently at five!
But this means that I have a lot of experience with the game, and AC3 is… it’s just not that good.
It takes the sublime brilliance of AC2 and tries to make it more accessible. But instead of threading the needle like AC12 manages, Revenge of the Futanari only manages to make it more cumbersome. Sure, all of the same options are there -- you can brew each item individually, you can use a timer to automate certain parts of the production like the heat, you can store your own recipes -- but they tried to make it intuitive to use instead of putting it all in a menu.
And they failed disastrously.
I still can’t remember if the timer is ‘left trigger and up arrow’ or ‘right trigger and down arrow’. All I know is that the other option has you declaring that your concoction is done with no confirmation check.
And yes.
That is very, very, very frustrating.
So. E+.
The Lore: B-
This one took a lot of thinking on my part.
On the one hand, part of the previously high rating was due to revealing things that I now know I flat-out missed in the first two games. Seriously, how many times does it have to say ‘Fratlord is an ass’ for me to get it…?
On the other hand, the lore still takes a clear step up in the series, starting with AC3. The series has just reached the point where the number of goddesses are getting hard to keep track of. A full nine of them, when AC 1 only had five. And as fans of the series know:
‘If something weird happens, it’s the gods doing Fuckery’.
And a lot of weird things happen in AC3. Just the fact that there is a tribe of Futanari left to claim revenge when they were all killed in AC1 is a huge red flag! And we get to learn about some of the things happening behind the scenes, like how the difficulty curve is due to the goddess of monsters taking a side.
Which I actually missed my first playthrough! But that’s why the closer you get to the Futanari village, the harder the fights get! The Goddess of Monsters is actively manipulating where the stronger opponents go, to make it more difficult for the Futanari!
Not to mention how if you start the secret, secondary path, and become a futanari yourself, you get massive amounts of information on your new master: Goddess Futaba.
AC3 remains the first game where the lore is so clear… as clear as it gets in Alchemical Corruption, anyway… and thus, I couldn’t justify lowering the score too much.
Therefore, its new rating is: D-
The New Average: D-
Ultimately, like all games in the series. Alchemical Corruption 3: Revenge of the Futanari is worth it for die-hard fans. It has the series' usual tongue-in-cheek humor, and as a whole, things remain mostly competent.
However, the terrible art, and how they utterly failed the sublime gameplay of AC2, both really drag down the total score.
Looking at it with fresh eyes, I can’t justify giving it anything greater than a D-, with a note that if you can get past the art (by installing an art mod) and can get used to the gameplay, there is something worth playing here.
The lore is fascinating, as is seeing how the gods work behind the scenes. The reason behind the rebellion has disappointed many, but I personally find it very satisfying. Or, if not satisfying, then at least fitting for the series.
If you’re a diehard fan, by all means, play it. You won’t be disappointed.
If you’re looking to stick your toes in the water…
…Please play any other game in the series.
I beg you!
This series is underrated as it is!
So once again, my final score is:
Art: F+
Sex: C+
Game: E+
Lore: B
Average: D
This is Hentai Sentai Sentry, signing off!