Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse

In 1973, Earth was invaded by an alien species known only as the BETA. With their massive size and seemingly endless numbers, they conquered most of Eurasia In the span of a few decades, and it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the globe falls as well. Mankind’s last hope are the Tactical Surface Fighters: powerful humanoid machines that can stand up to the alien threat. But the enemy’s numbers grow greater by the day, and we’ll need new and better weapons if we’re to have any hope of survival…

May 2001. Yukon Base, Alaska, is home to Project Prominence, an international Tactical Surface Fighter (TSF) development initiative. Here, the best pilots and engineers in the world gather to make the weapons that will save mankind’s future.

After his involvement in a fatal training accident, maverick American test pilot Yuuya Bridges is removed from his unit and assigned to Argus Flight, a TSF development unit based in the frigid Alaskan wastes. There, he will work with a joint American & Japanese R&D team to build a new, next-generation fighter for the Empire of Japan.

From the moment he arrives, his cocky, anti-social attitude puts him at odds with the other members of his team, from his fellow test pilots to the project’s overseer and his direct superior, the stern and by-the-book Lieutenant Takamura Yui.

Yui is the daughter of a traditional samurai household, who was the only survivor of her unit during the battle where the Empire’s capital was destroyed. Traumatized by the events of the battle and devoted to her family’s code of honor, she’s dedicated herself completely to her mission, which makes her constantly clash with Yuuya. Their constant fighting soon puts the whole project in jeopardy.

To make matters worse, Yuuya comes to realize that Yukon Base is rife with international intrigue, as each nation tries to steal each other’s secrets and ensure that when the war against the BETA is over, they’ll be the ones with the most powerful weapons.

As the alien threat grows greater by the day, can he overcome his differences with Yui and complete the weapon that will end the BETA threat forever?
Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse, Synopsis by Publisher

Buy Now ON Steam

Technicalities

Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse is a visual novel developed by âge-soft and published by aNCHOR. This release on Steam is a remastered version and there it seems there are notable changes between the original PlayStation 3 version and this one. It’s worth pointing out that Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse also has an anime adaptation that aired in 2012. There are major differences between the visual novel and the anime, and the VN covers more.

The visual novel is split into 19 episodes covering four major arcs. Each episode is about 2 hours long and can be completed in about 47 hours. There are other installments of the Muv-Luv franchise, but you can jump right in to this one as Total Eclipse is a spin-off of Muv-Luv Alternative.

Plot

In 1973, an alien species known as BETA (Beings of the Extra Terrestrial origin which is Adversary of human race) invaded Earth and nearly drove humans to extinction. To fight them, humanity developed the Tactical Surface Fighter (TSF) which resembles a mecha.

In 2001, elite pilots around the world gathered at Yukon Base, a United Nations military base in Alaska, to participate in Project Prominence, which is a joint-project between America and Soviet Union on research and development of next-generation TSFs.

In the same year, Japan needed a new TSF for the frontlines which led to the creation of the XFJ Project, a joint development program between Japan and the United States. The XFJ Project is led by Yui Takamura while its main test pilot is Yuuya Bridges. Plagued with your typical US-vs-Soviet politics and the US betrayal of Japan in the past, will the XFJ Project come to fruition?

Characters

Being set in a military base of the United Nations, you can very much expect diverse nationalities in the story: American, Japanese, Soviet, Nepalese, Swedish, Italian, Turkish, and Chinese. Luckily, everyone speaks fluent Japanese in America, but that part’s irrelevant.

Starting with the Argus Test Flight of the XFJ Project, 2nd Lt. Yuuya Bridges serves as the main test pilot. He comes from the United States Army. He’s quite a douchebag at first but he gets the job done. He hates the Japanese with a passion and, ironically, he’s Japanese-American.

The next important figure in the XFJ Project is 1st Lt. Yui Takamura who is the project lead and a member of the Japanese Imperial Royal Guard. She was sent on a mission to develop Japan’s next mainline TSF. As the daughter of a samurai, she exhibits discipline. She would stop at nothing to accomplish whatever mission is assigned to her.

The other members of the Argus Test Flight include 2nd Lt. Tarisa Manandal the hothead, 2nd Lt. Valerio Giacosa the playboy, 2nd Lt. Stella Bremer the older-sister figure, 1st Lt. Ibrahim Dogulu the team commander, and lastly the three operators Sgt. Niram Rawamunando, Cpl. Phoebe Theodorakis, and Cpl. Lida Canales.

In the Soviet side, the Idol Test Flight involves 2nd Lt. Inia Sestina and 2nd Lt. Cryska Barchenowa who are the pilots of their development team. Inia is the cutest character and the most mysterious while Cryska is the motherly figure of Inia. 1st Lt. Jerzy Sandek is Idol’s commanding officer and is practically a master when it comes to politics. Their side of the story is mysterious… and disturbing.

You take on the point of view of two protagonists: 1st Lt. Yuuya Bridges and 2nd Lt. Yui Takamura. Yuuya Bridges is the main protagonist and you will be spending more time on his view.

Art and Music

Visual novels and mecha actions don’t quite mix. However, I’m surprised to be wrong about this. The developers made a great work making sure we get action scenes despite the usual limitations of a typical visual novel gameplay through a creative placement and movement of sprites rather than your typical background image and character sprites in the same place. The art style features anime-style character design and dull cool colors overall which is a great match to the atmosphere of the story.

The soundtrack matches the military environment well, but the music with vocals gives a lot of life to action scenes where fights between TSFs are involved. All characters are voiced in Japanese except for the main protagonist, Yuuya Bridges, who is only partially voiced.

Imperfections

While Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse isn’t a badly made visual novel, I can’t help but notice some negative experiences along the way.

Starting off is the stuttering lights that are very distracting. This is mostly present in action scenes especially when TSFs fly. There doesn’t seem to be an option to turn this off and there’s no warning about it. Readers suffering from photosensitive epilepsy should take caution when reading this visual novel.

Another thing I noticed is the localization. While I can’t comment on translation as opinion varies and that I’m not an expert in localization matters, surely some translations can be improved. Idioms are present in many parts of the dialogue and some of them might be a little difficult to comprehend especially to those who aren’t well-versed in the English language. However, some of these are essential in the dialogue so we’re kind of stuck with it as well.

I did some digging around and found out that some contents were apparently cut out for Steam release. The removed content is fairly significant, but it shouldn’t affect the main story in some way as it only covers Yui Takamura’s past. Some readers recommend watching the first two episodes of the anime adaptation to make up for it. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a way to restore the original cut content in the game.

Final Thoughts

Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse presents a story of a tragic human situation. Eurasia is devastated by the BETA and humanity is in a losing fight against them. Things are a lot political but I’m glad the political landscape is explained well from one neutral character’s perspective instead of an omniscient narrator explaining it.

One thing I didn’t enjoy very well is that it easily gets boring when it gets technical. The XFJ Program is a development program of mecha. As we don’t have actual mecha TSF in military use, it’s hard to imagine how the technical sides of TSFs function. Sadly, it’s not presented well enough to make it easier to comprehend. I guess watching the anime adaptation might be helpful in appreciating TSFs visually.

For the plot, there are four distinct arcs spanning a total of 47 hours. Every arc has its own build up, climax, and resolution. However, the ending left a lot of questions unanswered: what are the true affiliations of Valerio Giacosa and Tarisa Manandal? What happened to the XFJ Program after the story concluded? What did Sandek mean when he said that Yuuya Bridges is the ultimate catalyst?

Conclusion

Overall, Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse is a great action visual novel featuring humanoid mecha versus alien enemies. There are romantic interests in the game, but romance is not the focus so there’s no heroines to clear. Experience-wise, I wish the game gets improvement on the technical side of things. Plot-wise, it’s very good. It’s linear with few choices, it’s thrilling, and it’s not predictable. On the artistic side, it has good presentation, great voice acting (for the most part), and great music.

We give Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse the Green Mochi Stamp!

It’s a little disappointing that this release of Total Eclipse had some of its contents cut out. Nevertheless, this spin-off of Muv-Luv Alternative presents a thrilling story of mecha development.