I guess the idea is that one might want to win a debate in order to get their pick of the locations, but since it all feels so random and haphazard, we just skipped the debating altogether. The winner of a debate (selected by the people on the couch, the game has no input) then gets to go first when choosing a location in the next round. When playing with partners it’s the same experience, except that between rounds MPXXL asks extra questions meant to generate debate between players in real life – for example, every person speaks a random item aloud, and then the group debates which one would make the “sexiest” adult toy. Monster Prom XXL promotes a multiplayer mode (up to four) so I was guessing that the special sauce it was missing might be found with at least one friend and probably a few beers, but… again, no. With this in mind, I recruited my wife to join me in a session. Monster Prom XXL eschews all that and instead goes for something that comes off like coldly aloof speed-dating, which is what lends it an air of being something meant for groups of people - perhaps crowd reactions might help jazz things up? There’s an attempt at romance, or at the very least, sexual interest.
I’ve played a fair number of visual novels and dating sims, and they all at least try to offer a process for getting to know someone or figuring out who might be the best match. If this process sounds mechanical and straightforward… that’s because it is. If not, they’ll turn the player down cold and have a laugh about it. If the player’s earned enough of the kind of points their desired monster likes, they’ll agree to go.
But, like the initial questioning, it’s never clear which stat(s) will be affected, nor what effect any answer will have.Īt the end of the game (roughly 30 mins for a short session, 60 for a full run in singleplayer) the chance to ask a chosen demi-human to the prom presents itself. After picking between Class, Auditorium, Gym and more, they get a tiny snippet of situation setup and a choice that will either boost or take away from one or more stats. Once done with Q&A, players find themselves on a map-style representation of a monster-teen high school with six different locations to visit, and only one can be selected per round. The player begins by choosing a character from four semi-human options (two male and two female, the differences are cosmetic) and answers a few questions that are more outlandish than might be found in a Cosmo quiz - queries like “what kind of wild animal would you have sex with?’ or “what would your stripper name be?” The answers award points in categories like Smarts, Boldness, Charm and more, but it’s a surprise which answers give which kind of points. LOW Everything feels too weightless and random.Īt first glance, Monster Prom XXL looks like a visual novel with dating sim elements (or perhaps a dating sim with visual novel elements?) but after spending time with it in both solo and multi, it seems like maybe it’s a party game? I gotta be honest, I’m not quite sure what it is.