Being trans myself, it’s no surprise I enjoy a good game that features transgender themes. That said, not all of them have to be serious takes on the concept. Sometimes you just want a fun experience that is full of humor but still reverent towards the subject matter. And Max’s Big Bust has certainly given players plenty of both. With the final story build finally out, it’s about time to look at the releases and game as a whole.
We’ve already covered a lot of the early builds of Max’s Big Bust previously, so you can read up on them first if you want. I can wait. Done? Good. Let’s continue. So, there have been a total of around 13 or 14 builds released over the time since the game got funded on Kickstarter. The finale just went live about a week or so ago, and I have to say it was worth the wait.
My favorite part about Max’s Big Bust, apart from the obvious storyline, is in the puzzle department. I’ve covered them before, but they bear repeating again. It’s rare to see adventure game tropes make it into a visual novel, but Lach and company did a great job at incorporating several puzzling puzzles. While simple for a veteran such as myself, they were still clever enough to make me smile whenever I managed to successfully solve one of them.
Max’s Big Bust is pretty long for a visual novel. I’d say it runs almost twice as long as the average game in this genre. Definitely moreso if you’re not used to investigation puzzles. And I’ve only experienced one path so far. Even then, I only played it piecemeal as the game was released in monthly passes. I certainly look forward to playing completely through for all the romance options.
As far as visual novels go, Max’s Big Bust is the one I gave the most money to on Kickstarter and I don’t regret giving as much as I have. In fact, of them all this is the one I’ve enjoyed playing the most. And not just for the story, either. I’ve talked a lot with Lach over Steam while playing the game. I’ve gotten to see sneak peeks at upcoming patches before anyone else has. It’s small things like this that make me want to support a creative even more.
The final build of Max’s Big Bust is pretty short, but it is a satisfying conclusion. We finally find out the truth behind the strange marbles and MinX, and the case finally gets closed by the crazy people at the Axon City police department. Seriously, how some of these people got their jobs are beyond me. Anyway, if there is one gripe I have about the ending is that it’s ended. It’s a great ending, but I was hoping for more.
That said, it does leave things wide open for the next game Lach is working on. We covered Alluna and Brie previously, but unfortunately it didn’t get funded. Thankfully, Lach is still dedicated to working on this game and I look forward to getting to play that one too. This sort of sequel brings a lot of the recurring characters from this game into it, continuing (I hope) the story.
In all, I’ve really enjoyed every release of Max’s Big Bust. Every build has left me in stitches, and I’ve loved every bad joke made throughout. Even the gender related jokes are tasteful and funny. The inclusion of investigation puzzles are a great touch for a genre that’s little more than a “choose your own adventure” game.
