The camera shutter clicks and I realize I've been staring at her chest for like ten seconds without actually taking the picture. Classic. Summer Heat knows exactly what it's doing, putting you behind the lens as some photography student who can't keep his mind on the assignment. The whole setup is this summer school thing where you're supposed to be learning, but honestly the curriculum seems to be 90% accidental upskirt opportunities and 10% actual camera settings.

What gets me is how the game handles the "romance" part. You pick dialogue options that are basically "say something smooth" or "say something that makes you sound like you've never spoken to a woman before." I kept choosing wrong somehow. There's this one scene where you're developing photos in the darkroom and the teacher leans over to check your work. The tension is actually good, the CG art does this thing where her expression shifts just slightly between frames. But then my character opened his mouth and said something about f-stops that somehow became an innuendo. I don't even know how that works mechanically. Is there a horny translation filter on everything he says?

The visual novel structure means you're clicking through a lot of text. Sometimes too much. I found myself skipping the school drama parts to get to the scenes that matter, which feels wrong to admit but there it is. The mature content is well drawn, proper hentai CG style with that glossy summer lighting on everything. Makes the characters look perpetually sweaty in a way that's clearly intentional. One scene involves a pool and a swimsuit malfunction that I'm pretty sure defies physics but I wasn't complaining. The photography minigame itself is barely a game. You click when the reticle turns green. That's it. Why even include it? Though I guess it gives your hands something to do.