Ever heard of Hyperdimension Neptunia? I wouldn’t be shocked, it’s never been a popular series due to a sleuth of problems from terrible frame rates that would oddly combine with terrible PS2 looking graphics. It was a very Japanese game, and an RPG that relied more on its fan service rather than its gameplay, but as shown many times before, tits sell games. Now the Neptunia games have had an interesting game mechanics which have always kept me on the brink of interest, just a quirky game with a focus on fan service. So when they released another on the Vita, I thought it couldn’t be too bad, and the RPG elements found in the PS3 games were pretty good. Not one part of me expected what this game was, I mean this is a game about game systems being gods and ruling over “Game industry “Gameindustri”, then find out it’s an idol making game?
Now this isn’t to say this is a bad thing, I mean, sure the whole Idol thing doesn’t really translate over in the west from Japan, but the general idea is the same as the bands we have here, such as Katy Perry ect. So you have Gameindustri being overrun by idols, the people no longer worshiping the gods, who are each a different console company, Nintendo, Sega, Microsoft and Sony. The idols have taken the limelight and have taken the shares away from the gods and they have lost power because of it. Yeah, there isn’t really any sense to be made here, it really is just one of those games where you just have to accept what you’re being told and just deal with it.
So how do these gods get their popularity back? I mean their gods, so divine powers could help, or releasing a new console? Nah lets become idols ourselves and get back at them for taking our popularity, which seems like one of those plot devices that was thought up in a bar when slightly drunk. So they pull over a random game player who is destined to become their manager, this is you the player who obviously has no experience in managing of the sort, so you have to pick one of the different goddesses and manage them to stardom.
The goddesses who are called CPU’s have two forms, their normal and HD form, which is usually a bad excuse to just make them dress up in more revealing forms and increasing the size of their bust. This can usually be used to gain popularity with your fans, or when performing a show, increase the amount who enjoyed watching it at the end.
If you have played one of the series before, the art style will be familiar with you, each of the 2D images gets manipulated to give the illusion of them moving and breathing in a life way with very little in the way of actual animation that can be seen. Though all of the previous cast are here for you to choose to manage, and each of them with a different personality that can make for multiple play through that feel different each time. Each of the different CPU’s are all attempting to become the most famous and overtake the idols, as the top will gain more sales of their consoles, so it all comes down to a sort of each just trying to sell their console.
To actually get your CPU to stardom, you will have to train them, this can be done once a day, where you can raise different stats, and the CPU’s trust of you, over the course of days, though some of these can fail and reduce stats or give no stats at all randomly. There is also an option just adorned with a heart, this, apparently, allows you to “Get intimate with your CPU if their trust is high enough”… right, well, I guess that could be an incentive for some gamers to really get into this game?
You can also host different events to raise the support of your fans, and gain new ones, which all come from different options usually given with different choices, such as a photo shoot gone wrong with the costumes, so you can suggest to take photos in their HD form, depending on the CPU this can go well or badly.
Finally the concerts, you have to get your CPU to sing and dance on stage, whilst you control the cameras and stage effects. The effects range from spot lights to floating hearts everywhere, and each has a perfect time to be used in different songs, doing so gives you a massive boost in satisfaction for that concert and boost in fans as well. The final addition, you can add to concerts is if timed right, you can get your CPU to change into HD mode, which due to the skimpy nature of it, will give a massive increase to fans of the show as a whole, but the timing can be difficult. Finding the correct timing and stage effect is down to your own tastes and timing, but finding the correct ones takes time and more trial and error than any real skill, or a quick google will give you the answers.
All in all the game is an interesting game for fans of the series, it isn’t anything like any of the others in the series and I think it’s a good idea as it’s something fresh in a series that so far have only delivered a sub-par RPG’s with quite a lot of fan service. Overall for what it is, and that it manages to make an enjoyable game out of one that wasn’t so much before, scores this game a decent 4/5.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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