Story & Playability
Story Introduction
The Four Goddesses of the Console War are in a dispute... as usual.
The Goddesses' emnity for each other is obvious and they aren't doing anything to keep mum about it , but
since Neptune didn't take on either sides , the three other Goddesses decides to banish Neptune to the world below
instead.
Upon awakening , Neptune finds herself in her human form , with her memories gone and a mysterious voice whom attempts
to guide her to saving the world.
Character Sypnosis
Neptune
The Goddess governing Planeptune , the most advanced City of all.
As she has lost her memories , she bears a very innocent and child-like personality , not unlikeable but she still stirs
up annoyance amongst some of her friends.
Neptune / Purple Heart
As a divine being , Neptune displays a firmer personality and does appear a lot more mature than before.
Perhaps reliable would be the better word.
Black Heart
The Goddess governing Lastation , an industrial city that seeks progression.
Whilst putting up a strong and tough personality , she is actually quite fond of cats and does display a cute side of
herself from time to time.
Green Heart
The Goddess governing Leanbox , the land of green pastures.
She is relatively more calm and soft-spoken compared to the other Goddesses , but her words does really sting when she
is annoyed , though her tone doesn't actually really change.
White Heart
The Goddess governing Lowee , a fairytail-like city that snows all year round.
While she may appear shy and soft-spoken at first glance , she is actually fiery in nature and speaks the most uncouth
of languages amongst all four goddesses when she is annoyed.
Compa
She is a nurse-in-training and despite her kind nature , she is also fairly air-headed , though perhaps not as
air-headed as Neptune herself.
IF
Pronounced as "I-eh-fuh" , she is perhaps the most sensible person in the party , early on in the game.
Though relatively smarter compared to the other two ( Compa and Neptune ) , she does bear a good nature at heart like
her companions.
Story Overview
........ Cheesy , how incredibly.... cheesy.
The storyline is so... incredibly bad that I feel like sinking into my knees and bawl my eyes out.
Honestly , there isn't much to be said about it's storyline.
Essentially , it's a spoof of the Console War you see on the net brought to a game setting , that in itself is a
unique concept which I have never seen before , but the way it is developed is.... lazily done.
Well , for one thing , most of the characters and elements in the game are named after existing companies and
consoles.
Lowee , for example , is a word-play on "Wii" , whilst Leanbox is a word-play on "Xbox".
The characters themselves aren't unlikeable but... It's like watching a typical Magical Girl Anime with a
bunch of incredibly moe but stupid girls running about blowing monsters up.
Well , IF and the other three Goddesses are smart though , but still , it's not as though their personalities and
background are well-enforced.
This game may not even prove as entertaining as Disgaea , for the jokes aren't as good and the storyline is just...
not as "captivating" as in Disgaea , for Disgaea have MUCH MORE events to keep the player rolling on like a
barrel.
Honestly , the story is so feeble and pathetic that there isn't really much to say about it.
If I have to put it in a nutshell , it's like a typical "Moe Girls Saving the World" kinda thing and that
is in itself a problem - Males are almost non-existent in the plotline.
I believe this is the first time I've given anything a 2 :(
Rating: 2
Graphics
Graphics Review
To be fair , this game is somewhat an eye-candy.
Most 3D models of Anime characters tend to look , well , awkward but in this game , the faces and stature of the
characters does actually look cute.
The CGs of special events is also fairly well-drawn , though perhaps not as breathtaking as in Visual Novels like White
Album , it does somewhat bring out the cuteness amongst the scenes.
HOWEVER , I do certainly wish they had put in more effort into the environmental setting and the interactive obstacles
of the game. Their poorly animated and the dungeons look practically the same wherever you go.
Not to mention that the monsters are somewhat lacking in variety.
The battle Animations does also look relatively cheesy at times due to the poorly managed animation sequences and camera
settings.
Rating: 7
Sound
Music Review
To be honest , the music in this game is pretty unique.
Perhaps to be on theme , most of the songs sounds fairly... mechanic as in the game setting , but mixing it up with the
occasional choir.
But truth be told , there isn't a single song that's particularly note worthy in this game , most of them are
made for the game and they as themselves are not worthy to be listened to outside the game itself.
Voice Review
One of the benefits in this game is that it allows the player to choose whether they want an English Dub or to play
through the game in it's original Japanese voice setting.
To put it bluntly , the English voice actors are above-average , but the thing is , their voices don't match with
their roles.
Neptune , whilst in her loli form - I mean , her human form , sounds a bit too old for her appearance.
It's like seeing Rick Astley sing when he was still young , the voice is kinda mismatched with the face.
But the Japanese voices are different for they match up well to their roles , the lolis sound like a loli , the airhead
sounds like an airhead and the Tsundere sounds... well , like a Tsundere.
But still , I do certainly wish that they'd sound a bit more lively in their conversations at times.
Rating: 6
Fun
= This is a Review of Hyperdimension Neptunia
=
... This game is honestly speaking , very poorly made.
The only defining trait in this game is the cute girls and nothing more.
The storyline is bad , there isn't even enough fan-services for a fan-service game ( EVEN AGAREST CAN DO BETTER! )
, the jokes are bad and the gameplay itself? Could be better.
Still , I've seen worse games than this , if your fond of Magical Girls and all that moe , you could probably get
this , but for hardcore gamers and JRPG fans , stay away from this like a disease.
It does bear it's unique traits and features , but the developers seriously need to buck up and put more effort
into evaluating these features' true worth and bring them to the next level.
Overall ( Others )
Age Rating : Teen
Gameplay
The gameplay structure is similar to any other JRPGs in terms of it's fundamental structure.
Turn based , select commands... Yeah , it's like any other JRPGs.
However , the player have to choose up to four different moves.
Attack , Shoot , Melee or Block and perform a combo by chanining the offensive moves together until your Action Points
reaches it's limits.
To make things a bit more interesting , the player can customize the combos with skills their characters have learnt and
the only problem is memorising the combo that leads to these attacks in question.
So it does offer a bit of customization and strategizing , particularly since unlike most JRPGs , you can't use a
potion just because you willed it so , you need to set the skill allocation of your characters in order for them to use
a potion and the likelihood of using it depending on the percentage rate.
So in some ways , this game does occasionally offer a challenge , since you can't heal yourself through the usual
means of selecting a potion from your bag.
Just to add on on things a bit , this game also requires a large dungeon , monster and quest variety.
Everything feels roughly the same if you ask me.
Dressing Up :
Well , you can dress your characters in strange outfits like a Nurse uniform , bikinis and pretty much all the fan
service stuff you tend to find in Anime.
Though costumes doesn't come cheap in the game.
Trivia :
- Most of the characters and settings are based off games , companies and even consoles alike.
- Neptune is the most unique as she is based off the scrapped Sega Neptune
Reviewer's Comment :
Bad game is bad , but if your into cute girls and lolis , I suppose this game is for you.
However , I won't deny the fact that this game have it's addictive moments , but it is fairly shortlived if I
must say so myself.
Rating: 6
Final Verdict
4.8333 (moderate)
Reviewed by z827, Apr 11, 2011