Developer: Compile Heart, Idea Factory, Felistella
Publisher: Idea Factory International
Platform: PS Vita, PS TV
Tested on: PS TV
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3: V Generation – Review
It hasn’t been long since the Hypderdimension Neptunia Hypercollection passed our editorial staff and yet the last title from the collection makes its appearance again, albeit with a slightly different name. Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3: V Generation happens to be the remake of the original Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, except it now sees its release on the Vita instead of the PlayStation 3. Tinker with your time machines as we are diving back into another dimension to pay a second visit.
Story
With the defeat of the Deity of Sin, it seems things have gone back to normal in the game driven world of Gamindustri. Neptune, Vert, Blanc and Noire are the CPUs who govern Planeptune, Leanbox, Lowee and Lastation respectively. When all CPUs and their sisters go back to their happy-go-lucky lives of playing games and slacking off, it seems no actual work is getting done. Histoire, the matriarch of all the CPUs, swoops in to get Neptune, as she is the biggest offender, to stop messing around and get some work done. After a sleep inducing speech from Histoire, Neptune and her younger sister Nepgear start doing quests to create a bit of order around Planeptune.
After a lot of moping and procrastinating, Neptune finally starts shaping up and does a slight effort in showing her underlings that she is capable of being a CPU once again. Nonetheless, it seems there is an anti-CPU protest going on, which really needs to be stopped. When Neptune and Nepgear face the protest, which in reality is only a one-man protest, the shy protestor, Rei, runs off. With Rei being down in the dumps, she feels useless, as if she is the wrong person to defend her cause. When an evil presence detects her desperation and presents her with new powers, things are about to get interesting, especially when Neptune faces her again. During the second kind, but awkward showdown, Neptune gets dragged into a portal and disappears, leaving the protestor with a sudden boost of confidence.
Meanwhile Neptune falls from the sky (which apparently she is getting used to from the other games) in a place that looks a lot like Planeptune, but also very different. Little did she know she was sent to the past, in an alternative dimension, where she would never be a CPU. Now everything becomes a struggle to get home, in a familiar yet hostile world. War might not be that far off in this ‘hyperdimension’.
Overall the story progresses the same as in the other Hyperdimension Neptunia titles. You’ll be treated to many (semi-)visual novel sequences, with a lot of references to other existing games and the necessary dose of humor to keep things light. Not that much has changed in the story department of this game.
Graphics
Overall Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3: V Generation looks like a sharper version of the original Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory. All of the characters received a bit of extra polish, removing all the rough edges. The main cast still shows off their sexy female side, that will surely please the many fans. As always, the characters will prove to be the highlight of the game. Other than that, not that much has changed.
Sadly, this means the environments were still quite empty, with a few good looking enemies scattered around the place. It would have been great to have seen some extra improvements to the dungeon areas, as they still feel as empty as it was common during the early years of the PlayStation 3.
The visual novel portions of the game remain extremely detailed with a cast that could come right out of a grade A anime series, with bright colors and decent backgrounds. A great way to enjoy most of the conversations in the game.
Overall the overworld (map) where you’ll be spending a lot of time either obtaining new information or navigating yourself to new quests, will have the same amount of bright colors that go hand in hand with the otherwise light mood the game is aiming for.
Sound
As always, the Hyperdimension Neptunia games have a huge amount of superb voice acting, mainly during the story portions of the game. Every conversation feels natural, pleasant and amusing. On the other hand the ‘taglines’ during combat tend to get annoying as they are constantly being looped. Nonetheless, the overall voice acting experience is top notch.
Music is quite upbeat, making you want to rush through the dungeons and conquer all of your pesky videogame-like foes. Whilst some tunes might be looped a tad too much, they never really get annoying. Overall a good job.
Gameplay
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3: V Generation feels like an old school J-RPG and you’ll mostly be spending your time completing quests in order to gain the proper experience to tackle even harder quests to progress with the story of the game. Everything proves to be quite straightforward, with a few twists along the road.
As the only roaming around you’ll be doing is in the actual dungeons, you’ll first have to navigate on a map and scroll through menus in order to go to a dungeon, accept new quests or learn about the inhabitant of Gamindustri. All of this happens on a retro-ish map, where everything is easily found and after a short while all of the required actions will become fairly straightforward.
To initiate combat in Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3: V Generation, you’ll have to step up to the monsters that run around freely in the dungeon you’re currently at. When you hit the monster before it notices you, you’ll have an advantage in combat and you will be allowed to move first. When the combat actually begins, you’ll experience a turn based battle system, with a small amount of freedom. As in many of the Neptunia games, all of your characters will have a limited amount of ‘Action Points’ which they can use to perform specific actions. Simple attacks will only cost a limited amount of AP, whilst special moves will end your turn immediately. Switching from normal mode, to the powerful HDD mode will cost nothing to activate. Nonetheless, after that it’s the same principle concerning normal and special attacks. When your turn(s) are ended, your opponents will start fighting you. As all combat happens in a small circular zone, you’ll be able to reposition yourself to choose your next victim. This is very convenient, although the enemy can do the same thing.
As the game progresses and your party starts expanding, you’ll be able to let characters work together to make combat go even smoother or do extra damage during your turn. Whilst this is not available at the beginning and is perhaps a tad unclear, once you get the hang of it, some of the advantages come in handy.
Truth be told, whilst the combat is fairly enjoyable, other than roaming around in small dungeons, fighting and navigating on the map, there is not that much extra to do in the game. The foundation of the game is solid, but for a modernized version of Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, some extras would have been nice.
Conclusion
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3: V Generation is a decent remake of Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, but it also feels like a missed opportunity to truly give the game an updated feel. Nonetheless, for those who haven’t played the original, it’s certainly a fun title to expand your PlayStation Vita or TV library. Prepare to crack a few smiles in this otherworldly experience.
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3: V Generation - Review,
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