That chick on the left is the tough one. Because her hair is not pink or purple.
By: Casey Curran
Nope. Not going to do it. When Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory had a moment where three of the characters gathered the power to fight one of the bosses, causing them to turn into giant breasted dominatrix, which was followed by the three of them taking a bath, I was ready to turn this review into a rant wondering how stuff like this can even exist.
Then I calmed myself, reminded myself that this game is self-aware of how weird it is, and that it is just for a small niche that I am a part of. And that is the one thing that you should take away from this review: If the picture above does nothing for you and/or annoys you, this game will not be for you.
CONTROLS (3.75/5)
Victory has very standard RPG controls. Towns are explored using menus while other areas are explored in a more standard third-person view. Enemies are seen on the field where you can attack to ambush them or be ambushed by them. Like most RPGs that try these enemy encounters, this system has a number of issues as it seemed like getting an ambush more random chance than good timing.
Combat is done by moving to your target, which opens up melee attacking options along with a few spells and item management existing outside there. This works, but it presents a problem when selecting multiple targets for one attack, as selecting your targets can only be accomplished by moving with the left stick, which was too finicky for me to line up an attack well. Often I would just be moving around like an idiot trying to line up my attack to hit multiple enemies.
GRAPHICS/SOUND (3.25/5)
Victory is a very bright and colorful game that uses the cel-shaded style effectively to create a game that masks its graphical limitations well. That being said, it might actually be too bright and colorful as it caused me to actually take breaks from playing as the brightness of the game started to strain my eyes — to the point where the 3D maxed out on my 3DS strained my eyes less. Another thing to point out is this game’s aesthetic will only appeal to a specific audience, so if you are not a part of that you’re unlikely to be impressed by the graphics.
What I cannot say I enjoyed is the voices. When the least annoying character shares the same voice as Chie from Persona 4 Golden, you know you’re in for trouble. Specifically, the main character has an annoying voice, which when combined with her catchphrases and tones made me want to mute the game more than a few times. The worst of it is the gameplay voiceovers, which are limited to a handful of catchphrases that got repetitive halfway into my first section of the game; even if they did not annoy the crap out of me.
It provided a strange contrast, however, because while the bits where characters were hanging out with each other were very annoying, the plot-focused ones were actually very witty with some excellent jokes making all kinds of video game and pop culture references. I was always looking forward to when the story would advance for this reason.
GAMEPLAY (3.25/5)
The best part about this game is how addicting it makes grinding. There is a quest system that makes going out and fighting bad guys feel more productive than leveling up. Not only this, but while the game offers standard leveling, it also gives level up perks that act like an achievement system. Jumping, taking damage and even standing still all provide nice stat bonuses, which provide an extra layer of addictiveness. Combine this with how quickly and fluidly battles go by and you’ve got game that’s able to make leveling very addicting.
There were a few issues that keep this from working as well as it should, however. The game has a few instances after boss battles where it puts you in a new area where you’re under-leveled with quests being exclusively for that area. Combine this with how a death results in starting over from your last save and these moments hurt the game a lot as they forced me to choose between fighting enemies for too little of a reward or risking losing a good chunk of progress.
Another problem is that, while the game does do a great job with making battles go by quick, it stumbles during instances that require more depth. There is too little of a difference between your alternate attacks, and while the number of spells you have does increase, it is not enough for boss battles to become interesting. In reality, the combat exists only to get you to the next cut scene, which is why this game is so niche. Everything revolves around catering to its audience with little else for people outside of it.
OVERALL (3.25/5)
I do not want anyone thinking Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory is a game where the individual elements are what is important; they’re not, the Lolita aesthetic is. I am not going to call this game bad because it is not, but it is not one that I would recommend to many people, especially if they are outside this game’s target audience. If you are a part of this, then the game will offer a wealth of content and addictive yet slightly repetitive combat. Personally, the game’s Lolita girls made me need to take a God of War break every hour to keep me from wanting to gouge my eyes out. I am not even that big of a God of War fan either, I just needed the exact opposite of what this game provides.
RotoRob GAMING 