Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 (PS Vita) Second Opinion Review

By Stuart Lawrence 24.01.2015

Review for Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 on PS Vita

HyperDimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 is the remake of the first game that originally appeared on PlayStation 3 and stars a girl named Neptune who's real identity is the Goddess "CPU" called "Purple Heart." At the beginning of the game, Purple Heart is kicked out of the Goddess plane during a fight for control over "Gameindustri" against the other CPUs. She falls to a place known as Planeptune where she's found by a girl named Compa. During the fall, Neptune had lost her memories, so the girls go on an adventure to find them. To celebrate the release of the PS Vita sequel, Cubed3 takes a second look at the original in this second opinion review, the C3-2-1 for HyperDimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 on PlayStation Vita.

The game is a dungeon crawling RPG, the chapters start with a main storyline but extra quests can be acquired from the main cities as well. Every dungeon has a set path, with enemies scattered around, and the end point usually has a boss. Each dungeon has three types of enemy: weak monsters that will chase if spotted by them; strong monsters that won't chase but can be faced for fights as an option; and an end boss that's part of an event.

Also in the dungeons are items that float around to be picked up, plus there is also one special hidden item per dungeon that can only be found with the item search button. Additionally, players can jump onto higher platforms to further explore, and there are even hidden dungeons if completing certain requests.

If hitting a monster first, it is advantage to the defending team with a first move called a Symbol Attack, yet missing the monster gives it the advantage, and the same is true if it strikes from behind. Battles are turn-based with up to four attacks per move, and there are basic attacks that do a small amount of damage per hit, SP Skills that vary from character to character, the EXE drive, and a choice to defend. Items can also be used and characters swapped out using the Partner System. The order of the battle is shown with cards on the top-right corner of the screen, so this can be used to add strategy to fights.

Screenshot for Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 on PS Vita

The Partner System allows for two characters to be tied together to swap out when needed. In battle, only up to three characters can be on the field at once, swapping the characters who are partnered up at any time during battle, unless one of the characters is knocked out. The best way to partner up characters is using the Lily Rank System, which shows how friendly each one is with another, and teaming up like this will help increase the friendship levels between them.

Neptune and some other characters also have the special ability to turn into their Goddess forms, which increases their powers significantly and is a big help during boss battles, which can become long winded.

Graphically, the game isn't great; it's colourful and functional and that's all that's really needed. However, there is a lot of slowdown when monsters spawn nearby, but thankfully it does not affect the gameplay much. The game's music isn't very memorable either. The voices can be played in both English and Japanese, with the English version not giving a full voice over, so sometimes there can be a lot of reading text boxes. There's also some fan service with revealing costumes and jiggle physics, as well as lots of references to companies in the game industry, so people playing may like those.

Screenshot for Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 on PS Vita

Cubed3 Rating

7/10
Rated 7 out of 10

Very Good - Bronze Award

Rated 7 out of 10

Overall, HyperDimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 is a fun game. It can get ridiculously hard and players may find themselves unexpectedly under-levelled in a lot of places, though. However, there are lots of trophies for those who like to collect them on PSN, and some of them practically give themselves away.

Developer

Felistella

Publisher

Idea Factory

Genre

Turn Based RPG

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  7/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  7/10 (1 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

Comments

Comments are currently disabled

Subscribe to this topic Subscribe to this topic

If you are a registered member and logged in, you can also subscribe to topics by email.
Sign up today for blogs, games collections, reader reviews and much more
Site Feed
Who's Online?
Azuardo, Ofisil

There are 2 members online at the moment.