Review: Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 (Steam)
Packed with fast-paced, turn-based RPG action, fourth-wall-breaking, trope-demolishing dialogue, and more item, weapon, and costume customization than you can shake a Lvl. 1 Stick at, Gamindustri is a world set on turning the concept of the JRPG on its head!
Pros:
- Anime graphics style.
- Japanese/English voice over available.
- Detailed options menu allowing you to change things like: speed up text, invert controls and resolution.
- Full 360 pad support after enabling it through the settings menu.
- Tutorials throughout the game with full screen pop ups.
- Game play is open dungeon exploring and you can see the enemies walking around.
- In dungeons there are chests lying around containing loot like items and weapons.
- Central hub is where you can teleport to other levels, buy/upgrade/sell items. You can also interact with other characters, Here is where you can also save progress, equip new items, Enter the guild and do all the party management stuff.
- The guild can be found in the central hub and is the place to visit to get and hand in quests. You will usually get given a few quests and can be left running in the background and will complete during normal play. Completing quests will advance the story and in turn advance your rank and increase the difficulty of the quests.
- Earn cash,exp and items by defeating enemies in battle.
- You can earn and find memory which is used to unlock game changing options like change item drops in areas. You can even make the game harder in places.
- Battles are turn based but with a free roam aspect. Move around the battlefield to get the advantage. Some characters will let you do multiple attacks by pressing the buttons quickly. Other characters may have moves that specialize in certain things like break or power or rush.
- You can transform into a HDD version of yourself which basically means you have a wardrobe change and have better attacks that deal a lot more damage.
- You can zoom the camera in and out.
- J-Pop soundtrack.
- Level up to increase your base stats.
- Huge boss fights.
- Detailed and varied worlds to explore.
- Can re visit unlocked areas at any point.
- Find plans, collect the ingredients which are items, Completing the list will unlock the item to be bought from the shops.
- Can fast forward,skip and pause text conversations.
- Huge world map with many levels in them, Find new hub worlds as you progress through the main story.
- The game is really easy to pick up and play, Accessibility is high with this one.
- Whilst in dungeons you can scan the area for hidden treasures, Only a small area of effect but very effective.
- The story itself is a quirky yet entertaining. To be honest you can play for many hours and walk away and instantly forget the story.
- Ongoing support from the devs with a few patches already released.
Cons:
- Enemies respawn back quickly which is annoying when you are trying to find a way out of an area.
- First half an hour is spent reading screens and screens worth of text.
- You spend more time reading and listening to the story than you do actually playing the game.
- No proper lock onto enemies so attacks feel messy and inaccurate.
- Despite what you read, In game you cannot set the resolution to 1080.
- Few slight frame drops and screen tearing.
- No real prominent notification of completing a task.
- Side quests have no real relevance and to be honest you soon forget they even exist.
In Summary, Despite a rocky start to Idea Factory’s debut Steam port, Things have quickly begin to turn around. For after a few issues with controllers and DLC, The game is running a lot better. What you get here is a RPG dungeon crawler Anime edition. The game is very playable and has some cool fighting sequences and set pieces. Cameo appearances aplenty coupled with some brilliant game changing options, The game is a lot of fun. But be under no illusions, The game does get brutal in places and does rely a lot on grinding to level players up. Its a game you would ideally drop into for a few hours here and there than play flat out. One for the fans and its fantastic to see it make the move to PC gaming. New players, Welcome and please enjoy your stay!