Hyperdimension Neptunia

 PlayStation 3
User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 135 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 78 out of 135
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 135
  3. Negative: 35 out of 135
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  1. dekomata
    Aug 18, 2013
    4
    As much as I loved this series, the first game in the series is pretty bad. And I'm not gonna be biased about it at all as I've played through the game and went through hell accomplishing some of the stuff thrown at me by this game. Repetitive combat, boring dungeon layouts, and a messed up item system hurts the gameplay of this game, made worse when some of the backgrounds and enemies areAs much as I loved this series, the first game in the series is pretty bad. And I'm not gonna be biased about it at all as I've played through the game and went through hell accomplishing some of the stuff thrown at me by this game. Repetitive combat, boring dungeon layouts, and a messed up item system hurts the gameplay of this game, made worse when some of the backgrounds and enemies are ripped STRAIGHT from other games (Trinity Universe and Ar Tonelico being some of them). I also should mention that battles become nothing as soon as Neptune learns a certain move that you can spam over and over with no penalty until you win. Character DLC is pretty crap too since said characters join your party but you need to buy a ticket in order to use them, save for the actual DLC characters that came after them. What hurts it more is the game doesn't explain anything about how the shares system works, which is essential if you want to recruit 3 specific characters. It also doesn't say that restarting a fight that you died on hurts shares too so if you die too much and just choose to retry when it asks you to, it secretly removes your shares, which will make it impossible to recruit those characters. The story itself isn't that bad, and its good for laughs, but then the game just starts repeating itself storywise once you get further. Even then, the final boss is disappointing, who returns in the next 2 games as a stock boss enemy.

    Overall, I wouldn't really touch this game again since the other two games from this series are a whole lot better than this one. I'd only recommend it to a VN fanatic or a crazy otaku who doesn't mind playing a half baked game involving girls who represents today's consoles. RPG fans should look somewhere else since this game would most likely not be worth their time. Even though this exact game got me into this series, I really don't see myself touching it ever again.    … Expand
  2. Dynel
    Dec 26, 2014
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. in one word: Appalling. Can't believe this garbage passes as "RPG" much less "JRPG" , first, the reason of why a low score:

    Story: Or what passes for one. Seriously, it is so bad, I wanted to "UNSEE" the story. It's beyond idiocy that this game was launched at all. It is about the "war of the Consoles". Except there is no real war, all the "CPU" seem to be good friends. They band together to destroy a threat to the gaming industry. Pirate games. Yep, the whole "plot" of the three games, this one line. Do not bother to try and get more, there is no such thing.

    Voices and Music: 8 bit like music in the first dungeon, coupled with bad voice acting, be either japanese or english, I wanted to rip my ears off. So, I muted the game.

    Art and graphics: Moderate. Not good. But bad, yes. Graphics are a mess. You will get lost in the dungeons. A lot.

    Game play and battle system: Appalling. If you want to connect more "hits" cut the animation for the attack. Always. Because you have a gauge that determines the amount of hits you can land, and seeing the animation consumes time. Really?! that's a miss if you ask me. Controls are clunky and stupid.

    Overall: AVOID. This is one of those games that were released for a niche people I call "perverts" because the game has overabundance of "fan service". If you want more ecchi go and play an ecchi game already, it will have better story plot than this piece of garbage.

    score: -10. I refuse to recognize this as a game. much less rpg.    … Expand
  3. PsychoG
    Dec 29, 2014
    3
    As a fan of JRPG's generally speaking, I had high hopes that I'd enjoy Hyperdimension and initially I enjoyed myself, getting a few laughs out of the often clever game industry parody humor, even if the over-sexualised characters and innuendo occasionally made me feel a tad uncomfortable.

    However, once the actual game play was introduced, that's when things got pretty ugly. The combat    As a fan of JRPG's generally speaking, I had high hopes that I'd enjoy Hyperdimension and initially I enjoyed myself, getting a few laughs out of the often clever game industry parody humor, even if the over-sexualised characters and innuendo occasionally made me feel a tad uncomfortable.

    However, once the actual game play was introduced, that's when things got pretty ugly. The combat felt extremely clunky and unresponsive with characters often taking a pause after each individual strike despite my having pressed the button to continue the combo and while it was something I could have adjusted to, the lack of a traditional healing system made things extremely frustrating. While I didn't hate the system and even believe it would be great in conjunction with a traditional system to make things more efficient (Ie, a character auto-heals themselves in battle using a specified item or ability when they drop too low instead of you having to tell them to do it), on it's own it quickly left characters too low on health to trigger the heal before they were knocked out, thus leaving them stuck on 1 HP.

    The graphics on the other hand, are a mixed bag. The anime-style frames and scenes look extremely nice and clean however the actual modeled game world and character sprites leave a lot to be desired. They really didn't look good and many of the dungeon designs were extremely simplistic and uninspired.

    Someone enjoying Hyperdimension Neptunia is going to ultimately come down being able to look past a multitude of problems with the core mechanics. If you enjoy anime or JRPGs and can look past the shortcomings in the combat system, the average game world graphics and the over-sexualisation of the characters and dialogue then there's enough clever humor to have your share of enjoyment. Otherwise, it's probably best to stay away.

    + Clever game industry related humor
    + Great game to play 'Guess the reference'
    + Anime style frames and scenes look great
    + Extensive combo building system

    - Clunky and unresponsive combat system
    - Frustrating healing system that takes too much control away from the player
    - Ugly and uninspired graphics outside of the anime styled scenes
    - Repetitive dungeons
    - Over-sexualised characters and dialogue can leave the player feeling uncomfortable (Especially due to characters being presented as quite young)    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

69
#69 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2011
59
#59 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
45

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 31
  3. Negative: 13 out of 31
  1. Playstation Official Magazine Australia
    Oct 6, 2011
    80
    As fun as it can be, Neptunia is an extremely niche title. If the only game you ever play is Black Ops, avoid this like a spinning-up death machine. If, however, you really miss the JRPG heydays of the PSone and PS2, you need this. Now. [June 2011 p76]
  2. GameCritics
    Jul 7, 2011
    75
    If Hyperdimension Neptunia's take on the JRPG doesn't break any new ground, it's certainly a step in the right direction for the developers. More accessible than Trinity: Universe while maintaining and expanding on that game's witty style, HDN is another perfect title for anyone looking for an easy entry to the genre, or really anyone who appreciates some laugh-out-loud comedy with their RPGing.
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  3. Multiplayer.it
    May 27, 2011
    63
    Hyperdimension Neptunia is a game dedicated to an audience of fans of Anime and RPGs. It is a classic dungeon crawling JRPG with a intresting battle system, a pretty and fun shallow story, and also a poor graphic. If you are a fan of this genre, or just want something different and want to play a fun humorous game, this game is definitely recommended.
    Read full review
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