Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1

 PlayStation Vita
Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
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  1. The Vita Lounge
    Sep 30, 2014
    86
    The changes implemented are breath of fresh air, the story is very funny at times and is interesting enough to keep playing for dozens of hours.
  2. Gaming Age
    Sep 29, 2014
    75
    You can get away with a lot if you've got a sense of humour, and if there's one thing that Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 has, it's a sense of humour. Admittedly, it's a sense of humour that will appeal only to a very specific subset of the gaming population, but if you are one of those people, your game of the year isn't just here, it's available to take with you everywhere.
  3. Pocket Gamer UK
    Aug 27, 2014
    80
    Hyperdimension fans will enjoy a new take on an old story, RPG fans will enjoy the various customization systems, and gamers fans will love the references to other franchises.
  5. Push Square
    Aug 22, 2014
    80
    Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 is a light hearted RPG that allows you to shut down your brain, without ever losing its challenge.
  6. Hardcore Gamer
    Aug 22, 2014
    80
    New players should choose Re;Birth over the PS3 original, while fans who haven’t yet worn out on the series’ charm should jump back in. The new Plan system and revamped battles make Re;Birth a much better game than its predecessor.
  7. Digitally Downloaded
    Aug 7, 2014
    90
    RE;Birth 1 is a damned fine JRPG. It's silly, it's charming and it's irreverent, but it's also a package that's been wrapped up in a clever, rich combat system. This was the start that the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise deserved.

Awards & Rankings

30
#30 Best PS Vita Game of 2014
16
#16 Most Discussed PS Vita Game of 2014
18
#18 Most Shared PS Vita Game of 2014

User Reviews

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User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 118 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 87 out of 118
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 118
  3. Negative: 20 out of 118
  1. ryuzaki57
    Aug 27, 2014
    8
    Let's immediately stress that Hyperdimension Neptune ReBirth1 (Re1) has cut all ties with the original title (almost). Even though it borrowsLet's immediately stress that Hyperdimension Neptune ReBirth1 (Re1) has cut all ties with the original title (almost). Even though it borrows a lot from previous episodes (battle system, enemies, musics, 2D models), Re1 definitely feels brand new. All the technical aspects have been adapted to fit to Vita's power, but above all, the game has been re-written and re-designed. While keeping the broad outline of the original, the story becomes more modern and richer : it has a better pace but maintains its terrific sense of humor, its hilarious parodies (the game starts with Luigi's double saying «at long last my time has come!»), and welcomes more characters more progressively. Those characters enrich Re1 which ends up more dense and fresher than any past episode.

    Remember the hassle to obtain Noire, Blanc and Vert at the end of the first game? That's no longer the case : Noire joins pretty quickly, Vert and Blanc 1 or 2 chapters after. The game also has the wonderful idea to make the transition with Mk2 by the «birth» of Nepgear, Uni, Ram & Rom. NPCs such as Financier and Cyan have now a character design of their own, which makes the narration a lot nicer, like a bunch of other design choices that it would be too long and useless to discuss here. But that's not all! Re1 includes every DLC character from Hyperdimension Neptune Victory, which makes a total of 16 playable characters in game (+ Histoire, Plutia and Peashy in DLC).

    Technically speaking, this remake transposes with some refinements the graphics of the latest PS3 Neptunia. True, Neptunia games have never represented technical prowess... but the referential has changed! We are now on the handheld market and Re1 is beyond doubt one of the most beautiful portable RPGs ever made! Far from the derelict 3D engines used on 3DS, here characters are incredibly detailed and the game goes as far as animating the mouth of the girls when they speak! Backgrounds are still rather simple but the 3D is neat. Movements suffer from drops time to time but remain on par with home console versions. Believe me it's quite a sight on the OLED screen.

    Gameplay-wise, it's still Mk2's system with tougher difficulty : you will bite the dust, at least in the first half. But the good people of Felistella have you covered. You will have the possibility to lower the enemies' level if you're stuck, or even reinforce them if you're yawning during battles. It's part of the «memory» system introduced in this remake. The Flag/Scouts system is gone : now, the game grants you a amount of «memory» that you are free to use for the following : discover new dungeons, modify enemies, modify drop items, item creation, gameplay tweaks (including difficulty).

    The fighting in itself knows little change. The tactical-like turn-based system with free moving around the field is still on the agenda. That said, the higher difficulty and the different styles of the various characters make combat more fun, strategic and varied than ever. You really have to weight your decision in managing heal, magic, relay or Ex-Drive. Note that you'll have again a your disposal the creation of CDs (accessories) to boost your characters in battle.

    The only drawback I can think of is that the fan-service level has been reduced to a bare minimum : artworks, inherited from the original for most part, aren't risqué in any way and too few new ones were made for the occasion. Except this, ReBirth1 is exactly the concentrate of humor, beauty and variety the fans have been dreaming to hold in their hand.    … Full Review »
  2. DreamcastUser
    Aug 26, 2014
    8
    Fun, Silly, and overall addictive a solid remake of the original. combat system was greatly improved and the remake system adds some great newFun, Silly, and overall addictive a solid remake of the original. combat system was greatly improved and the remake system adds some great new features. It is also fun to play a mini game of find the reference with the games many references and allusions to other games, developers, and consoles.… Full Review »
  3. Tarren
    Feb 10, 2015
    7
    Campy, grindy and full of fan service, Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 is a good time if you take the game as seriously as it takes itself.Campy, grindy and full of fan service, Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 is a good time if you take the game as seriously as it takes itself.

    Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 (HDNR;B1) is the remake to the 2010 Playstation 3 game Hyperdimension Neptunia. The first thing you'll note upon starting a new game is that the game doesn't take itself too seriously: the plot revolves around four goddesses representing different game companies attempting to best one another in a never-ending conflict known as the Console War. Each of the four nations of the world, Gamindustri, are named after game consoles and most of their citizens are personified video game developers and publishers. The game's absurdity continues in this fashion, and is chock full of Internet memes, video game references and fourth-wall breaking. Further adding to the game's campiness are regular doses of fan service. While nothing too extreme, there are quite a few panty shots and most, if not every, playable character has a swimsuit costume to unlock.

    Getting into the game play of HDNR;B1: combat is solid but can get repetitive, especially with the mandatory grinding the game forces on you. While every character has special moves that draw from their respective SP pool, the main attraction is the combo system implemented for your "standard" attacks: after an initial strike, you choose from rush, power or break attacks up to three times per turn and in any combination. Rush attacks hit multiple times and fill you EXE. gage (or super meter) faster than the others, power attacks do the most damage as possible while break attacks deal heavy damage to an enemies guard. Breaking an enemy's guard will increase the damage they take until their guard partially refills on their next turn. This system keeps the player interested in combat, alleviating a common problem in most JRPGs where the player simply hammers X until they've won. In addition, your character can perform a combo finisher once certain segments of the EXE. gage are filled (this does not deplete the gage) and use EXE. Drives that are the game's super moves, dealing massive damage to enemies in its radius at the cost of some of the EXE. gage.

    Almost as frequent as the combat is the game's dialogue segments. It's tempting to call this game part visual novel due to its lengthy and frequent conversations, however this also brings up another major part of the game: voice acting. Around half of the conversations are voiced, and in this game that means hours of voiced dialogue. Character voices are a bit hit and miss; some characters' voices work well, while others are kind of iffy (get it? 'cause one of the characters is named...heh...). The main character's voice in particular always sounds sarcastic which is odd given that she's supposed to be the clueless, ditzy heroine. Another oddity is Noire, whose voice sounds like it was recorded with a different quality than the rest of the cast.

    As previously mentioned, the game forces some mandatory grinding. This is because the game's bosses are gigantic difficulty spikes, often throwing two bosses at you back to back with no time to heal or save in between. Because of this, you'd have to grind out around five levels per dungeon in order to stand a chance during the boss fight(s). During my playthrough, I found a dungeon with fairly easy enemies that gave outrageous amounts of experience (appropriately called Whales) and ground on them while watching television. This made it so I could breeze through most of the game's chapters, but still took hours of my time to do. However HDNR;B1 is not without mercy and you can unlock a way to make the game easier (or harder if you're a masochist) and gain more experience from fights fairly early in the game, easing up on both the brutal boss fights and chore of grinding somewhat.

    Aside from the major issues regarding the game, its graphics are standard for the Vita (that is to say they're above average among the rest of the handheld market), load times were short and, while I did experience slow down twice in my playthrough, the game runs smoothly. Something the game lacks is replay value: there are multiple endings, however the point where those endings branch is late enough in the game that one can simply make multiple saves and progress towards each ending on each slot rather than replay the whole game.

    In short, Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 is fun as long as you're not looking for a deep or engrossing title. While its repetitive grinding, arduous boss fights and lack of replay value may bog it down, if you can enjoy the campy story, engaging battle system and (mostly) well done voice acting this game is well worth your time and money.    … Full Review »
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