Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

System: PS3
Dev: Fantasy Violence, Language, Sexual Themes
Pub: NIS America
Release: February 28, 2012
Players: 1
Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p	Fantasy Violence, Language, Sexual Themes

Unfortunately, production values aren't exactly great either. The game features stoic visuals, and while some cutscenes are animated nicely, the vast majority of the time you will be staring at stock artwork on the screen. When you are on a mission or dungeon crawling, the visuals are a bit better, and character animations are nice and crisp. But just as soon as you get used to nice visuals, you return to the game's overhead map view and you're plunged back into bad visual territory.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 Screenshot

Audio is also a mixed bag. While I appreciate that the game was given a fairly extensive English voiceover during the localization process, the actual voices come off as grating and annoying. Still, I don't know very many localized JRPGs that don't have at least one annoying-sounding character, and after you play for awhile you do get used to the super-squeaky voices of the game's heroes.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 isn't the worst game I've ever played, and it certainly isn't broken. However, it's far from good, and pretty much any other JRPG you can pick up for the PlayStation 3 is better than this. The game tries to be clever with its self-referential plot, but it comes off as looking like a cheap Disgaea clone instead. The game also attempts to lure in players with promises of plenty of fan service, but the presentation is just too over-the-top and ends up garish and annoying. Even the battle system, in its attempts to be "old school," just comes off as simplistic and outdated. There wasn't much that I enjoyed about this game, and, even at its budget price, I would just keep away from this dimension, hyper or not.

By
Amanda L. Kondolojy
Contributing Writer
Date: February 28, 2012

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

2.6

Graphics
Visuals are very inconsistent; they look great one moment and awful the next.

3.4

Control
Controls are easy to use, and button-based commands are easy to execute.

2.2

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Voices are annoying and music is basic. /div>

3.0

Play Value
There may be plenty of "hours" of gameplay, but when that time is stuffed with pointless dialogue and boring game design, it can't be counted as time well spent.

2.6

Overall Rating - Average
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.