Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X Review

The gameplay in Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X is something that anybody can get behind. It may seem simple at first – press the corresponding buttons as they appear on the screen, and try not to mess up. However, things can get downright challenging with the inclusion of Technical Zones (which require you to clear a succession of notes), Rush Notes (which require a good deal of button mashing), and Chance Time events (which net prizes upon successful completion). Those playing on Easy or Normal will only have to deal with an average of two different button types per song, but the Hard and Extreme modes are downright relentless in the amount of button prompts it throws at you. Much like conquering a challenging boss in Dark Souls, completing one of these difficult songs is worthy of the highest accolades.

Tying everything together in Project DIVA X is its story mode, a first for the series. Your mission is to fill up a number of Cloud Prisms, each with its own unique style. How do you do that? Through the power song and dance, of course! Dubbed “Classic,” “Cool,” “Cute,” “Elegant,” and “Quirky,” each of these five Clouds has a different musical style it. Those visiting the “Cool” Cloud will be dancing to rock-based songs, while denizens of the “Quirky” Cloud will be moving along to Super Sentai jams. It adds a good amount of variety to the game’s 30+ track list, and will keep you humming and tapping until the very end.

However, this game has some serious legs. Successfully completing Chance Time events nets you a “Module,” which gives Miku and co. a new costume to dance around in. These Modules also net you a perk, and quite possibly the chance to net yourself more Voltage to recharge the Cloud Prisms. Herein lies the fun – there are more than 300 Modules to collect, with some being “rare” modules that come out once in a blue moon. Those looking to flesh out their wardrobe will no doubt enjoy min/maxing Miku’s outfits and accessories to get the best Modules and to come out on top.

There is also the chance to spend some time off the stage with Miku and her friends, giving them gifts and building their friendship meter (which helps you during songs). This mode is a bit more spartan compared to F and F 2nd, but it is a welcome addition nonetheless.

Fans of catchy music, arcade-based rhythm gameplay, or even good games should give Project DIVA X a go. This is one of those titles that will stick with you, in more ways than one. After all, how can you resist the siren call of a VOCALOID?

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Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax Review

Ever played a 2D fighter? You’re already ahead of the game with Dengeki Bunko. In true 2D fighting game fashion, battles play out with a bevvy of combos and quarter-circle moves. However, Dengeki Bunko cribs notes from some of the greatest fighters out there. Persona 4 Arena’s auto combo system is present here, allowing players to mash out combos by continuously pressing a single button. Guilty Gear’s “Roman cancel” system is also in place for certain characters, allowing players to cancel out of combos and jump into others. Even the assists made famous from The King of Fighters make an appearance. As a result, the game feels instantly familiar while still remaining fresh.

However, the biggest wrinkle to Dengeki Bunko’s fighting game system is its counter system. Unlike Street Fighter’s parries or Garou’s Just Defends, the counters present here are more akin to the ones found in Super Smash Bros. By performing a specific action, opponents can be baited into attacking, leading to even more damage. It leads to a more defensive style of play, one that makes reading your opponent absolutely crucial. This is the hallmark of a true fighting game, one that the fighting game community absolutely devours.

If anything, the only thing that could make Dengeki Bunko’s system even better would be an air dash and ukemi system. Some characters may possess these skills, but removing them from certain characters’ repertoire of moves sometimes makes the whole shebang feel slower than it has any right to be.

But what about the fanservice? No need to worry there – Dengeki Bunko has that in spades. Characters from Durarara!!, Oreimo, Sword Art Online, and even The Devil is a Part-Timer! make their playable debut here. All are lovingingly recreated from their respective series, with some of the most creative fighting game moves to date (UFO catcher supers, anyone?). SEGA’s stable of characters also gets some love, with to Sonic, Valkyria Chronicles, and even Virtua Fighter present.

Everything in Dengeki Bunko is tied together with its story mode. Presented in a light visual-novel format, each character speaks with their opponent before and after each match. There is an overarching plot with the nefarious Zersumu, but almost all encounters play out the same. Still, it’s interesting to see how each character reacts to certain situations. A Dream Mode is also present, which shows a more varied set of dialog choices between the characters, tailored around each specific character. It’s a real treat for fans of the respective anime series.

Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax is a tribute to SEGA, fighting games, and some of the hottest anime properties out there today. The fanservice may bring all the fans to the battlefield, but the deep fighting mechanics will keep them around for weeks (if not months) to come.

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Persona 4: Dancing All Night Review

The Persona 4 train keeps rolling on with Persona 4: Dancing All Night, taking our hero Yu Narukami and the original Investigation Team on an adventure that is canon to both the RPG and Arena fighting game series. As the pop idol Rise Kujikawa gets ready to star in the Love Meets Bonds festival, strange happenings start to occur. Word of a strange online video appearing at midnight begins to circulate, causing people to come down with a coma-like Apathy Syndrome State. When members of the pop group Kanamin Kitchen go missing, it’s up to Yu and his friends to investigate and find out who is pulling the strings (or in this case, ribbons).

The story of Persona 4: Dancing All Night might have some JPOP flavor to it, but the underlying tone is still true to the series’ trademark namesake. Strong themes like staying true to one’s self and the importance of the bonds we form with others tread familiar ground, but are still presented in a unique way. The seven-hour story mode is surprisingly meaty, with tomes of voiced dialog interspersed with some dancin’.

Of course, Persona 4: Dancing All Night is a dancing game at heart, and a fine one at that. Gameplay is split between six buttons mapped to the d-pad and face buttons, with the analog sticks working overtime for optional notes. As the notes move outward from the center, it’s up to players to time button presses just right as they reach the outer circle. It might sound simple, but things can get awfully heated on the more difficult songs, especially when note holds and dual presses come into play. With each song ranked from 1-20 stars, even the most hardened of rhythm rogues will have their skills put to the test. Just be warned – the overly flashy dancing from those on the “Midnight Stage” can make the notes a little hard to read.

Song selection fares well too. Fans of the series will find a lot to love here, with practically every song from the RPG series present and accounted for here. Composer Shoji Meguro’s work translates well to the game, with a number of remixes punching up the already great tunes. Original compositions are available as well, all of which fit well with the classic tunes. It’s just a shame that there aren’t more songs to choose from – the 30 or so tracks are great, but pale in comparison to the 50+ songs that come standard in other rhythm games like Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F and Dance Dance Revolution (god rest its soul). DLC hopes to rectify the problem, with the current content (provided by ATLUS) covering content from the Persona 4 anime series.

Persona 4: Dancing All Night maintains the high pedigree the Persona series is known for while still being its own thing. Fans of both rhythm games and all things Persona will find a lot to love here – and who knows, maybe you’ll learn a move or two too.

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Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultimate Despair Girls Review

Unlike the other entries in the series, Danganronpa Another Episode treads new ground with its gameplay. Class trials are out in favor of over-the-shoulder third-person shooting. The game is far more frantic than usual, with the main character Komaru Naegi wielding “Truth Bullets” against waves of robotic Monokuma bears, beasts, balls, and more. Players can also take control of series mainstay Toko Fukawa in hack-and-slash segments reminiscent of God of War or Ninja Gaiden.

So how do each of these girls handle in Danganronpa Another Episode? The shooting segments work well enough, with a laser sighted pointer making it easy to snipe away at targets. Each Monokuma has a weak spot located in its eye, making one-hit kills that much more satisfying. The aforementioned “Truth Bullets” also shakes things up as well, with different bullets causing the enemy Monokumas to dance, short circuit, or get knocked back. The fact that these bullets are gradually rolled out throughout the game helps to make each level tailored around each element, rather than thrown in as an afterthought. However, this also makes the game a little too easy. These Monokumas may look menacing, but their slow pace is no match for your wide arsenal and laser sight. Still, blasting away the horde remains entertaining through its 15 hour length.

This also extends to Danganronpa Another Episode’s puzzles. Spread across the game’s world of Towa City are “Monoku-Man” arcade machines that force players to use the environment to their advantage. Victory gives you a higher score and fewer enemies, while failure results in battle. It’s a welcome break, offering a more cerebral take on the shooting and slashing,

Of course, a Danganronpa game is nothing without its story. Much like the other titles, Danganronpa Another Episode prides itself on a story full of dialog, mystery, and disturbing moments. Though the main character Komaru Naegi is defined as a “normal girl,” she still manages to have plenty of character as she faces off against the antagonist group known as the “Warriors of Hope.” Much of the plot is shrouded in mystery, but characters are defined through both major story points and also smaller little off-sides that come from reading “Demon Hunter” posters or books on the ground. While story segments can often rival story segments in terms of length, it still manages to be entertaining for those looking for a bit more exposition in their games.

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultimate Despair Girls hits all the right notes for a spinoff, retaining the spirit of its source material while still trying something new. It might not be the most challenging game around, but those looking for a bit more despair in their life have come to the right place.

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Welcome to Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus, where the weapons are huge and so are the chest sizes, and finishing a fight with your clothes on is an achievement. The game introduces us to a world where Japan is home to schools of skilled shinobi, each school dedicated to battling for either light or shadow. Rather than cutscenes however, the plot is largely conveyed through walls of text explaining what’s going on, which did little to pump me up for beating up gangs of baddies. They’re not completely forgettable though, engraving choice lines such as ‘I just wanted to see what elite boobs felt like’ and ‘He kneads Murakumo’s breasts’ into my mind, no matter how hard I try to scrub them away.

By the time I got to gameplay, which took far too long, Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus was not doing well. Agency was finally granted to me in the school dorm room, which to its credit has a lot of options to fiddle around with. Most notable is the option to pick one of five girls to play as, the roster changing depending on the school you pick. A particular favorite was Yozakura and her very nifty gun gauntlets, which fired mini explosions out the back that I couldn’t help but find cool. Unlocked outfits are found in the dressing room, none of which have even heard of modesty. I joke, but for those that want it the dressing room allows plenty of flexibility and customization, mixing and matching outfits that belong to one character with another character, after unlocking them first of course.

Stick with it long enough to reach the combat, and there’s two choices; Shinobi Girls’ Code and Shinobi Girl’s Heart, or story missions and character missions respectively. Shinobi Girl’s Heart missions are specific to each character, and string together a number of arena battles with a loose plot thread between them. Shinobi Girls’ Code missions, on the other hand, are each one arena battle long, and require you to play a specific character for each one, but a number of these make up a chapter. Either way, it all leads to throwing down with a bunch of faceless enemies, punctuated by boss battles against rival shinobi. Not usually one for 3D brawlers, unless the Batman Arkham games count, I was surprised to find that I had a ton of fun with Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus’ combat. The moves consist of light and heavy attacks, dodges, jumping and blocking, or parrying if you time it just right. Each character has their own move list, which grows as you level up, but one can easily get by on button mashing, and will have a great time doing so.

Keep the pace up, and the combo counter can reach into the hundreds, only breaking if you slow down, smartly encouraging constant and relentless attacks. One of the game’s touted features is clothing degradation; if you or a boss takes enough damage, pieces of clothing tear away to reveal the underwear beneath. Although clearly for perving purposes, I genuinely found it useful to keep track of my own health, which I would often forget to check. Each character also has access to Shinobi Transformations, which not only refills health and bestows a new outfit to its user, but unlocks new super moves. This leads to the usual pattern of when a character’s health is low, they transform, so the final moments of battle are almost always filled with super moves being triggered, keeping the action tense right until the end. Deep and complex it is not, but on fun it delivers.

Whether or not Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus is for you will come down to the little touches. Although there are English subtitles, all spoken dialogue is in Japanese, which I imagine is right up some people’s street. Boobs jiggle and skirts float upwards with even the slightest provocation or movement, and one particular loading screen tip advised me that ‘You can peek up skirts and blow them up by blowing into the mic’, which to be honest I found more than a little creepy. One small touch I did like was that classmates will wish you luck and welcome you back before and after missions. I’m fully aware that I’m not the target audience for this game, and story moments that I found bizarre or grating, others will love. That said, I found a lot to like in Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus’ combat, and whilst I could never be comfortable playing it on the bus, I can certainly see myself coming back to it.

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I should point out as little disclaimer that the PS Vita port is the only version I’ve played of Borderlands 2. Oh sure I own it (thanks Steam sales), but never played more than the first area of it as it crashes just when I think I might get away with it this time. In that regard, the Vita port shares some similarities with its PC version. Did you know a PS Vita can crash to desktop? I thought that was a luxury only afforded to computers, but Borderlands 2 opened my eyes. It took three attempts to get through Bloodshot Stronghold without a crash. I was ready to write the game off as unplayable, but it honestly got better, although by no means perfect.

Crashing isn’t the only technical issue, but it’s the only one that had a detrimental effect on my fun. Borderlands 2 has the longest loading time of any handheld title I’ve played, which can seem to go on for an age if you’ve just restarted after a crash. Generally though, the loading times aren’t a deal breaker, especially for as much is going on in one area of the game, although it doesn’t prevent texture pop in. No area is fully textured upon arrival, with several seconds needed for it to catch up. Detailed areas are particularly bad, such as the Crimson Raiders HQ, which not only has pop in, but causes the game to lag briefly whilst it tarts itself up. I can’t help but think that including every poster and flyer in the building from the console version was just unnecessary. Dialogue lags consistently as well, with odd occurrences during conversations involving two NPCs taking ages because they both leave huge dramatic pauses before getting on with their line. As for lag within a fire fight? Very infrequently actually. Marvelous.

As you might expect, Borderlands 2 on the PS Vita makes a number of technical compromises. Where it holds up well is in its controls, which may surprise anyone who’s kept up with the critical reaction to the game. Call me a savant, but the controls make sense to me, including the Vita’s back panel ones. Sprinting and melee attacks are assigned to the back panel, and always worked; simply flick my middle finger across the back of the Vita and I’m sprinting. Trying to melee attack multiple times in a row is awkward, although I’m not sure if there is any need to do so unless you’re in Krieg’s Buzz Axe Rampage, but then melee is assigned to the shoulder button. For the sake of comparison I played Borderlands 2 on a friend’s Xbox 360, and did notice a few touches absent from the Vita version. Driving a vehicle on the Vita feels as if it was overlooked during its porting; the vehicles can feel weightless and difficult to control with any skill. Aesthetically, they don’t feel as powerful as their console brethren either. On the 360 vehicles roar as they boost, and firing the gun feels as if it could shred a Bullymong to pieces. The Vita version is certainly lackluster in the vehicle department.

At last, to multiplayer. It’s true that nothing quite rivals the fun of four friends teaming up against the horde Left 4 Dead style, so the disappointment surrounding the Vita’s capability to handle only two players is understandable. It also means that items aimed at teams of players, such as those that raise a team’s accuracy by 20% for example, are now literally half as useful, meaning I just sold any I found. Getting into multiplayer games took multiple attempts, but once a connection is established the game runs fairly smoothly, in battle and through area transitions. Other players were quite unwilling to chat though, which personally makes co-op very dull if you can’t talk tactics or item-swapping. Playing with a friend would sort that out, but then I don’t know anyone else who owns a Vita.

If you can suffer through the issues above, you’ll find the spirit of Borderlands 2 is still in the PS Vita port. Finding an orange rarity item is still as exciting as it would be on console, as is the tactical depth if you want it. If you won’t let technical issues ruin a good time, you’ll find a lot to love in the Vita port.

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