NIS America Compile Heart Title: Hyperdimension Neptunia PP - Producing Perfection
Genre: Idol Production Simulation
Publisher:
Developer:
System:Release Date: 06-03-2014 (NA), 06-20-2013 (JP)
The idol craze is stronger than ever, with the popularity of groups such as AKB48 in the 3D world, as well as Namco Bandai's strong-selling games for those who prefer the second dimension. Compile Heart got a neat little idea in which they put girls of their most popular existing franchise into an idol production simulation spin-off. Surprisingly, it got localized.
Gameindustri is once again in danger as its four ruling goddesses (CPUs) are losing large amounts of shares. The reason this time is not piracy, but idols. The idol group MOB48 has gained overwhelming popularity, to the point where youngsters these days are not buying games, but worshiping pop idols. Deciding that the only way to regain their shares are to beat the idols at their own games, the four CPUs of Gameindustri summon a "genius producer" from another world to help them become famous idols. The "genius producer" happens to be you, Mr. Ordinary Protagonist, who is really just a normal guy in the real world who likes idol producing games. You chose one CPU to be the producer of, and proceed to raise stats, gain shares, put on concerts, and maybe even gain her affection.
The first thing the game tells you is that the events in this story are entirely non-canon to the Hyperdimension Neptunia universe. Thank god, because I'm not exactly a fan of a generic male protagonist being forced into what was an all-girl cast and forming romantic relationships. Most fans of the Neptunia series are in it for the interactions between the girls and maybe some yuri subtext, so throwing in a random guy to be the avatar for a romance between one of the CPUs and the player feels awfully unnatural. The romance itself is light and fits with the tone of the rest of the game (and series), and the conversations between the girls themselves can be entertaining, but don't compare with the main series. The story content is thin, the endings are short and unsatisfying, and the writing generally feels like a severely washed down version of the main games with a decent scene here or there. The story in each route plays out pretty much the same way too.
As a stat-raising simulation game, it's awfully easy and boring. Some may argue that all stat-raisers are repetitive to a degree, an argument that I won't disagree with, but some games manage to put fun and challenge in the repetition, or be so full of interesting events and interesting methods of gaining stats that you barely feel the monotony. This game manages to be repetitive and also effortlessly easy. It's extremely limiting as a simulation game as well, since your playthrough with the same CPU will be the same each time, due to the lack of differing main events. The CPU has the main stats Trust, Vocals, Rhythm, Expression, and Knowledge to be raised through 'Lesson' commands, Affection to be raised by either player choices during specific scenes or a certain command, and Shares which are raised through the 'Work' commands. There are also the Guts and Stress gauges, which will often increase and decrease, unlike the other stats which rarely decrease. Guts must be above 50% in order for the CPU to hold a concert (first and last concert not withstanding), and letting Stress reach 100% results in a game over. The latter is easy to avoid, as even the most basic resting command lowers Stress by 50%, whereas commands that increase Stress do so little by little.
The stat raising part is pretty straightforward, but also feels sort of lame once you realize that Shares, Trust, and Affection are the only things that matter and the other stats are only there to make gaining those easier. Shares are what's important to beating the game, and the game ends when your CPU acquires 26% of Gameindustri's global shares. That, or you hit the time limit of 180 days, but I guarantee you that unless you are purposely aiming for the True ending on the first playthrough, you will need nowhere near that many days to clear the main objective. In fact, my first playthrough took around 2.5 hours, landing me a Good ending. The True ending requires specific dialogue choices as well as max Affection and 500 Trust, stats that are very much doable because you can carry the CPU's current stats over into New Game+. In fact, NG+ sped by so quickly that I needed to waste days resting just to make sure I don't hit the objective too soon. Despite the game being 180 days long, there is little incentive to drag out your playthrough, because after the 60th day or so, main events stop happening and your only hope for entertainment is the random events that happen through commands.
The only difficulty is acquiring 100% event completion for all four CPUs (if you want the trophies), which is really more a test of your patience rather than skill or strategy. The stat-raising portions are done entirely using 2D assets, with the 3D models and costumes making an appearance only during concert mode. Concert mode is probably the most eye-catching for advertising an idol production game, but its lack of features really show off the game's less-than-stellar budget. While it looks like an important aspect of the game, you can actually easily beat it without holding any concerts other than the first and last ones that the game forces you to have. In Concert mode, you get to select the stage, costume, and 3 special effects to be controlled via the X, Triangle, and Square buttons. Once the concert starts, you basically watch the 3D model(s) sing and dance as you change around the camera angles and throw out special effects. Timing your special effects with the audience's cheers will net you higher scores. That's pretty much it. The main appeal of this mode is to watch the girl sing and do idol dances in various costumes (some of which will render the panties visible from a low angle), but the amount of costumes and accessories is lacking compared to the main games' selections. At least some of the new outfits look nice. There's an Unlimited Concert Mode outside of the story that lets you use more characters, so there's that too.
To further rub salt onto the wound of dissatisfaction, Neptunia PP is supposed to be an idol production game and it has a grand total of 5 songs to choose from. The assets are all reused from the PS3 games, and on the bright side, look just as good on the Vita. BGM should also be familiar to anyone who has played the main games, because they are all reused. The only new tracks are the idol songs and OP+ED themes. Hardcore Neptunia fans would probably get enjoyment out of the silly scenes, but I wouldn't recommend this as a simulation game. Oh, and there are no ending CGs! What kind of galge doesn't have at least an ending CG!? If there's one CG you gotta have, it's one for the ending! Well, not that the endings were impressive enough for any picture-worthy moment...Well, there's a bath CG still for each CPU, but the fact that they are all identical in composition speaks volumes about the effort put into this game in the CG department.
After completing all four CPUs' True endings, you unlock a harem route. That's great in theory, and to give the game credit, the scenes were hilarious, but it's also short and is entirely presented in the visual novel format with no gameplay, unlike the normal routes. I clocked around 14 hours into the game, so whether that's enough gameplay time to justify the $40 plus tax launch price is up to the individual.
The following two tabs change content below.
