Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls – PC Review

Genre: Action, RPG
Developer: IDEA FACTORY, COMPILE HEART, FELISTELLA
Publisher: Idea Factory International
Release Date: Jun 12, 2017

In recent few years, the Neptunia series has expanded in a good way, allowing characters whom fans thought deserved their own standalone games with their stories to get them. While these spinoff titles do generally deter from the traditional formula of the earlier trilogies, many of these changes are for the better. Thus, when it was announced that IF, a character that has been around since the original game in 2011, was getting her own game, I was excited to see what they could come up with for her: Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls. Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls is an anime action JRPG developed by Idea Factory, Compile Heart and Felistella, later released by Idea Factory International, that allows us to travel through time to save the worlds from collapsing; however, it does have a few road bumps along the way.

Riding that motorcycle to the next dimension, Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls takes us on a tale of a wandering heroine and puts her in the shoes of a potential time traveler to save the worlds from being destroyed, but the story is not a perfect masterpiece. We play as IF, one of the sidekick characters from the previous titles, now our main protagonist, that rides a motorcycle around her now ruined world in search of the grand library, a library said to house the world’s works. While looking for the library, a mysterious object drops from the sky, shaped like a human, who IF manages to catch and bring to the library, only to find it is devoid of life, or so she thinks. Historie makes her appearance, as the librarian of the grand library. She allows IF to explore the library and helps to take care of the mystery girl, but it does not take long for the world to start falling apart again. One of the books is mysteriously burned (seemingly by itself), and an unknown creature now walks among the library halls, which IF happens to find and gets knocked out afterwards. Upon waking up, Historie explains that, in the past, someone had tried to erase the history of the different worlds in time by destroying their books in the grand library, a power granted by the library itself. Now it is up to IF and the now conscious but amnesiac Segami to go back in time and save the worlds from falling apart. I’ll end this synopsis here, as continuing does enter spoiler territory, but the story element that this game brings, in terms of characters, lore and pure detail, is astoundingly well crafted.

As I had mentioned before, the story is not a perfect masterpiece, as there are a few distinct issues the story has. The first issue I found is the story did feel disjointed in some respects, as the dimension worlds and the grand library only had a connection via the books. These worlds, while one of the best elements of the game, had their own miniature tale specific to that world and never really interconnected as much as I would have liked to the grand library. The other issue I found with the story was that it bounced around quite a bit when it came to how certain characters behaved, throwing off the pacing severely in many instances. Segami especially has this personality that is very all over the place, and while I feel this was a nice touch, in contrast to IF who was more grounded and level-headed, it makes the scenes with Segami going crazy lose its pacing quickly.

Going in for the attack, Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls brings a lot of new mechanics to the table, some of which change the way you focus on your adventure, so let us delve into those specifically. The biggest mechanic change I found in the game was the simplest but it is one that makes the game very unique in feel: the ability to climb, crawl and cross gaps. In Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls, you can cross gaps by jumping onto climbing rope and waddling across. However, I will admit that the animation for it does come off sort of goofy, similar to the animation used for the climbing, but since these are new animations, I feel that they can be made not as goofy for future games if they get used again. Another new mechanic was the medals and baseball system. In Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls, there are small silver medals you can collect in each level, a specific amount per level. By gathering all of them, you get a crown next to the level, showing your completion status. There are also baseballs, a collectible that a special character back in the grand library can take from you to unlock special perks and items.

The last mechanic change I found worth talking about was the class system, a separate leveling system from the usual level up. In Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls, you have two level types you can get at the end of each battle: normal level ups for your character and a class level up. These class level ups are mostly stat based, so once you find the one you like with your character, leveling that one should be your priority. There is also a gem system added to the game where you can jump and gather various colored gems to temporarily increase your stats for that battle. The most important gem is the rainbow gem, a gem that only appears after you get 100% in a specific meter, granting you more stats, fewer attacks from enemies in the round and more.

The presentation of the Neptunia games has always been very stylized and clear cut, both in visuals and soundtrack, so for Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls, they kept that style going very effectively. Visually, Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls is a little more stylized than some of the prior games, but considering the devils are in the details, this is not a bad change. The backgrounds are bright, vibrant and kept in tone with the dark colors of the monsters you fight, acting like a mixed palette that works well against each other. The characters keep much of the charms of their character model from previous titles, although, for some reason, the facial animations did not really match as well with this title, compared to some of the more recently released titles. I do have to state, though, that the Sega girl designs were on point with their consoles. They looked imaginative and vibrant and had something on their person that represented the console in some way, like a piece of the controller or a small logo.

Dialing into the worlds of the past, the soundtrack to Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls was kept more of the same with a few new tracks for some fights and locations. The soundtrack has always been this synthesized music that is very reminiscent of the 8 bit era, and it still fits the game well here. Although some classical elements did sneak their way through the cracks with some songs, it was a nice change to the music overall. The sound effects felt solidly used again, which was nice to listen to, as this has been a steady improvement over the previous games in the franchise. The traditional clashing and slashing noises are kept fresh, with new tints based on whether the move was a crit, blocked or basic attack, something I did not know if I would like, but it did grow on it.

Overall, Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls is right up there for my game of the year with its multi-dimensional story, new characters, and fresh outlook on the Neptunia lore, although the issues found do hold it back in this case. The multi-faceted timeline based story, interesting and well designed Sega girl characters, excellently written dialog, ability to climb and cross gaps, separate stat based class system, stylized and striking visuals, classic Neptunia soundtrack with new classical notes added in, and solidly used sound effects make for an adventure you will not forget.

Pros:

• A story that expands multiple timelines
• The new and interesting Sega girl characters are a welcome change to the cast
• Some excellent writing and dialogue presentation
• Finally able to do more than just jump and attack outside of combat
• The new stat based class system
• Very stylized and striking visuals
• The traditional Neptunia flare of music with some new twists
• Some solidly used sound effects

Cons:

• Story felt disjointed when going back and forth between the timelines and the grand library
• Segami, as a character, could be considered too wild and random at times
• The climbing and swinging animations look goofy and out of place
• Pacing issues are still present in the story

DarkLunarDude gives Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls a Drastik Measure 8.3 out of 10.0 (83).

For the price of $29.99 USD on Steam, I can highly recommend Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls to any anime RPG player, as the multi-faceted story from the angles of different times and the newly added mechanics make for a fresh experience that I do not recommend missing.