Well, today’s the official release date of the game.
Project DIVA, as we all know, is a rhythm-based game (similar to the DJ Max series) featuring none other than Hatsune Miku, dancing along to some of your favourite songs (and some new ones too).
Before I begin, I’d like to admit that we did download a copy off the Internets, since obviously Fariz’s pre-ordered copy won’t be arriving for a while.
Let’s start this unbiased review from the top, with an overview of how it works.
Overview
Starting the game lands you into the main menu, which (surprisingly) contains no Japanese in sight, and Miku’s silhouette blending with the background is a nice touch.
Waiting for a bit (or not skipping the splash screens) starts the OP video, and I gotta say, it looks gorgeous. I have yet to see another Miku-based video from NicoNicoDouga (recently) that has as much impact as this one. Oh yes Miku is so cute!
(Yes, I ripped it directly from my “copy”.)
Anyway, the game starts you off with 6 songs available to play, and everything else (costumes and room customizations) unavailable, except for maybe Miku’s default costume. Playing (and completing certain achievements) these songs unlock more songs, as well as the aforementioned unavailable goodies.
The gameplay is simple. While an animated sequence (be it 2D or 3D) plays in the background, you have to press the corresponding key as a symbol of the same shape crosses over a similar (but black) symbol, which also has a timer on it indicating the amount of time you have before the symbols cross.
This gives you two methods to determine when exactly to press the buttons, but personally I feel that simply waiting for the moment when the symbols cross is far easier than squinting at the screen and observing the timers ticking down. This is especially true on faster (and harder) songs.
Near the end of a song, you’ll encounter a “Chance Time” sequence. It’s simply the portion of the song in which you can earn loads more points by maintaining a combo while the “Chance Time” is active. Miss once, and your bonus points per hit drops back to meagre levels.
At the end of a song, Miku’s reaction is dependent on your performance ranking, which can range from the following:
- Cheap – You weren’t that good (though you made it through). Not counted as clearing the song.
- Standard – You were alright, but you can use some improvements.
- Great – Need I say more?
- Perfect – You didn’t even miss once.
If you didn’t manage to make it through the song, it ends abruptly and Miku presents you with a “MissXTake” rank.
orz
Achievements for songs include achieving a high combo count (usually 100+), having a high playcount (usually 5), attaining a certain ranking on a certain difficulty, or any combination of the above.
If you’ve managed Standard Great on any difficulty for a song, you’ll be able to activate “PV mode”, which allows you to watch the entire sequence without any symbols to get in your line of vision. Pressing the right trigger key takes a screenshot, which you can save to your memory stick.
Costumes (when unlocked) allow you to give Miku a makeover, ranging from cosplay to bridal gowns. Costumes are also reflected during normal gameplay as well as in the room, which I’ll cover in a while.
Other characters are also available, though they’re treated just like costumes, and won’t affect the voices you hear during gameplay (except for two songs, neither of which are “Dear cocoa girls”). It feels weird watching Luka sing “Love is War” in Miku’s voice. LOL
Room mode (which I’m dubbing it, since I can’t read moonrunes) sticks Miku with her current costume (or any other character) into a small room and lets you…observe her. That’s it. It’s simply a glorified, power-sucking screensaver. The right-trigger-screenshot key works here too.
The game does allow you customize the rooms’ objects (provided you’ve unlocked any) at several positions around the room, as well as the room design itself. The background music can also be altered, though the “unlock song before use” concept applies here too.
The game’s major feature is a song builder, with which anyone can build a complete sequence to play and share with others. Sequences can be built using the built-in songs, or from an MP3 in your memory stick, allowing for non-Miku sequences.
I won’t go into detail here; not because I cannot import an MP3 file like others have reported (got it on my first try, too), but because I’d rather not, since that’ll make this post way too long (which it’s on the verge of becoming). We’re (probably) going to post guides on how you can play the game (since it’s all in Japanese) as well as making your own sequences using the builder.
The game also features a gallery, in which you can view all the pictures (and videos) you have unlocked (which are the same ones you see in the bountiful loading screens). I believe pictures are unlocked in the same way, by completing achievements in-game. The right trigger works here once again, allowing you to save a picture into your memory card.
The pictures, by the way, were submitted by fan-artists as part of a contest held by Piapro. Not only were in-game pictures submitted, but songs (not available as playable sequences) and some costumes as well. Yup, that makes this game partly fan-made. Oh wait most of the playable songs are fan-made too. =D
There is an ad-hoc mode, but since I seem to be unable to use it, I’ll have to skip this part.
So now that I’ve covered the ins and outs, how does it fare in my eyes?
Review
Pros:
Gameplay is simple when it needs to be; playing songs on easy has you simply mashing one or two keys to a simple rhythm, while songs on Hard (and some on Normal) can have you trying frustratingly hard to achieve a Standard or Great rank, while still limiting controls to only four buttons. It’s a far cry from the DJMax Portable series which can have you mashing up to eight buttons, which I probably cannot handle.
Having a large number of unlockables gives a player (such as yours truly) a lot of motivation to keep on playing (and achieving), especially if you happen to be a fan of the main character.
The song builder greatly increases the replayability of the game, since it allows for user-made sequences to be shared between players (and probably across places like 2ch, too). We’ve seen how well the popularity of the VOCALOIDs (Hatsune Miku especially) has managed to sustain itself through the amount of work produced by fans, and this same amount of effort could probably do well with such a flexible feature. It’s no Miku Miku Dance, but it’s powerful even on a portable device.
Given that the game meant to please the fans, it’s no surprise that the game does it well. Playing with a 3D model of Hatsune Miku (and other VOCALOIDs) is a big plus, as well as dressing her in costumes and posing for the camera. The little features such as the screenshot key, PV mode, and the gallery help too, providing free PSP wallpapers without a need for additional software, and allowing fans to enjoy their daily dose of Miku anywhere, anytime.
The included ad-hoc mode is also a great way of enjoying the game together (if it works).
Cons:
Project DIVA isn’t a perfect game. It’s good, but it’s not 100%, 10/10.
Playing through a song can be difficult when the symbols flying past the screen are a little hard-to-spot courtesy of the dynamic “background”. This could’ve been planned as a “difficulty” feature, since the harder the game is, the more the fans keep playing just to beat it through and through.
Some songs aren’t sequences of Miku (or another character) dancing as you mash the buttons in rhythm. Rather, they turn out to be slideshows; simply flipping through pictures already viewable in the gallery, with seemingly no connection to each other.
The game is also missing features that were shown in some of the development videos and screenshots. I mean, sure, things change through the course of development, but was it really necessary to remove Hachune Miku of all things, and reduce Levan Polkka to a mere slideshow?
Some stats (such as combo count and the number of playthroughs) can only be seen only when the song has loaded on the screen before it starts. This wouldn’t be so bad if the same statistics play a part in achievements. I do hate having to go through a loading screen just to check up on my progress for a certain song.
The lack of an online server to allow easy-sharing of user-made sequences makes it difficult, since players will probably have to resort to copying the sequence file (and its MP3) to the right folders before being able to actually play it). Sharing may be available in ad-hoc mode, but since I can’t get in anyway…
And the biggest flaw: no auto-save. Take care, so you don’t lose your Perfect rank in The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku. On Hard.
Result:
I give it an 8/10. A must-buy if you’re a Hatsune Miku fan, and you own a PSP. If you aren’t, and you don’t find the song builder, costumes or the “room mode” appealing in the slightest bit, then you won’t enjoy the game as much.
12 Responses to “Time for a -Project DIVA- Review (and Overview)”
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It treats the extra characters as “costumes” because they are costumes ;p It’s supposed to be Miku dressed up as other characters, or at least, that’s the impression I got from SEGA’s official press back at TGS.
In the same way Miku does not become Ulala from Space Channel 5 when you dress her up as her!
I’d also say that this game is for anyone who likes rhythm action games, such as Taiko or Samba, etc.
As always is the case with dance/rhythm games, there is little difference between them when it actually comes to gameplay.
It’s not very surprising for a Menu to not feature any Japanese in a japanese game, in pretty much every game I’ve imported all Menus have been in English ^_^ and in cases where it was not English, something that was supposed to be English!
They aren’t Miku dressed up. They are there for edit mode, so you can make videos in edit mode with, say Akita Neru, singing her own song as she’s not singing in the game.
In edit mode there is a facial expression part so you can have Miku or whoever sing to a song that was left out of the game (like black rock shooter for example). (It would not make much sense for miku to change every thing to look exactly like MEIKO, or KAITO, etc.)
Trust me I’ve been looking into it for a while.(I don’t mean to sound mean if i do!!)
This is more extensive than MY review. Good job.
This is an awesome PSP review! I am sold for the game, if only I am that rhythm incline…
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MikuMiku，初音初音。
越来越多的同人作品，很好很强大。
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AD-HOC mode apparently lets you trade custom tracks, if what Randall says is true.
how many songs in total cause I checked the website and they came up to 42 but the game has 37, can you check if there is downloadable content or something
The last five songs aren’t playable, but they’re selectable in Miku’s Room and in the song builder.
It feels like playing DJMax or something. Only that miku takes part in it. Sounds awesome to me.
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[...] Fuzzy already did a game review of it after a few days since its release.. To read that post, click here… Till then, take care and have fun playing the [...]
So is there a specific place one needs to download Mp3 files from to use them in the song builder mode? or is it possible just to use any old Mp3 file i have floating around?
You can use any MP3 you want, though it won’t be included in the song file you produce.