Overall 10 Graphics 10 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Depth 10 Difficulty 7
10
Project Diva - Where safe isn't actually safe Andrewl3779
A currently strong series based on a voice program seems like a very unlikely story to hear, but Hatsune Miku's popularity alone has kept this series strong with multiple entries for the series starting from the PSP, then was soon remade on the PS3, though it did required the PSP games to play, there are two arcade versions of Project Diva: Project Diva Arcade and Project Diva Arcade Future Tone. And now the latest entries: F and F2nd, that were the first two Project Diva games to be released outside of Japan, really showing how extremely popular Hatsune Miku is. Since the new Project Diva is around the corner and the Arcade Future Tone port for the PS4 will follow suite, I thought it would be a nice time to talk about its latest entry: F2nd, for the VITA.
Straight from the menu, you are presented with a lot of creative options, which I will get right into later but the main point of interest is the rhythm game. You can either choose to go through the tutorial in which you are taught the mechanics of the game with the very popular song Levan Polkka playing in the background; or you can simply tackle the 40 songs, 20 songs that are new to the series and 20 songs that have been remade but have been in its last entries. All the songs come with their own difficulty, easy, normal, hard and extreme. Which helps for both veterans and people that are new to the genre.
Once you get started, a very energetic PV will be playing in the background while you play the game. The main game is pretty simple to play, there will be silhouettes of the familiar PlayStation buttons will appear and those shapes will fly from any side of your screen into those silhouettes, you will need to press the button at the right time which will grant you an accuracy rating depended on timing, ranging from Cool, Fine, Safe (I hate it), Bad and Miss. Not only that but there are hold notes, hitting and holding, then letting go at the right time, arrow notes which you will have to hit the face buttons and the Dpads (If the arrow is pointing right, hit circle and right on the Dpad for example) star notes in which you'll need to flick the analogue sticks (Or use the touchscreen if you're a madman/woman,) and there are the two new notes that are new to this series are the linked stars which are similar to the normal stars but gives you bonus points each successful hit and the double stars which is similar to arrow notes but you just simply flick both analogue sticks (or flick with both of your thumbs for the touchscreen's case.) Sounds confusing at first but it's very easy to get used to, and I find it really charming when creators take advantage of certain mechanics to create something out of it, for this game they took certain notes to create imagery that suits the PV playing in the background or spelling out a reference like using linked stars to create the number "39" (A reference to Hatsune Miku and is everywhere in the game) for example, creating those little touches. Not only that but there are technical zones which you'll need to hit a certain amount of notes with only cools and fines that grants you extra 3% rating; and chance time where you need to hit most of the notes and hit the big star to get 6% rating and a bonus part of the PV playing in the background. These are always helpful to aim for the 80% passing grade, which is quite a target that is making sure that you are definitely not slacking off. Though it can create problems since missing two technical zones and a chance time star will make you lose 12%! Leaving you with 8% to spare for the rest of the song, making more of a frustration of resetting a song because you missed a single note on a technical zone or you missed a chance time star. Though you are not only limited to a passing grade but there are other pass grades to get depending on the amount of notes hit with proper accuracy, you can achieve a Standard, Great, Excellent or the most annoying one, Perfect. If you want that perfect, you will need to pass the song with only Cools and Fines, sounds simple, except that safe rating, oh that safe rating. You can get it by pressing the right button but slightly off beat that the game will count it as a safe, and you will not be able to get that perfect. This makes the word safe completely ironic, but it certainly is grabbing hours from me as I try to avoid getting a safe rating. It is also possible to use challenge items or help items to give yourself a hard or easier time with a song, challenge items will multiply your DP while help items cost DP.
Now that I banged on a lot about gameplay, I will talk about the big distraction that happens in the background, it's got its only style that differentiate from its Dreamy Theater predecessors giving itself a more toon look rather than the realistic look, though they gave a lot more detail when they designed the stages and backgrounds the Vocaloids are always on, adding roses and colour for Romeo and Cinderella which makes it more memorable for me compared to the Dreamy Theater predecessors or remaking the animations and the song itself like Cantarella to make it not look like a rehash and it helps that the graphics on the VITA certainly has a lot more polish compared to F making it a lot more cleaner and less 'blurry'. Though I didn't call the PV a big distraction for no reason, the visuals can get so hectic on certain songs that it can blend in with the gameplay actually causing you to miss certain notes because you couldn't see them, despite that problem, it can easily be avoided with practice plus the fact that I really love watching the PVs that the game shows off. It's flashy, great to look at and very, very energetic.
Now for the extra content that are unlocked as you progress through the main rhythm game, first up is the Diva Room, in which you simply visit your favourite Vocaloids and interact with them, you can pet them, give them gifts which can trigger an event or play "made you look!" while you grow a friendship meter. This will make the idol act differently when you interact with them. You can change their room and the costume they wear, which are always nice things to have. Though the problem is that there isn't much to do in the Diva Room, there are only two mini games that can only be played by petting and they can be really repetitive after a while, you can only gift once every couple of minutes, meaning you'll have to wait a bit before being able to carry on filling your friendship meter. Despite this, I don't mind visiting the room every once in a while, it's a nice distraction and gives you a break from the main game.
The second extra thing is the edit mode, which is one thing that makes it stand out as a rhythm game, it gives you the ability to pretty much create songs similar to what you see on the main game, PVs are done with preset animations, you can create a note chart for the song you have chosen, you can choose that song through an MP3 file, meaning that you are not limited to just Vocaloid songs but any song you desire. This adds up a lot of my game time as creators have published their work which despite not nearly smooth as the 40 songs the game initially offers, still can be competent and the note charts are always fun to play too, and of course there are those songs that are created to give veterans a challenge that the official songs are unable to offer giving it more replay value and has stolen hours after hours from me.
The third thing is using DP (Diva Points) which I mentioned a bit, you earn Diva Points when you simply play the main rhythm game and there are a variety of ways to earn a massive amount of DP making grinding less of a possibility compared to F. Diva Points are used to purchase, modules, items, Diva Room furniture and gifts, etc.
And last thing to talk about is the AR mode, which to be honest, I haven't used much.There are two modes, Photo Studio and AR Live. Photo Studio is what you expected, you can place one or two vocaloids, set their positions, pose, change their faces, etc. And snap a photo, the background will be your PSVITA camera, making it possible to make some creative snaps. AR Live is done through an AR Card which is where the idol will do their performance on, letting you watch the performance in your own home, on your own desk, table...Bed.
What makes this a more standout game from it's other entries are the minor changes that are surprisingly effective, like being able to hit stars with the analogue stick rather than the touchscreen since it doesn't respond to sweaty hands or just feels out-right uncomfortable, a welcome addition; I've mentioned the extra polish, making it better to look at; cross play meaning that your save can be loaded on the PS3 version of F2nd, so you are not limiting yourself to 1 system. Some changes in the Diva Room to make it less confusing like the petting system giving you an indicator, and letting you know whether you can pet or gift a Vocaloid. And getting a good amount of DP less of a grind-fest as the game offers you ways of getting a lot more making it possible to easily buy all pretty much everything, though not too quickly.
Project Diva F2nd has made some minor changes that are really effective when you put countless hours into the game, and comparing to the other Project Diva games, this is the most recommended one, it offers up the best song choices in the whole series, with returning songs, it is localized, so you are not limited. I fully recommend this game to any Vocaloid fan or even to people that don't mind listening to some J-pop.
Graphics 10 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Depth 10 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 02-19-16
Review Replies: 2
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