Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2: Sisters Generation Review

Compile Heart and Idea Factory's parody JRPG that personifies Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sega into extremely cute anime girls, Hyperdimension Neptunia, had an amazing, and quite refreshing re-release on the PS Vita last year. Not only did it introduce brand new elements into the game, such as completely revamping combat, it also allowed players to customize their experience by changing different variables. Everything about that version was much better than its original PS3 release. The sequel, Re;Birth2 Sisters Generation, doesn't really change things up all that much, but continues the trend in providing a fantastic RPG experience with enough parody to go around.

Re;Birth2 picks up where the first game left off. The four CPU heroines proved to be no match for the devious powers of Arfoire, and it's up to Neptune's younger sister, Nepgear, to partner up with IF and Compa, as well as the other CPU sisters to combat against the evil ASIC organization, and their plans to revive Arfoire. Trust me when I say that the game is chock-full of gaming references, parodies, as well as an oddly accurate representation (or at least was accurate) of game piracy, thanks to the likes of companies like R4 (Arfoire).

The game's combat mechanics remain unchanged from the previous Vita release, as you're still able to run around a certain part of the combat area, and then unleash various combos thanks to the Rush, Guard Break and Power attacks mapped to each face button. You can still meticulously craft each characters combos by switching out various attacks, as well as updating various power EXE finishers. This system does allow for some pretty strategic play, as your character placement in relation to the enemy can sometimes allow you to hit multiple foes at a time. Different weapons also have varying animations that can alter how many enemies you hit. While it doesn't seem like a very deep system, there is a lot of fun to be had with the various mechanics and allows strategic players to plan out their attacks before unleashing them.

The HDD (Hard Drive Divinity) form that each CPU can transform into is slightly altered from the first game on the Vita. Instead of continually draining your SP, forcing you to act as much as you possibly can within that time limit, the cost of transformation is now a 20% decrease of that CPU's SP. This change makes it way less punishing to transform.

One aspect that was also carried over from the original Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 to the Vita remake is the concept of Viral enemies. During the course of battle, some enemies can turn viral, and can then infect other enemies around it as well. Viral enemies are much tougher to kill and do much higher damage, meaning they're absolutely vital to kill of as soon as they become viral.

The Remake system also makes a comeback from Re;Birth1, which lets you utilize various crafting material picked up in dungeons or battle areas to either spawn new dungeons to explore, alter their difficulty to be harder or easier, completely change monsters in a given area, or even change the types of materials that spawn. It's a neat system that adds some replayability to some areas and even give incentive to go back and grind for new materials once that option becomes available.

There's also a new meta-game in the form of Stella's Adventure. Once unlocked, you'll able to send Stella to previously unlocked dungeons and quest areas, in hopes of her returning with some sweet materials or even useful items. The adventuring happens simultaneously to yours, so all you need to do is set it and forget it, and the game will notify you when Stella is done adventuring. I actually found this to be more tedious than fun, as sending Stella to multiple floors usually resulted in her failing, and I didn't have to patience to keep resending her every 2 to 4 minutes.

As is pretty standard for Idea Factory and Compile Heart games, the visuals won't certainly be for everyone, and there is some slight sexualization of the characters. The very beginning for example shows the CPUs being helpless and tied up in quite suggestive poses after their battle with Arfoire. I personally didn't have a problem with this, since I'm generally open to Japan's weirdness, and I've also reviewed games like this and this. Needless to say, if you have a problem with cute anime girls sometimes finding themselves in somewhat suggestive situations and poses, you might be slightly put off by some of the plot points of Re;Birth2, but you'd be robbing yourself of what is overall a pretty great JRPG.

The game supports dual audio options so purists can play it in native Japanese, or for those that don't like to read every single line, can opt to play in English.

My biggest gripe, which hasn't been touched at all in the sequel, is the lack of any type of Autosaves. I can't how many times I've quested in an area, went up against a tough boss, lost, and then was booted into the main menu, only to continue from my last manual save. What's worse, the game doesn't always give you optimal save locations, meaning a lot of times, you'll still have to run to the boss area again after you've been defeated.

If you weren't satisfied with Re;Birth1, I can't honestly recommend you get the sequel, since, like I've stated, it's mostly the same game, but with new characters and some slight changes to the mechanics. However, for those holding out for the continuation of the CPU story in Gamindustri, it's yet another solid entry in the series that you can pick up and play whenever, wherever.