Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F Review

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F Review.

Project Diva F is the first game of any sort featuring virtual pop star Hatsune Miku to be released in the West; and while her debut isn’t perfect, she presents an enjoyable rhythm game that is equal parts fun and challenging.

Project Diva F plays like your typical music rhythm game, hit the buttons in time to the onscreen prompts to get the highest score possible with more notes appearing the higher the difficulty gets. If you’re playing this game straight after playing a game like Guitar Hero/Rock Band, then you’ll notice that the prompts aren’t at the bottom of the screen as is the norm in rhythm games, they instead appear all over the screen with the notes flying in from outside.

There are nine different commands in total; the face buttons, the D-pad combined with the face buttons and the analog stick for star notes. Star notes are activated by a flick of the analog stick in any direction, as this note is made on the Vita version by swiping the touchscreen on the back of the console. Switching between these notes quickly can be a bit tricky on fast songs, especially on the harder difficulties, unless you manage to procure yourself an official controller but these are rare and can be very expensive.

There are two distinctive components in each song that give you a chance to rack up serious points; the Technical Zone and Chance Time. When the Technical Zone starts, you’ll have to try and hit all of the notes for a score increase at the end of the zone, if you miss even one then the score bonus won’t be added on. Chance Time is similar, except that a star appears in the bottom left corner of the screen and you have to fill it up by hitting notes. At the end of Chance Time a big star note shows up, if you hit it and the star in the corner is full then you’ll receive a score bonus.

While graphics aren’t everything in a rhythm game, the videos that back the music are dynamic and look great, although sometimes so much will be going on in the video that the notes and prompts will sometimes blend in, so if you’re not paying attention then you’ll miss out on points which could cost you a Perfect rank. The music as you’d expect from a rhythm game is excellent, the soundtrack has 38 tracks, which to be honest isn’t a lot compared to other rhythm games, but it includes better-known songs such as Tell Your World and Black Rock★Shooter, other good songs include Time Machine and Weekender Girl and you may even find yourself involuntarily humming them as you go about your day. When you clear some songs, you may unlock a clean music video for it so you can enjoy the song without having to play it, which is nice.

Diva Points are earned for playing songs, which can be spent on costumes and accessories for all of the Vocaloids. These points can also be spent on customizing each of the characters Diva Rooms. The Diva Room puts either Hatsune Miku or any of the other singers into their own space, where they just sort of hang out. You can buy them gifts using Diva Points; these vary from a tambourine to a box of doughnuts. Some of the items even have short cutscenes of the character interacting with them. The primary reason of buying gifts is to increase your companionship level with your chosen singer, once you get to certain levels they may even want to play games with you.

Other modes include a photo mode, which as the name suggests, lets you take pictures of the various singers in their costumes and also strike poses, but if you try to get an upskirt shot the character disappears and a message appears saying that the character needs to be reset. (Not that I’ve tried of course) Another mode is the edit mode where you are able to make your own videos, I’m no good at using editing tools in general, but after briefly surfing YouTube there are some very good original videos out there.

Overall then, while Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F doesn’t bring anything revolutionary to the genre, it’s definitely a fun time. The almost Tamagotchi-esque Diva Room won’t be for everyone, but if your waifu just happens to be Luka then you might get a lot out of it. The edit room is great for creating custom PVs in the right hands. Despite a few small issues, this is still a game worth checking out if you have any interest in music or music games.

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F is now available on PS3 in the US for $50 or on the European PSN store for £36.99