Saturday, April 30, 2016

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f 2nd (PSVita)

I was never really into rhythm games when I was growing up as a kid.  I wasn't good at music and I didn't do well when I was forced into taking band.  I played percussion and I wasn't good at it at all.  But I wish I had worked harder at it cause I do like music and I think playing an instrument or being musical in some way makes a person more well-rounded.  All that said, I didn't need to be musical to enjoy this game.

Hatsune Miku is a digital diva.  She sings and dances on screens all over the world and even has concerts.  The character was born from a computer program designed to pronounce all the syllables in natural Japanese speech or so I've been told.  Just as you can expect, some of the songs get a little rough and you can tell a computer is speaking when the words are being said faster than a human possibly could utter the lyrics.

The concept of the game is simple.  Hit the corresponding button to the beat and try to time it to achieve the best performance on each song.  The songs range from super fast electronica beats to slower more melodic tunes.  There are a number of other "Vocaloids" to play with and each has their own voice.  My personal favorite is Meiko but she isn't very popular, so she doesn't appear as often.  There are options to dress your Vocaloids up in various outfits and you can play through the songs in multiple difficulties.  I've never been able to best anything past Normal though.

There is a lot more to this game.  There is the sim portion where you hang out with your chosen Vocaloid and play games and stuff.  I honestly spent the least amount of time with this.  I'm sure it is fun for people that like that but I have a hard enough time dealing with my own life.  I don't know if I could handle taking care of a digital person too.

The key draw to this game is the music.  It is great, I love listening to Vocaloids sing.  Even though most of the music is very "pop", it still has its moments.  If you have a knack for music and enjoy rhythm games, you can't do much worse than this.  It is fun and the game doesn't lack in features.  There is enough variety to keep even seasoned rhythm fans busy trying to Perfect every song.  Support Hatsune Miku because this is likely the future of music in some form.