Friday 23 November 2012

Hatsune Miku:Project Diva Extend

Gamespot Score:n/a

My Score:8.0


(+)Pros:  - Same great game with new content, - Tons of new content, including new songs, new costumes and more, - A great step up in terms of difficulty, - More variety in character usage and duets.

(-)Cons: - Some of the old songs have been removed, - Still no songs for Sakine Meiko and Yowane Haku.

Gameplay time:50 hours +



So, Miku returns! "Hatsune Miku:Project Diva Extend" was a weird release to me. "Hatsune Miku:Project Diva 2" was already a perfect game that far surpassed any Miku game that Sega ever released. "Extend" was just there to to expand upon the universe that is Vocaloid songs, and acts a little bit like what "Super Street Fighter IV" was to "Street Fighter IV". In many ways its just an add on game to "Project Diva 2", it didn't really have to be a full on retail release, it could have been DLC. Still, its out, and here I am trying to review it. Bringing back the old Vocaloid cast, Sega tries to kick the hype back into the "Project Diva" games, did they do it right with "Hatsune Miku:Project Diva Extend"? For the most part, yes.




Music games don't have stories, and lets not go there ever again, especially for a freaking Vocaloid game.



"Two Faced Lovers" is an awesome song.



As an "expansion" to "Hatsune Miku:Project Diva 2", "Extend" is basically the same great game with new content. The game play mechanics remain unchanged from its predecessor, and the game is still a blast to play. There aren't any new changes or additions to the game play mechanics, and to be frank, I think that's a good thing. Anymore new symbols flying into the screen will cause me to have a seizure. As an add-on game, lets talk about what he game brings that is new. Well, obviously we're talking about the new content.



There's quite a lot to talk about when it comes to the new content "Hatsune Miku:Project Diva Extend" brings. For one, new songs. Yeah, this is a no brainer. If you're going to release an expansion of an older music game, you got to have more songs, and believe me, "Extend" new songs are pretty damn awesome. Fan favorites like "Luka Luka fever night", "Two faced lovers", "Rolling girl" and one of Ryo's newer songs at the time of its release "Sekiranun Graffiti". There are a lot more of course, these are the ones that I loved the most. Other new content include costumes....items for rooms....and just more vocal pieces. 



New songs for Kaito as well.

Speaking of costumes, these can be imported over from your "Diva 2" save data, so if you've played it before, you won't to unlock all these costumes again. Now lets talk more about the songs. Most of the new ones are fan favorites, but more importantly, the new songs are a great step up in difficulty. There are now multiple 10* songs (looking right at you "Two Faced Lovers", "Rolling Girl"), and even after that most of the new songs have 8*-9* difficulty, which can wreck many players. This in itself already motivates pro players even more than before.


Also, the new songs have more VARIETY this time, something that "Diva 2" didn't get quite right. While having new Vocaloids in the game is a good thing, it isn't as amazing if 90% of the songs are still Miku songs. "Extend" fixes that problem, as the other Vocaloids get their own share of screen time as well. There are still more Miku songs, but for ever 2 Miku songs there is another song from another Vocaloid. So you'll be switching Vocaloids quite often this time around, rather than sticking to Miku. Oh, and more duets. Rin and Len, Rin and Miku, Kaito and Meiko, Meiko and Luka, you name it, this game has it.



More Rin and Len duets, about time.

I'm not going to say it no more, having no songs for Haku and the other Meiko is just saddening. Sad day to be them I guess, when the f**k are they going to release a Haku song? WHEN!? The other small issue that I have with the game is that they removed some of the old songs, replaced by the new ones. While the new songs are f**king great, its sad that they removed some of the old songs that I loved, like "Romeo X Cinderella". They could have kept the old songs and added the new songs too, but maybe there were memory issues, I don't know.


"Hatsune Miku:Project Diva Extend" is a great music game on its own, and a good add on to the "Project Diva" franchise. It just feels that this game was a little bit unneeded. If they wanted to, they could have just done DLC for "Project Diva 2". Still, this game is good stuff, and any Vocaloid fan wouldn't want to miss it. Now, I so want to play "Project Diva F", but I need a freaking Vita for that. NOOOOOO!




Make a Vocaloid game with all these characters. Yes, get your asses to it Sega and Crypton.


Happy gaming!