Easy Rippin'! - Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed

Hello beautiful people of the Internet! ... Sigh... Hm? Sin what's wrong? Not like you to be so down you're usually really angry all the time. I AM ANGRY. Huh? B-but why what's happened? Uhm... hello? Earth to stupid have you forgotten the game we're 'reviewing' today!? The game YOU wanted to review today!? But it's the only game we've been- SHUT UP. Just do you're freaking review.

No 4th wall is safe

Ahaha... ha... uhm... So! This week Sin and I are proud (so not proud) to present to you Hyperdimension Neptunia U for the PSVita. Though the Hyperdimension Neptunia games have always really been lovingly crafted JRPG's with epic long stories, this installment shakes things up a lot. OHHHHH yes it does and oh boy am I pissed about it! Though you could forgive the developers for dropping the JRPG epic genre and turning it into a Dynasty Warriors style slash-a-thon, the main problem I have with this game is that its big selling point is FANSERVICE. The Neptune games have always had a little bit of subtext and dirty jokes in them for sure but never has the girls clothes getting torn and ripped off their bodies been a selling point. So the girls' clothes rip and tear, I admit it's not the most tasteful game mechanic but let's at least remember it does serve a purpose in game, lowering the girls' defenses but increasing their critical hit rate instead. Despite it's seemingly unnecessary implication, at least the mechanic surrounding it makes sense and is well implemented. That may be true, but as the game goes on it reaches the point where the girls' clothes just rip off immediately upon taking your first damage, and you can unlock clothes that make it even EASIER for the clothes to tear if you're some disgusting freak like Ren and like seeing those embarrassing close up shots. Hey we gave them all the unbreakable clothes we unlocked remember Sin? Yeah, reluctantly... you just wanted to see Rom and Ram lose their clothes as much as possible! Hey! They look like they're 10 years old! Them losing their clothes is a very touchy subject so thankfully they have very modest rips compared to all the others, you remember... green heart's one right Sin...? ...Ow! Hey! Pervert.

See look how modest Ram's costume break is!
YOU ARE SUCH A FREAKING PERVERT

Gameplay-wise hey the game does transition as a slash-a-thon very nicely, all the girls attacks are fast paced, look impressive and feel really fluid, linking together super easily to make epic combos and cut the hoards of enemies to dust! Well everyone except Blanc at least, her weapon is a big heavy hammer so her attacks just feel a lot slower and less rewarding for the player, it's a shame because all the other characters work very nicely. There's a very small variety of special moves available (that's three for each girl) and all of the attacks are made with just the square and triangle buttons so combat becomes very samey a few hours into it. The ten different characters generally all feel different to play but it's still arguably too repetitive. Yeah but smashing all those monsters to bits at once feels awesome. Oh definitely.

"Choppy time!"
Neptune doesn't actually say that in this game you know?
S-Shut up!

As for the story well you can probably guess the game doesn't do too much as it's focusing on the 'Action Unleashed' part. The story is simple enough, two game industry journalists from Gamindustri (they really weren't trying to be subtle, the whole Neptunia universe is a game industry parody and they love to bring that to your attention in all their games) want to do interviews with the CPU's and CPU Candidates (that's the main characters and their little sisters), to increase their popularity and spread the word of them to the people of Gamindustri. They do these interviews by making you take on quests. I don't really get it but apparently mindlessly bashing the brains out of endless hoards of the same enemis apparently makes for exciting articles, maybe we should try that sometime... You calling our articles trash!? I thought you didn't like them that much Sin, you only do this because you have to? N-No I never said that...

Each character only has one really good special move so you'll often find you'll touch the other ones about as much as someone would touch Ren.
Hey!

Well there's not much to Hyperdimension Neptunia U Action Unleashed so it's only a short review to have this week. All that's left to say is for fans of the series and it's quirky characters you'll probably adore this shorter installment of simple fun chaos. if you're looking for a great story you'll probably be disappointed but it's a fun little game you can enjoy in short installments for maximum fun! Until next time! We love you all!

Hey Sin... You're not going to say it? ...Ow!
Pervert.