Game Title: Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA-
Platform: Playstation Portable
Region: Japan (Exclusive)
Genre: Rhythm/Music Game
Players: Single Player
Release Date: July 2, 2009
Developer/Publisher: Sega
Website: http://miku.sega.jp

A brief intro about the game

A great treat for PSP users who are fans of Hatsune Miku. Hatsune Miku -Project Diva- incorporates the Vocaloid superstar in a rhythm game environment. Other Characters also included are seven Crypton Future Media Vocaloids’ Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka, Kaito, Meiko, Yowane Haku and Akita Neru. The game features songs popular to Vocaloid fans including the infamous “IevanPolkka” (Which is the only popular song of Hatsune that I know of) by Otomania which are well known both at Youtube and Nico Nico Douga.

Playing Time

After loading the game (you will see patent logos of the companies that were part of the game’s creation), you’ll be introduced to the main title screen with Hatsune Miku’s silhouette walking in the background. After Pressing the start button(or Circle), there will be three choices New Game, Load Game and Adhoc Mode (Side Note: staying at the main title screen for a few seconds will show the main opening video)

In the main menu, you’ll see Hatsune Miku floating in the background unconsciously. Graphics are kinda ok for a rhythm game. A simple cell shaded look and a snazzy menu setup is enough for this game. Navigating isn’t that hard, this game is one of those “non-japanese literate” friendly games, it just took me 5-10mins until I got used to the menu. There are four options that you really need to get used to, the first option which will take you to the main game, the second option to change your costume when you have unlocked them, the third option to play dress up in Hatsune’s room and the fifth option to save. The game has 39 songs you can play with (Melt by ryo being my personal favorite) all different in genre. There are also 39 costumes which you can use both in the main game and the room.

Like any other music rhythm game, you play by pressing a certain button following the song. You can play songs in easy, normal or hard which from what I’ve noticed didn’t had much difference for the normal and hard modes. Button patterns are still the same so is the speed the only thing that changed was the buttons you have to press. Also, there is a tiny “Lag” issue in the gameplay timing. From what I’ve read, some players say inorder to get by this problem, you must learn to play the songs by their beat just using the marks as guide rather than timing it when it lands on the mark. You unlock songs by finishing a song one time. Songs unlocked will automatically show up below the song you previously played.

What I like about this game is not only is this a “Game” but also is somewhat a “Hatsune Miku Omake“. There are four key “Omakes” in this game one is the MV’s when playing the game. The MV’s showcases Hatsune dancing, acting or just being cute. A simple 3D look similar to mikumikudance’s 3D look really suites Hatsune in the game and the movements are really smooth thanks to motion capture technology. You can unlock the MV only mode of all the songs by getting a grade of great in normal mode. This is a good feature if you just want to watch Hatsune do her stuff. Second is the Costumes which you can unlock by completing certain terms like finishing a song five times with a grade of great in normal mode. This is one of the things that made me play the game continuously. Unlocking those Costumes made it more interesting seeing how cute all of Hatsune’s costumes are. Costumes are not only centered at Hatsune you can also unlock other Vocaloid characters and their alternate costumes.

Third is Hatsune’s Room. This feature makes you play dress up with the characters you’ve unlocked. Also, you can unlock stuff that you can use to customize the room like room appearance, lamps, posters, musical instruments and toys to name a few. And last but not the least is the art gallery which showcases artworks made by fans some of which are shown in loading screens and in some songs instead of MV’s. You could also watch the opening video here. (I don’t know if there are other videos, I’m stuck in 92% gallery completion) You unlock artworks by playing songs. I don’t know about the terms but playing songs do unlock artworks specially when you get a high grade.

Another feature that caught me was the song editor wherein you can make your own custom songs by selecting any song from your PSP’s music folder. Project Diva’s editor does not only let you specifically edit where the buttons hit in a song but also lets you make your own MV using characters and backgrounds included in the game.

You can edit the MV from characters being used down to their facial expressions. You can do about anything to the MV, you can make Hatsune dance, sing, stand still, walk, run, make camera angles and pans, scenery changes and a bunch of other stuff. A downside however, the editor is not that easy to use it may take time and patience. It took me an hour just getting used to the menu (I used some menu guide in gamefaqs for this) and a few hours more just making a minute of game time and still it looks crappy. There are downloadable fan made custom songs on the net if you don’t wanna make it on your own.

All in all, Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA- is definitely a keeper for Vocaloid fans but for rhythm game enthusiast this may not be too appealing. Honestly, I wasn’t really a fan of Hatsune Miku or Vocaloids in general at first but after playing this game I went from a non-fan to a Vocaloidism subscriber.

Here are my ratings:

Gameplay: 7/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 10/10
Life Span: 7/10
Overall: 8.5/10