Future Diva: Review of Hatsune Miku Project Diva 2nd

           A virtual diva that surprised all of Asia being the first successful virtual diva to hit the market. If you know Hatsune Miku, there is no need to explain how popular this character has become. If you don't know her, you should look her up on the internet to get a better feel for the character.Her main products include music albums, several video games, action figures, and the software. Although there are many products, we will be looking at Hatsune Miku Project Diva 2nd or also known as Project Diva 2. This again includes grading on gameplay, graphics, music, presentation, and overall appeal.

      Project Diva 2 is quite a simple game at its core by a simply hitting the buttons when the icon reaches the marker. Its for the psp. Although being a Japanese game which are typically harder than American games, the timing for each note has to be very exact in able to score combos or points in the game. As a musician, I believe that the amount of leeway for a note to be counted towards a combo is a 16th note. The game doesn't contain the normal "get to the end of the song without failing"; however it contains a quota system which is to get a certain amount of fine and cools in order to get a passing score. This game really is hard when it comes to that and people without rhythmic training will soon learn how difficult the game gets.

Gameplay

 

Opening sequence 

   
     Although the gameplay is difficult, the game surely equals the amount of difficulty with graphics. Being a psp game, this game surely contains some pretty visuals that can sometimes be distracting when playing the core game. Unlike many other games, this game does not contain any type of pre-rendered scene except the opening credits which still look quite pleasing. The frame rate does drop, but only those who have been working with video will ever notice a split second where the frame rate of 30 goes to 29. Altogether, the game focused a lot on the graphics being that it is a simple rhythm game with only graphics to appeal to the consumer masses.
 

Menus

     The presentation is just amazing. It gives the full Project Diva experience with the futuristic theme and the appealing menus. The game felt like you were in control of the which character sung which song. It even contain a happiness meter for each Vocaloid that decided if that certain character liked you or hated you. Although sometimes there are way to many loading screen, the amount of effort placed into making the menus clearly shine through the negatives.    

      Even though graphic and gameplay are important, the game's soundtrack are very essential also. I believe that the game contains 48 or 49 songs that are very diverse in sound. The game offers quite a bit of songs that are also done by different characters in the Vocaloid universe. Sega even decided to stick one Kaito song and one Meiko song. All in all, they focus on the pop/electric type of songs that are very interesting to listen too. The song choice were chosen through popularity of each song. Its a safe method to use.
   

Rin in two different costumes

      The lasting appeal of the game is very good. The game contains a money system in which you can buy merchandise such as costumes for the actually singing events or furniture to deck out your divas sleeping quarters. On top of that, it increases it replay value by including four difficulty levels for each of the 49 songs. The game had me playing quite a bit and I clocked over 10 hours without getting every single costume in the game. Miku contains more costume in the game then songs so you'll be playing a lot of those songs again. Plus, every diva has quite a bit of costumes and props on top of Mikus.
   
     Although it may not be your type of game, I would still give this a try. It a great way to know japan's culture in a nut shell and has many very cute aspects to it. For the main fan, its a great game to have. Also just a note, all the games share the same style. Thus, I will not review them.

Gameplay: B
Graphics: A
Sound: A
Presentation: A-
Lasting Appeal: A-
Overall: A-