Recent reviews by Maxer00

Artstyle is simple yet very striking. The aesthetics pleases the eye.

OST is a bop. It Is a big part of what made the game so huge.

Gameplay is pretty simple, a puzzle game with rising difficulty.
Later levels might pose a challenge. Solutions to puzzles do not feel cheap
which feels nice.

Controls are on point. No delays, smooth.

Story is nothing serious. Just a guy and a dream.
Entertaining, yet might not be for everyone. Just gotta play and see.

Playtime is short. Can be beaten under an hour.
For a completionist without external guides playtime may double.

Yes. If you wanna crack some puzzles, chill and vibe
this will definitely burn an hour or so in no time.

For those who enjoy games with "Eat and get big or get Eaten" goal.
Osmos is slow and chill ones.
Has sweet ambient tunes and calming graphics.
A sight for sore eyes, and an Oasis for burnt nerves and tired fingers.

Is it a good game? Sure:

• It plays as a yugioh game
  
• Plenty of cards
  
• Restricted card rules are more or less up to date (till Link Summons)
  
• Big SinglePlayer Campaign
  
• Semi-difficult extra challenge duels

Does it have problems? Well, yes:

• Controls not too optimized for mouse
  
• CGI animations can't be skipped
  
• Limited options
  
• Finding multiplayer opponents may be difficult at times
  
• The OST is rather weak

So, should you get this?

If you enjoy Yu-gi-oh and want to play historic duels with story decks,
this is the perfect game for ya.
If you just want to play online, you might want to look at other alternatives.
Regardless I personally recommend this. Get this on sale if not 100% sure whether you're getting this.

Without going into too much detail,
the game's a short (2-4 hours) story-driven experience.
Recommended to those that enjoy lots of META and unorthodox elements in story telling.

While I think that the plot feels slightly unfinished the delivery makes it worth looking into.

I'll keep it short: Went to look for a quick time waster, got baited by the aesthetics, stayed for the bizarre story.
Confess my love is a story about Willie, lil' cute student boy that wants to express his feelings to his crush Liza. The game is kind of a choose your own adventure, except there are few choices leading up to the ending. Therefore a single playthrough can last a few minutes.
Sounds weird yet?
There's 20 endings and plenty of grammatical errors in the script.
If you're not put off yet, I highly recommend trying out this sweet little story because it is a splendid time waster (from a few minutes to about 3hours).
And if you're having difficulty finishing the game - there are plenty of guides out there to help you experience the story.

Decided to nominate this game for the last unnamed, as of writing this review, steam award category.
Called it "The really really hard to notice small gems", because calling it "underrated indie game" would be sad.

I'll keep the review short. The story is rather simple. You play as a swordsman's daughter who follows in his footsteps. She also goes to school. The roads are a bit dangerous, but that is a good enough reason to take out your sword and swing it around, eh?

The graphics are quite eye pleasing, in the style of old-school 16bit. The sprite art is nice. Though it depends on the person whether he'll like such art or not.
Music and sounds are pretty good, not too memorable but doesn't hurt the ear.

As for the gameplay... For those who are not used to tight controls and don't have a gamepad this could be torture. Otherwise you will most definitely find a challenging game with controls that require learning and feel quite rewarding.
Some compare it to Dark Souls, though I'm not 100 percent about that. The game does reward the player for learning how to properly combat enemies with interesting combos which deal much more damage than seperate hits.

In overall, this is the game that should be played by people looking for a challenge, from somewhere else rather than the mainstream majority. If you're interested in a side-scrolling RPG adventure made by a small gaming studio - do consider picking up this lil' gem.

A high quality RPG maker game. There are plenty of dull ones out there, but this one has the soul, a swell soundtrack, and a beautiful love story inside.

I recommend it to people who enjoy stories told via games.

Highly anticipated by some, though not everyone. Here's the second Neptunia spin-off featuring the lovely tsundere goddess Noire. Is the game worthy of having her name in the title? Well...

The game already came out a year ago on PS Vita with mixed reviews at the time, and for good reasons too. Now it's time to see how well it does on PC.

The Positive

• Noire is the protagonist this time around. The game's setting - an alternate universe, with Noire's city being the center of attention.
  
• Hyperdevotion Noire is not a typical JRPG, a Strategy RPG rather. Similiar to Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics gameplay wise.
  
• Once you get the game running properly (more on that later), it runs rather smoothly, can be set to FULL HD resolution.
  
• New characters associated with Lastation, that are based off playstation titles (Solid snake never looked so full-o-melons). CGs included of course.
  
• An interesting minimode featuring Noire and secretary dealing with the requests of the people. Silly dialogue, Ho!

The Neutral

• Typical to Neptunia series, a lighthearted Save-the-world plot, which is mostly just an excuse to see cute girls interacting with one another.
  
• Noire is accompanied by Secretary - the faceless, nameless, self-insert (male?) player character. Some part of the Neptunia community are very put off by this. "Noire, romancing a male character? Outrageous."
  
• Interesting Chibi (small and deformed) depictions of characters instead of typical full-size 3D models.
  
• On a technical side, there is a 30fps cap. Might not be a problem to everyone of course.
  
• As common with Neptunia games in general, it's not fully balanced. Don't be surprised to be wiped by a single +5lvl enemy.
  
• DLC for each character's best weapon to plow through the game fast, DLC for 4 extra characters (no events beside their missions sadly), DLC to unlock all events (that you'd need to grind for otherwise). I guess they are ok if you value your time more than your wallet.

The Negative

• Hyperdevotion Noire launched with numerous game-crashing bugs, with some not fully fixed till now: Crash during video cutscenes due to lack of certain codes |fixed?|, occasional crashing when selecting Disc Dev option due to denied memory access bug |maybe fixed|, sudden sound disappearances followed by performance drops fixed only by restarting the game. Some bugs are fixable thanks to the community, which is a relief.
  
• Most of the soundtrack is re-used from previous games, though not a problem to newcomers, fans might feel a bit dissapointed.
  
• Gameplay specifics: Fall damage, booby traps and such affect your team, doesn't affect the enemies at all. Probably due to bad AI, the dev team were probably too lazy to make enemies smart enough to avoid traps.
  
• To get to the true ending and unlock optional 1-2 hours long extra dialogue between characters a 2 hour "Lily rank" grind is required. It's dull, and sadly not entertaining to do. Of course, you can unlock the events with a DLC, though then the question raises, why would you make the grind so tiring in the first place?
  
• Completionists should be prepared for another grindfest. just like with NepU, you'll spend at least more than 15 hours grinding for achievements. Make sure to ingest so Zombrex on the way!

Conclusion

Hyperdevotion Noire: GBH on the surface is a good addition to the Nep series, with a colorful cast, more wacky dialogues between them, more references, and more plump bouncy...content. Sadly, compared to the other games in the series, the gameplay is quite slower due to it being a Turn Based RPG. Those wishing to complete the game fully might have a bad time grinding.
Should you get the game? To the devoted fans of the franchise I say - sure. If you're not, you might want to consider looking for alternatives or waiting for a discount before trying this game out.

Finally, Neptunia spin-offs are starting to appear on steam. What that means is:
1. More games for the fans and newcomers.
2. ...Let's face it you're all here for the animu fanservice, aren't ya?

Story

Right of the bat the game informs you that it's a spin-off and the story is non-canon.
Despite that the cast is still the same good ol' CPU goddesses and their sisters. They are accompanied by two journalists Dengekiko and Famitsu, and together they try to uncover a new Scoop. Yup, that's pretty much the entire plot.

The story's quite short, and unless you're playing the game once a week or so, you'll finish it in a jiffy.

Gameplay

As stated before, this is a spin-off. Instead of a JRPG, NepU is an Action Beat-'em-Up with RPG elements, it's quite fun. The controls are fluid. Characters have special skills, combos, transformations (just like before) , though the amount of combos could have been more varied.

The game also features the "Costume Break" system. It gives the characters a boost in stats... and it's for fanservice purposes too: get hit enough times and your controlled characters will get their costumes ripped to shreds with only a few scraps left to cover the goodies. Depending on whether you like the cutesy characters running around almost naked it's a hit or miss. Luckily the feature can be disabled midgame for those who don't like it.

Graphics and Sounds

The game retains what is great about the previous Neptunia games - the colorful atmosphere, funky battlemaps to fight in and good looking character and enemy models (though a lot are the same as in the previous games from the franchise).

The soundtrack is typical Neptunia - Funky, with some 8bit mixed here and there followed by JRPG battle rock themes. I didn't get bored of those. (Some themes reused, but not a lot.) A great plus is that there is a sound gallery for listening to the previous Nep game tunes, great for relistening pleasure.


Problems?

A game can't have zero downsides right? Of course. There were reports of crashing, blurry 1080p graphics,sound, controller and performance issues on launch, luckily most of the issues were either fixed, or are easy to fix thanks to the community findings.

Another little problem that sparked some controversy in community discussions was the Costume Break, and how it looks "wrong" on the younger members of the cast (the Goddess' siblings), I can't say which side is right, but it's something to think about, as some parts of the world have very harsh laws regarding this topic.

And finally probably the most talked problem - the difficulty. The game is well, too easy. Mobs can swarm you but they attack very rarily and deal insignificant damage, and even then you usually have a partner character that you can switch to. You can equip accessories that lower your stats yes, but that unnatural difficulty raising doesn't feel rewarding at all.
Of course there are DLCs with harder quests, but by the time you get to them, the main story is finished, and unless you want to play more against one-shot mobs, those quests aren't worth the time.

Summary

NepU - the first Neptunia spin-off on steam started it off strong - a solid different genre game with it's own fickles and trickles. While it has some problems with it's low difficulty, fans of the franchise will enjoy it. And for those who are checking out this franchise just now, go ahead. Though you might want to wait for a discount if you're unsure if it's a worthy buy, though for a casual fun game - I recommend it.

Fan's rejoice - the third game of Neptunia is here! Other gamers take a peak - another anime-style JRPG is here!
But is it a plain copy of the previous two games, or maybe it had some major improvements that makes it the best (Neptunia) game so far?

Story

Re;birth 3 once again places the player in the Gamindustri world, ruled by Goddesses[ideafintl.com]. Each rule a nation that represent a console company (Lastation -> Playstation, Leanbox -> Xbox, and so on) All seem peaceful after the events of Re;birth 2, but our lazy and goofy main character just had to get herself in trouble again, didn't she?

The story is of the same pace as the previous games - it doesn't take itself too seriously, with it's long-winded boobie talk just before a serious boss battle, obscure gaming references at every single corner and blunt 4th wall breakings (The main character lives just to break it). But even so, Re;birth 3 probably tells the longest and most decent story out of the 3 so far, which I personally enjoyed greatly. But do take note, that if it's a story-driven RPG you're looking for, you might need to rethink if this is what you're after.

Gameplay

The game's battle system remains mostly unchanged. It's still the typical turn based JRPG battle with the exception of being able to move the characters around for flanking and accurate special skill attacks (trust me it's much more simple than it sounds). The only change is the merge of SP bar and EXE drive bar, which is a healthy change. Before, you could just spam SP attacks and then finish it with very powerful EXE attacks. Now, you have to use SP for both specials and EXE attacks, so you have to play more smart.

The dungeon exploring remains mostly unchanged besides another very good change: the hidden treasure is no longer an invisible item in the dungeon that you had to spam a button to radar-search for it, it's now a mostly transparent Mario-type block that casts a shadow that the player can bump his head into for extra loot.

The levelling system finally feels balanced, the game doesn't suddenly throw in undefeatable mobs to get killed by, and you don't get too powerful too quickly (unless you use certain Plans...)

The Chirper also returns which is a direct replacement to talking to NPCs in other RPG games. It basically has almost zero use besides getting references, funny thoughts and similiar things. Though for some players it might be something to look forward to during each chapter start.

And the fun auto-exploring Stella's dungeon minigame returns again. This time, with more stuff to do. And with faster exploring too, which is a plus too. And this minigame also solves the problem of farming for materials as you can get a lot of them from the minigame too, while doing something else. Like reading the plot.

Speaking of plot, you will be met by a lot of it. A lot of text that is. Sometimes it really pulls the player out of the action just to read dozens of lines of text. While story is important, from time to time you may feel as the "actual gameplay VS story reading" balance is off. Luckily you can still choose to skip the text relatively fast, or set it on AUTO, so you can read/listen to it while eating even!

Options. There are not many. You can switch the resolution, camera sensitivity, fullscreen mode, language and there are sound sliders. Also key bindings. Other than that there is not much to choose from.

And finally the Remake/Plan system, one of the highlights of Neptunia Re;birth's game mechanics for me. As before, it allows the player to "alter" how the game works. What that means is basically this is the unlock system. You want new dungeons? Unlock a plan and then gather materials to make a new dungeon. Need more items armor clothes etc.? Repeat what you did for the dungeon. And while this Remake system offers a lot of changes (Monster strength, BGM music change, Clothing, Stella's dungeon additions), it's not as hard to farm all the required materials for all the plans to unlock everything. Which is certainly nice.
(Unless you're one of those people who need to unlock a "My waifu" accessory for all the girls, in which case farming is your problem, buddy!)

Graphics and Sounds

The game's as colorful as before, looks beautiful in 720p and higher, the character models remain unchanged and that's fine since they do look splendid. A first time player will certainly enjoy the way they look and move, while those who played the previous games might wish for more variety or change. The dungeons and monsters are also more or less the same, with some healthy additions, but a veteran player will certainly be bothered by enemy recolorings and same dungeon re-using.

All of the cast is fully voiced, with menu and overworld included. Only a few cutscenes are text-only. Each dungeon type has it's own BGM as it should, and boss fights have their own too, though some are re-used from previous games. I personally didn't mind it, as the music is not an annoyance in Re;birth games.

Japanese versus English

The game originates from Japan as you may already know. But the cast is voiced both in japanese and english, which is quite awesome. The quality of both is superb so choose whichever you fancy more - squeaky typical-anime-ish japanese, or "dub" english. (Please don't take the "dub" part seriously)
The only minus I had with the localization is the fact that the translated story text is still full of *achem* memes. It's not as bad as it was in Re;birth2 where you couldn't take the story seriously due to how the translation partakes the story in the wrong way. And trust me, when somebody tells you to "stabby stabby kill kill" another person while dramatic music plays, the experience is ruined. Luckily as I've mentioned, the translation got better and it's not as off, as it was before.

DLC's & Bugs

A surprise - the game comes with all DLC's besides the Stella dungeon goodie (which is still a very useful DLC). That means you get to use up to 28 instead of 10 characters if you wish. And grind up to 999th level instead of a measly 99.
The DLC characters get a few sub-stories which is a nice addition. And strangely enough they get more stories than in previous games where (most of them) were already in the game without DLCs.
You also get extra super equipment Plans. But if you don't want none of that you can always turn off the DLC's before starting the game, which is quite helpful for those who wish to do so. And whether you'll want to grind to the max is up to the player, as the extra dungeons do not introduce any more important story additions.

The game sadly comes with some bugs that don't allow players with low amounts of RAM or with certain Intel integrated graphic cards to play the game without crashes, so beware of that. Some are easily fixable, which is a relief as I myself had to find a quick fix for my own crash issue. I suggest reading up on any other potential game breaking issues before deciding to get the game as you may or may not encounter problems along the way.

Final Verdict

As a fan of the Neptunia series I was pleased by Re;birth 3: The game's performance got a boost. The story got a boost in length and quality. The gameplay was also balanced for a more enjoyable experience. And while the game still does not let go of it's habits of reusing old material, and it's grindy parts for the completionists, I feel that this game is certainly worth a try for both fans and those who enjoy a not-too-serious JRPG experience. Unless you're a very serious gamer who takes his games seriously, and you require a serious plot and seriously amazing gameplay I recommend this game. It's quite fun.