Super Neptunia RPG

Super Neptunia RPG is a fun but ultimately fairly average spin-off. Neptune and her friends are as funny and endearing as ever, but the story does them a disservice by bogging them down in needlessly long and boring conversations. If you're a fan of the Neptunia series then you'll certainly enjoy seeing all the familiar faces and the world in its gorgeous new 2D form, but for everyone else, this is a run-of-the-mill JRPG.

Super Neptunia RPG actually has more in common with South Park: The Fractured But Whole than it does more traditional RPGs, simply because it takes systems that can often be a little too complicated and makes them far more palatable for players hoping for a more casual experience. Combat can often drift a little too far into the casual zone – especially with the ability to speed up battles – but the strength of its environmental design and the light-hearted nature of its quests helps this spin-off hold a lot more weight than some of the throwaway cash-ins that have graced PS Vita in recent years.

The Gamindustri returns with a new kind of an adventure.

Super Neptunia RPG feels like it was made by two teams with two objectives, and the result is a mediocre mess.

There's a bit of a love/hate relationship in play when reviewing a game like Super Neptunia RPG. Maybe a case of Stockholm Syndrome has crept in, but the time in this 2D world feels mostly well spent.

Super Neptunia RPG, like its predecessors, has cut back significantly on fan service, though there are still several instances that nod at the series’ origins.

Super Neptunia RPG negates the positives that it brings about. The fresh perspective that comes from being a classic 2D RPG with a simple battle system clashes with the unintuitive and unresponsive platforming. The presentation is beautiful, but the performance is hampered when compared to its predecessors. The ability to explore also seems nice until you realize that the streamlined side-quest system has been replaced with the more time-consuming method of visiting each quest-giver individually. Fans of the series may still enjoy it.

Super Neptunia RPG makes an earnest attempt at shaking up the formula of the Neptunia series. Unfortunately, major technical issues bog this game down at every turn, and even if they were fixed, the drawn out story and over-simplified combat would fail to equate to an enjoyable game. Super fans of the Neptunia series might find something worthwhile in this experience, but it's sure to be buried under ten tons of headache and frustration.

For those who have previously enjoyed the tales of Neptune and her crew, it's possibly worth a try, but for those uninitiated, this won't create any new Nep Nep fans.

Super Neptunia RPG features great music, wonderful visuals and that kooky Neptunia storytelling and dialogue that fans of the series know and love. Unfortunately, the overall experience is taken down several notches by the gameplay, which features pretty basic platforming, a multitude of fetch quests and combat that could be more fleshed out. Newcomers will probably not want to nep to this particular beat but hardcore fans will still enjoy its very Neptunia-ish writing and dialogue