Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sisters Generation PC Review
Idea Factory International has released Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sisters Generation on Steam and it's time to find out not only how well it stacks up to its initial release on Playstation Vita, but also how much of its launch release has improved over Hyperdimension Neptunia Re; Birth 1's PC port.
The most peculiar thing prior to Re;Birth 2's PC release is that Idea Factory International ran a controlled beta test of it throughout April to a selected number of participants. It was done to ensure that the same mistakes won't be made twice.
Recall that the Steam release of Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 had quite a bumpy launch. The Steam store page for it initially falsely advertised the game supporting 1080p and in reality, it only went up to 1600x900 on launch day. Eventually, Idea Factory International released a patch that caused Re;Birth 1 to support 1920x1080 though it did take a few days to finally correct it. Luckily, Re;Birth 2 does indeed support 1080p right out of the gate.
Other than that, the options menu in Re;Birth 2 is practically identical to what's found in Re;Birth 1, which may leave some disappointed in hoping that there would be an expanded array of custom settings this time around. Players still have the option to run the game in full-screen or windowed with a standard array of resolution options never going above 1080p along with the choice to play either on a keyboard and mouse or a controller.
Just like in Re;Birth 1's PC release, the interface in Re;Birth 2 runs in 60 frames per second so navigating through windows will just be as pleasantly smooth as before. This also extends to gameplay sections as well, whether it's fighting in battle or exploring out in the field.
As for the cinematic movie scenes, the original resolution from the Vita is kept intact so it comes off quite blurry. Fortunately, it's not too distracting because the scenes themselves don't overstay their welcome. On the other hand, the upscaled portraits during conversations are quite gorgeous. Character interactions are as lively and vibrant as ever just like in Re;Birth 1 thanks to Tsunako's exceptional art design.
Once again, the developers didn't alter any game assets in its PC release so the upscaled textures and models still look a bit rough especially on higher resolutions. It largely mirrors the look of Re;Birth 1 so there have been no major improvements to the look of the game which isn't necessarily a bad thing at all.
Perhaps the biggest glaring flaw, and it may just be my aging PC gaming rig, is the vast amount of screen-tearing in Re;Birth 2's Steam release. Whether it's moving portraits during a conversation, an EXE Drive attack, or wandering around in dungeons, I experienced a noticeable amount of screen-tearing. It was at its worst when moving around on the world map and unfortunately, there's no V-sync option in-game to rectify this. Users who experience this problem may have to turn to alternative solutions, most notably manually turning on a V-sync option on their video cards if that option is available to them.
Furthermore at the time of writing, more bugs are being found at its launch to the public. Idea Factory International has been very proactive with its responses to issues on Re;Birth 1's launch and continually patched it for months to squash out as many problems as they could. It's safe to assume that they'll do the same for Re;Birth 2.
While there are still a fair amount of flaws in this PC port, none of it particularly impacted my enjoyment of Re;Birth 2 in any significant way. If you want to know more about Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sisters Generation, read our review of the Vita version here.
Plus, check out the gallery below for more screenshots from the PC version of the game.
