Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd Review

More than one year since Miku’s debut title came to North America, Project Diva F 2nd sees the vocaloid starlet return to fame with a new selection of tracks and costumes to keep any rhythm fan happy. Whether you own a PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Vita, there’s plenty of ways to put the rhythm at your fingertips. New songs and new innovations are enough to bring series veterans back for one more pass, but is worth playing Project Diva F 2nd if you’re not a rhythm aficionado?

Project Diva F 2nd opens to the same presentation that the first title showed off last year. Over forty songs are available to play, each unlocking after completing the most recent track on the list. While still limited to the auto-tuned stylings of the Vocaloid engine, the diversity of songs is more striking this time around. Among the tracklist you’ll find somber melodies, hyper Eurobeat and pop, and even a track dedicated to killing all humans (The Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee). Like most other rhythm titles on the market, the difficulty ramps up over time as you start hitting the climax of songs. New to the series is the addition of English subtitles for many songs, finally giving English-speaking players insight to exactly what Miku is singing about.

Project Diva F 2nd picks up speed much earlier on than its predecessor and offers some of the more challenging songs earlier on. If you’re a veteran of either previous Project Diva titles or the Ouendan series, the higher difficult may be a worthy challenge. On the other hand, if your rhythm skills could still use some practice, some modifiers exist to either aid or offer more of a challenge. Some of these customizations may increase the timing window to hit a note, hide the notes until they’re halfway across the screen, or even eliminate certain note types entirely. By wagering up some of your DP (F’s valuable currency used to purchasing anything in-game), you can purchase up to three of these augments that each modify how much DP you’ll earn for a successful song completion. If you’re a glutton for punishment, you can grab three negative modifiers to give yourself a 250% DP boost if you can complete the song, making the cash grind that much easier.

Diva Points are king in F 2nd and you’re going to want to gather as many as you can. By using recommended modules (the costumes each singer wore in that particular song’s PV), you can gain a slight DP bump as well. Each of the six singing vocaloid starlets come with a large number of modules (song-based costumes) and accessories to equip. Between the cosmetics, furnishings and gifts for diva mode, and even system skins, there is a ton to purchase and experiment with. Not every item will be available from the offset to purchase, however. Transferring data from the first Project Diva F will unlock a large number of modules to purchase, but that’s only a slice of what’s available. To unlock the rest, you’ll need to undertake some challenges.