REVIEW: Hatsune Miku: Project Diva - Future Tone


Title	Hatsune Miku: Project Diva – Future Tone
Developer	SEGA
Publisher	SEGA
Release Date	January 10th, 2016
Genre	Rhythm
Platform	PlayStation 4
Age Rating	Teen
Official Website

Being a big fan of the Hatsune Miku: Project Diva series, I was pretty stoked when SEGA announced they were bringing Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone to the West. This compilation of over 200 tracks from the Project Diva Arcade series is what fans have been wanting for many years. The question, is how did the localized version of this compilation turn out? Let’s find out!

For those not in the know let’s explain a little bit about how this compilation is being sold. There are two different song packs; Colorful Tone, which are the cute and more upbeats songs, and the Future Sound Packs, which are more rock and dance style songs. Each of these content packs contain over 100 songs and retail for $29.99 each. Personally I would recommend getting the bundle with both packs included for $53.99. This not only gives you access to all 224 tracks but also the ability to mix and match hair styles between costumes and play a hidden survival mode.

Just like with other entries in the franchise, there have been some gameplay tweaks made to this version. First off the Star Notes or Scratch Notes are gone. I was really pleased to see this as I feel they were added just to use the Vita’s touch features and made the game more difficult for the wrong reasons. They have been replaced with slide notes, which look like a broken line with an arrow on the end, and they will either point left or right. To hit these all you have to do is tilt the analog stick that corresponds with that direction or you can use the L and R triggers on top of the controller. You will hold this direction or button until the end of these notes. Another big change is Arrow Notes no longer require you to press that direction on the D-Pad and a face button at the same time. They are only the D-Pad direction now and are completely independent of the Face Button Notes. This is done because now there are 3 or 4 button and d-pad combination notes that will appear in songs. This happens very frequently on hard, extreme and Ex-extreme and can be quite tricky to master at first. The game does provide a very useful practice option for getting these sections down, and the tight controls help this along nicely as well.

Graphically this game is arcade perfection. This is as close as you are ever going to get without importing a Project Diva Arcade machine from Japan. The game runs at a solid 60 FPS and never lags or slows down. The diva models all look amazing and are very detailed. I’ve seen those models for years and I noticed small details such as writing I could never read before when playing this. Some of the costumes featured are from other SEGA titles such as Valkyria Chronicles, Sonic, and even Resonance of Fate. The environments look equally as stunning and I really loved all the different lighting effects.

As you can imagine the soundtrack here is absolutely amazing. These 200 plus tracks cover most of the songs to ever appear in the Project Diva Arcade and a lot of these have made their way onto home console games. You’ve likely heard at least some of these tracks before if you’ve played one of the previous games. No matter your taste in music there is something for you here. There are slow songs, fast upbeat songs, and everything in between. Certain tracks will allow you to switch which vocaloid is singing the song, so this can mix things up a bit for tracks where it is available. There are several different sound effects that play when you hit a note during gameplay. Each track a has default sound effect, but you can also customize each one to your liking as well.

It is hard for me not recommend Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone. The huge tracklist containing lots of fan favorites, amazing graphics, arcade perfect gameplay, tons of costumes and even a playlist editor if you just want to chill watching your favorite tracks make this an amazing package. I spent well over 40 hours with this one and I completed just over half the tracks. If you’re a Project Diva fan this is a must own title, or if you are a fan of rhythm games in general you would be hard pressed to find a better title out there.