We sat down and put our fingers to the keyboard to try out one of the many installations of the famously infamous Hyperdimension Neptunia series. The game in question was MegaTagensio: Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies by Compile Heart. Now, this is simply game 11 of the series, and the company has clearly cemented down its formula for a wacky and inane storyline, humorous character interactions, and addictive combat. Albeit their style has been one that was nailed down from the beginning as you will find even the earliest of the series pretty polished and enjoyable to play.

MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies is a hack and slash video game that will test your ability to put together combos and dole out damage. A good chunk of the fun, let’s say about 30%, is simply jumping into a horde of enemies and just laying them all low. This aspect alone might capture the hearts of people who adore fighting games. However, there are two other prime aspects that really make this game stand out.

The second feature is the dialogue/story/character interactions, because they are some of the most zany and hilarious moments you will ever experience in gaming. This factor contributes to about 20% of the fun, as the game consistently makes fun of itself and other games and carries a lot of anime tropes with it. The final aspect is simply the amount of options that they give you. Further detail will be given below, but you can really customize your playtime and that adds up to about 50% of the fun. Admittedly, depending on your preferences, these values can change, but it’s practically guaranteed that you will have a good time playing the game.

The story starts us off at Gamicademi, where Blanc is concerned about her future career as a writer. She needs to read all the books in the school library and she needs to get published. That’s when she sees her little sisters Rom and Ram being attacked by zombies. Well, after beating up those zombies, she finds out that they were students in costume and she simply interrupted a scene of a movie that the film club is shooting.

Frustrated by the club’s carelessness, Blanc is about to walk off when Neptune (president of club and one of the main characters of this series) offers her the chance to be the writer and director. Blanc gets suckered in and so begins the creation of a zombie movie. But wait! There is a real zombie outbreak and they decide that using the real zombies will keep production costs a little lower. Oh, and they should figure out why people are becoming zombies. Action!

Hack and slash, hack and slash, hack and slash. That’s about the best and perhaps only way to describe the gameplay in MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies. If you’re not familiar with other games in the series, then think of games like Devil May Cry or Drakengard or Bayonetta. You are basically put face-to-face with a horde of enemies and you are expected to demolish them. To do so the game presents you not only with powerful attacks, but also truly devastating combos and team attacks.

Of course, you need to be able to master the keys in order to complete some of those combos. That can be difficult, especially if you are more used to console play. Mapping out the numerous buttons needed to perform an epic sequence of hits can be hard on the keyboard. It’s not impossible by any means, but it can be tricky going for a combo and also trying to adjust the came angle. If you’ve been playing games on the PC for most of your life, then you probably won’t have many, if any, issues.

Back to the hordes of monsters though. For the most part, they are large gatherings that are just waiting for you to cut into them, build up your special gauge, and then essentially obliterate them with a special. The creators are aware of this and that is part of the fun. They like to create some obstacles for you from time to time. This is especially clear when you’re about to take on a boss and have no means by which to easily build up any special. It’s actually a nice touch, because without such moments, the game would probably be too easy and you could just get by smashing buttons.

That’s enough about the enemies. Time to get to the stars of the show. The cast of girls that can be found in MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies is expansive (as always) and they are the core of the series. The creators do so much right in this regard. First off, each character has a unique fighting style (not to mention fashion style) with her own special techniques and transformations. Such differences are not only noticeable by costume/weapon choice. The combat animations, from style of swing to mid-air maneuvers, are well-defined and give credence to the character’s personality.

Speaking of personalities, each character is unique. Many of the characters might just have one particular quirk, but in a game that crams everything imaginable into its confines, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It lets you figure out quickly who you like and who you want to play with. This is a big part of the game. Picking a character and mastering all her moves is rewarding. It’s also nice that you can go back and choose your secondary favorites or basically anyone who you are even remotely interested in. However, it must be admitted that the fighting style might play a more deciding role in choosing who you play as in the beginning. A large reason being that you want to get through as much of the game as possible to unlock the character you really want to play as.

One of the other strong aspects concerning the characters is the voice acting, an area of production that has been perfected over the years. The voice actors capture the character’s personalities with ease and all the dialogue is enjoyable to go through as certain inflections and moments of humor are implemented on a frequent basis. To be quite frank, you might get tired of the plot of the story, but you’ll never get tired hearing about it, because the character conversations are so on point and fun to listen to. The sound track is also a solid plus for the series. It consists of a solid techno beat that strings together well with the fast-paced action.

Now onto the two cons. First off, the overall graphics are a little behind. They are not bad, but a little pixelated, so if you are hardcore about having perfect quality, then this might not be the fighting game for you. The truth for most people, though, is that the lower graphics are definitely made up for with the plethora of customization options.

You get to choose/unlock a number of outfits, many of which are pretty straightforward in their fan service. There are also a ton of weapons and you even get to choose some ridiculous accessories. From choosing headphones to glasses to plushies that you can put almost anywhere on your character, MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies is all about giving you control. There’s also the glory of the character transformations, which actually standout quite well in the midst of monotonous enemies.

Then there are the map levels, which are MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies’ second area of weakness. They are pretty elementary and basic. They do get bigger and a bit more colorful the farther you get into the game. However, to say that the environment of any level is amazing isn’t true. You won’t ever find yourself wanting to take a breather and look at the area around you. You’re simply charging through its alleys and looking for the next area of monsters so that you can hack them apart and move onto the next scene.

MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies is definitely a mix of things. At the forefront, it is a creative hack and slash game that has strong JRPG roots, from its graphics to its level of customization. In the background, it’s a humorous, graphic novel-like game that has lengthy cutscenes (which you can fast forward) and a lot of character interactions. The game really does give you a little bit of everything, but the main gift is the gift of freedom. It really allows you to choose exactly how you want to play and look.

MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies is a game that is both for the casual gamer as well as the one who likes to grind things to perfection. It is a relatively easy and fun game where most people can glide through and get real joy out of customizing their favorite characters. For the more intense gamers, you can spend an endless amount of time perfecting your combos and testing them out against people in online battles. Either way, the game offers something for just about anyone who enjoys hack and slash adventures or anime.