Reviewed On: PlayStation 3

Available For: PlayStation 3

Publisher: NIS America

Developer: Reef Entertainment

Genre: Role-Playing Game

Age: 12 (PEGI)

There's an almost mandatory checklist to complete before playing Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory (HNV from now on), some necessary requirements. You must like role-playing, enjoy plentiful cutscences of surreal and bizarre nonsense, and perhaps even be a young girl.

With just two of the three boxes ticked, and I hope I don't have to specify which, this third adventure to centre around the main character Neptune, is a still decent slice of role-playing action.

Neptune travels through a tear in space, only to emerge in an alternate world in 1984. This world is seriously messed up, although a world where gaming platforms are personified by young girls is pretty screwy to begin with.

These young girls who are central to the story aren't the only reason why play is so girly. Pink plays a strong and sometimes overbearing role in the colour palette, which can be a little sickly sweet sometimes.

With plenty of dungeon crawling comes plenty of fighting, and HNV is certainly not short of its share. Taking the form of a turn-based combat system, players have to position their characters as well as choosing whether to attack or defend.

If variety is the spice of life, the HNV is a korma.

Play continuously pushes players through similar locale, but with subtle differences and a change of routes.

There's never really any reason to adapt or switch strategies, battle is generally the same and rarely calls for players to think on their feet. With a role-playing game which requires plenty of grinding to level-up, there's little incentive to trudge on through.

A role-playing game this camp isn't for everybody - RPGs in general aren't to everybody's taste anyway, yet the gaming-related humour is bound to have game-heads like myself amused. Admittedly I'd probably enjoy it a lot more if I were a young girl.

SCORE: 6 / 10

PROS: Large amounts to crack on with - a hive of RPG goodness for fans of the genre.

CONS: So pink and bright, it makes a flamingo seem masculine.