In a land known as Geimu-gyokai (Game-industry), the world is split into two divisions. Up on high is where the deities reside and way down below goes the devoted rabble. Four deities representing the consoles of today compete against each other for supremacy over the people and they are:

» Purple Heart aka Neptune - Goddess of Planetume (Sega Neptune)
» Green Heart aka Verd - Ruler of Rinnebox (Xbox 360)
» Black Heart aka Noir - Lady of Lasdition (Playstation 3)
» White Heart aka Blanc - Rani of Ruwii (Nintendo Wii)

Since the goddesses sustain themselves with offerings from their lowly subjects, they're in constant conflict with each other for control over followers. In business parlance, followers mean market share and the goal for each goddess is to become the hostess with the most.

However, there is another goddess in Geimu-gyokai who has the power to threaten all four "Hearts" because she's evil. Her named is "Majikonne" which sounds an awful lot like game copiers called the Majicom and the Super Magicom from back in the day. Nowadays, the term is used in Japan to refer to game piracy in general. In any case, Majikonne is a like a Pirate Queen and her theft of intellectual property could ruin the livelihoods of the four goddesess so Neptune and her helpers must rise up and slap Majikonne down.

The term "console wars" takes on a literal meaning in Chou Jigen Game: Neptune where the rival deities battle Neptune in turn-based 3D action.

In addition to the regular edition, a limited edition of Chou Jigen Game: Neptune is available which includes two special items as follows:

1) Chou Jigen Game: Neptune Original Soundtrack
2) Eco-friendly totebag made of natural material (not plastic)

¹ The Sega Neptune was a console which fused the Sega MegaDrive and the 32X add-on accessory into one compact console instead of the monstrosity that was the Sega MegaDrive with the 32X mounted on top which looked like a hot mess.

Product Specifications
Publisher: Sega | Compile Heart | Nippon Ichi | Idea Factory | Gust
Compatibility: Playstation 3 (Region-Free)
Format: Blu-Ray Disc (Single-Layer)
Territory/Language: Japanese
Japanese product title: 超次元ゲイム ネプテューヌ
Website: http://www.compileheart.com/neptune/
Product SKU: BLJM-60247
Jan Code: 4995857100767
Famitsu Ranking: (7/6/7/6)

View the back cover and screenshots on the main NCSX website.

» The game starts with a soliloquy from Neptune while a static image of the fabled book of knowledge sits in the background. A big green gemstone pokes out from the front of the gilded tome. In the next scene, sounds of conflict may be heard and Green Heart appears followed by White Heart. You'll begin to notice harbingers of the lengthy load times in the game at around this time. Black Heart and Purple Heart join the conversation with the other girls and all of the dialogue in the game is accompanied by voice acting. When the girls are talking to each other, they're congenial and observe decorum for the most part.

» The introductory sequence takes about 13 minutes to go through and a scripted battle between Neptune and the three other goddesses/consoles kicks off immediately after the first intro is over. At the outset of the encounter, Verd strikes Neptune first with a devastating attack followed by Noir's theatrical attack. Visual fireworks and booming sound effects accompany the two sequential blows from the goddesses. Neptune counterattacks Verd but Blanc follows up with an aerial strike that basically ends the battle. Neptune's hurt and she retreats.

» Another introductory sequence plays after the canned battle which runs for another ~20 minutes of simple animation and Japanese voice acting but not from battle-goddess Neptune. This time around, Neptune's reverted to her normal girl persona and she's accompanied by a helper who appears to be a representation of game publisher Compile Heart. At one point, the helper appears to be molesting Neptune who's wrapped in wisps of bandages.

» A tutorial which takes place inside a dungeon starts after the introductory sequence. At this point, you've sat through nearly 35 minutes of Neptune animation and voice acting. Players move Neptune through a dungeon and she runs with a girlish gait where her arms swing from side to side. A treasure chest may be pushed open with both arms and the initial encounter against blue slimes demonstrates how the battle system works. It's built on rudimentary turn-based attacks where the party strikes the enemies and the monsters counterattack if they're still alive. Each attack is accompanied by a scream or snippet of dialogue and every blow that is received is also accompanied by a scream or verbal utterance. The music that plays during the tutorial appears to be inspired by the 8-bit console era with simple beeps and boops backed by bass. Another enemy in the dungeon is a representation of the "Galaxians" and the shooting sound effect from that game may be heard during the encounter.

» At around the 1 hour mark into the game, we were told to wrap it up for today's write-up. We'll probably go back into Neptune later today but we're a lot more interested in ACE: R which is a monumental release.

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