Pros:
+Visually stunning on both PSVita and PS4
+Controls are easy to learn and player-friendly
+Amazingly well-done voice tracks and subtitles
+A solid side-story to an already well developed main game
Cons:
-Lack of camera controls makes some maps hard to explore.
-Platforming sections can be slightly difficult due to the camera angles
Shady hackers, bizarre computer cafes, while training digital creatures in some virtual world in order to carry out corporate espionage almost sounds like a headline for the nightly news. But it’s this very premise that Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory follows. In Hacker’s Memory players take on the role of silent protagonist Keisuke Amazawa, a young man who has taken to the digital world of Eden in order to find the malicious hacker who stole his identity.
On his quest to find this person, Keisuke is urged to join the hacker group known as Hudie in order to explore the online world of Eden and track down the culprit behind his account theft. Just as expected, Keisuke does just as he was urged to do and becomes a part of this laidback group of hackers. In good ol’ Digimon fashion, Hacker’s Memory continues on as a side-story to Cyber Sleuth. Just as expected, Hacker’s Memory also utilizes the franchises turn-based battle systems, allowing players to have up to three Digimon in a single party with eight on standby.
As expected, combat plays in a rather familiar way, which includes using regular attacks, special abilities requiring SP, and raising a guard ability, which prevents half the damage your Digimon can take. Unlike in the games main entry, this one does see a unique mechanic where random members of the Hudie team will appear to assist with battles using their very own Digimon. Just like games of its type, Digimon still utilizes the idea of elemental strengths and weaknesses in order to diversify what Digimon you will use in combat.
The benefit of using a Digimon that contains a move another is weak against can benefit players in another of ways, including higher amounts of damage. Along with basic combat and allies joining you in battle, a new battle mode has been introduced into Hacker’s Memory: Domination Battles. In this new battles, players take on turn-based battles where players pick and control two of their own team members that fight alongside them in the arena.
As players win each of their fights, each being valued at points ranging from 1 point up to 10 points each, upon reaching the designated amount of points required to win, players will remain in combat until it has been reached. Much as expected from a well-established franchise, controls remain intuitive and easy to use. This allows for players to learn them rather quickly and even removes the need for players to perform too many actions in order to complete a task.
However, even with the games intuitive control setup, players will find a few underlying problems at the games very core. Unfortunately, the limitation of moving the camera does exist, forcing much of the game to be forced into a single angle, not allowing players to change the view to their preference. Unfortunately, Digimon Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory is extremely limited when it comes to camera perspectives, but does allow for players to use the right analog stick on both PlayStation 4 and Vita to zoom in and out.
While these camera angles do become problematic, it doesn’t allow for the game to perform rather flawlessly on both platforms. Graphics showing off a beautiful world that players get to explore. On both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, the graphics are beyond spectacular, allowing for fans of the series to play a perfectly designed anime in action. Luckily for us, this irritating flaw regarding the camera angles does give a sense of wonderment about why the game was designed the way it was and even makes players wonder what’s waiting just around the corner from them.
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory – PlayStation 4 and Vita
Developer: Media.Vision
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Release Date: Now Available
Outside of the controls and combat of the game, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory does keep its original voice cast from the Japanese version intact with well-edited translated text. Additionally, the team did a great job keeping much of the anime’s voice cast rather consistent with the game, allowing for key performances to retain their role and help build upon past experiences.
Just as one would expect from a side-story rather than a sequel, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory is a worthy successor to the series and is one that does the series justice. While it’s not a game you’re going to tell everyone in the world about (which we are), it’s still a game worth mentioning and comes off as a worthwhile title for fans of the Digimon franchise.
As expected, collecting, evolving, and befriending Digimon themselves is an extremely satisfying experience, one that we can only hope receives a sequel or spin-off of. Until then, I have some Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory to play.
Our review is based on a retail version that was provided to us by the publisher of the game. For information about our ethics policy please click here.
Final Score: 8 out of 10
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console game reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the borders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPGs, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter or Facebook.