VGamingNews

Neptunia Riders Vs Dogoos

28 January, 2025 - 11:43 am by
About 10 mins to read
Reviewed on: PS5

It’s that time of the year again. Readers who’ve been with VGamingNews since our 2021 relaunch will know that each year, I’ll be looking at the latest game from Idea Factory and Compile Heart. 2025 brings another entry in the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise, but unlike the action RPGs I’ve become accustomed to over the last few years, Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos is something a little different.

Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos bucks the tradition of the last few games, replacing the sprawling dungeon-crawling RPG formula with a motorbike-based collect-a-thon. That’s right, it is another spin-off but for once Neptune isn’t dimension hopping to save the world of Gameindustri, nor are there hours of exploring dungeons and taking on numerous enemies. Riders VS Dogoos strips all of that back to focus the story on the relationship between Neptune, the Goddesses and the humble Dogoo.

For the uninitiated, Dogoos are to the Hyperdimension franchise, that Goombas are to Super Mario Bros; the common enemy that’s treated like a laughing stock due to how easily they are stomped. The blue blobs take their cues from the Slime creatures from Dragon Quest, but with Canine-like features and after many years of being considered the weakest enemy of the franchise, they’re making a stand.


Neptunia Riders Vs Dogoos At A Glance

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Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos opens with Uzume, the Orange Heart from Megadimension Neptunia VIII who has fallen madly in love with Dogoos. After rolling around with the simple enemies, she realises things aren’t right and snaps out of her trance. With her senses regained, she sets off in search of the other Goddesses to see if they have suffered a similar fate. In a somewhat mysterious and not at all suspicious plot point, she suddenly knows how to operate a motorbike and drives off in search of Neptune and the others. It’s quickly established that the Dogoos have brainwashed the Goddesses and it’s up to Uzume to break the spell by snatching up all of the critters before anyone else, and it’s at this point I was handed the keys to the game.

Uzume utilises her new motor skills to drive around a large open area to collect a set number of Dogoos that attach to the back of the bike like a ball of squeaking debris. This has to be done quickly as you are racing against a computer-controlled opponent, who wants nothing more than to be surrounded by these cute, and maybe deadly(?) enemies. It’s not a straight race to see who can reach the target first, as you do have long and short-range missiles to help steal the enemies’ stash or slow them down. Disappointingly, the weapons cannot be changed so this does mean each stage follows the same pattern each time, with the only variations being the Dogoos you collect and the landscape you’re driving on. 

Even with these initial constraints, Riders VS Dogoos is a joy to play thanks to the tight controls and speed of which I rattled around each world. The driving aspect was addictive and encouraged me to play more than I otherwise should have, it was simply a fun experience, especially when adding the ‘Gimmick Dogoos’ into the mix. These creatures mix up the gameplay in certain ways like allowing you to glide for longer distances, or collecting a Holy Dogoo so that you can collect the zombie version of it. Not all of the weird enemies are helpful, such as the pink heart Dogoo that blocks the use of your weapons, or the one wearing VR goggles that limit your view significantly. 

In Riders VS Dogoos, there are five levels to explore, each offering three stages, but all of them ask you to do one thing – round up the Dogoos. It was disappointing that each level had the same challenge – to nab 100 Dogoos. Each level incorporated gimmicks to spice up the experience, one world centres around a slot machine that spits out random Dogoos, and cake land utilises chocolate fountains to shoot you into the air. My favourite was the Alice in Wonderland-inspired area where certain Dogoos could either shrink or turn you into a giant, which allows you to explore different areas of the map. While this is a nice break in the proceedings, there was no variation in the core gameplay which boils down collecting 100 Dogoos before your opponent. Even the boss fights that occur in round three of each world follow the same formula, albeit with a slightly higher difficulty level.

With the focus being solely on collecting dogs, each stage can be beaten in a handful of minutes meaning Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos won’t last more than 5 hours from start to finish. It can be quicker as the story is entirely skippable, although quite why you’d do that is another question entirely. Additional challenges extend the playtime a little, but aside from unlocking different parts of the bike, they are entirely optional. Those expecting the 20+ hour runtime with the Goddesses should set their expectations accordingly.

Once a stage has been cleared, you’ll be treated to an extra bit of the story, which does move at a zippy pace and is dripping with the usual charm and wit I’ve come to expect from the series. If the premise isn’t silly enough for you, the outrageous characters certainly know how to drive home the humour. The Dogoo hoard is varied in strange ways and isn’t just limited to a bouncing head. Some have bodies and aren’t afraid to show them off with most either appearing in short shorts or tiny bikinis that leave little to the imagination. Then there’s the busty Dogoo who is spilling out of what can only be described as one of Taylor Swift’s jumpsuits, which made me question if Compile Heart have been trawling niche forums in the dark corners of the internet for inspiration. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be laughing at the off-the-wall nature of the enemies, be aroused by them, or both.

I noticed that in Riders VS Dogoos, Compile Heart has done away with the visual novel aspects, with characters now being fully voiced and modelled in 3D. It was great to see that not only every one of the Goddesses had a voice, but so did the secondary and tertiary characters which have historically only been given a few lines of text. The characters move around the scenes and interact with one another, making the game feel more alive and accomplished than the series ever has. I’m not sure if this will continue into future titles, but at the very least, it made Riders VS Dogoos stand apart from the rest of the pack.

Just five minutes with Neptunia Riders Vs Dogoos will show you everything you need to know, the gameplay remains constant throughout the game’s short runtime, but to say that’s all the game offers would be a disservice. The move away from the visual novel component was welcome, and the characters are as delightfully odd as ever, but the key thing is that you’ll have fun driving around each level, and like it or not, there is something about the gameplay that made me want to go back, despite unlocking all there is to find. 

That being said, for as much fun as I’ve had with Neptunia Riders Vs Dogoos, the game does feel like a DLC that has somehow been spun out into a full release. In my short time with Neptunia Riders Vs Dogoos, I had a lot of fun despite the limited gameplay options and lack of variation through the levels. Because of this, along with the quirky and niche humour that the franchise is known for, I’d find it hard to recommend to anyone who isn’t a diehard fan of Neptunia and the Goddesses.

In the interest of full disclosure, VGamingNews was provided with a copy of the game to conduct this review.


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Score
5