Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos review

In 2023’s Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution, the cast sped around on motorcycles, fast-traveling through dungeons, as well as zipping through time trials and racing monsters. Although it was a visual delight to see Nep and the goddesses atop sporty-looking bikes, a simplistic handling model meant that the concept felt more than a half-finished novelty than a core component.

With the release of Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos, developer Compile Heart’s focus is squarely on the bikes. Yes, there’s some banter across the woefully succinct fifteen-stage campaign. But if you’re thinking about picking up Riders VS Dogoos for another satirical skewering of the gaming industry, it might be better to revisit one of the mainline entries.

This spin-off largely neglects the spirited stream of references that makes the original entries so fun. Mostly, you’ll overhear protagonist Uzume Tennouboshi mention the peculiarity of the set-up and occasionally debate the merits of dogoos –  the franchise’s trademark foe which resembles a puppy cross-bred with a slime. At least, both the Japanese and English voice casts give it a good shot.

Race to A Hundred

Each level tasks players and a potential partner with amassing a hundred dogoos before any of their opponents. Fortunately, the gelatinous creatures are easily gathered into a Kamatari-like bunch that floats above your bike. You’ll automatically pick up any dogoo you run over, but a drift instigates some slime-mutt magnetism, so you’ll probably be sliding around for the bulk of each two-to-three-minute round.

To keep things from becoming ridiculously simplistic, Riders incorporates a bit of vehicular combat. As such, you’re able to trigger both short and long-range attacks in an effort to steal dogoos from your rivals. But with the game’s lackadaisical camera, it can be tough following the action as well as seeing what kind of dogoo you’re about to pick up. And that’s undoubtedly important, since some of them provide boosts like easier collection or elevated jumps. Harmful dogoos can do things like limit your field of vision, so it’s better to toss them at opponents. But oddly, quite a few stages are so easy that engaging in combat isn’t required.

Joining the Bikini Biker Club

Mirroring the structure of a mobile game, there’s some incentives for replaying levels. Although you’ll earn a currency called BP just for completing a stage, doing it under a time limit or without the assistance of a partner can provide additional bonuses. You’ll use these assets to unlock different costumes for the game’s six playable characters as well as acquire upgrades for your bike. While your purchases can improve aspects like speed, acceleration, boosting, and your dogoo collection range, sometimes noticing any difference in performance was difficult. However, cosmetic changes were conspicuous in the game’s photo mode, where you can pose the goddesses and even make your own calendar. Honestly, I probably had more fun making naughty comic panels than dogoo gathering across the game’s succession of arenas.

The inclusion of components like character customization and a photo mode are customarily qualities of a complete game. But Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos gameplay is more like a mini-game than a forty-dollar offering. At that price point, there’s an expectation of polish and design decisions that would provide stages with distinction. Instead, Dogoos is both short and repetitive, enticing its franchise fans before taking them on a lamentably short ride.

Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos was played on Switch with review code provided by the publisher.