I’ve been playing a bit of Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F on PS3 recently. Every time I play it, I’m reminded that I really love rhythm games, regardless of whether or not they have “famous” music in them. (More hardcore Miku fans than I would probably be able to do a better job of explaining how each and every one of the tracks in Project Diva F is famous, but I’m happy just knowing “the one from Nyancat”, “the one from Leekspin” and “the one from Black Rock Shooter” for the moment.)

It helps, of course, that Project Diva F is an excellent rhythm game. It doesn’t do anything too complicated with its gameplay — it’s just tapping or occasionally holding buttons to the beat, sometimes breaking for some analogue stick-flicking rather than button-pressing — but has a good scoring system that rewards you in a number of different ways: overall accuracy, successfully completing high-pressure “technical zone” sequences and unlocking the “true” end to a track by completing another special bonus zone. You can then bump up the challenge factor through a nifty risk/reward mechanic whereby it becomes easier to fail a track, but in exchange you get considerably more “Diva Points” to spend on goodies if you successfully make it all the way through.

I tend to judge music games based on how “in the zone” they make me feel. A good music game makes you feel at one with the rhythms in its tracks, and you feel like the buttons you’re tapping have a real connection to the song. This doesn’t necessarily mean just tapping out the beat — I recall vividly explaining to my friend Woody way back when that the various button-presses in Vib Ribbon didn’t necessarily follow the vocal lines or the drum beat, but were in fact more like what you’d do if you were drumming your fingers to the song, and the note patterns in Project Diva F are much the same way. Sometimes you’re tapping out the rhythm that Miku and friends are singing; others, you’re following the guitar line, or the drums, or something else that is prominent in the soundtrack. Learning each track is a matter of familiarising yourself with what you’re “playing” at any given moment, and how it fits in with the song as a whole.

In short, Project Diva F gets me feeling very much “in the zone” while I’m playing. It’s one of those music games that’s hypnotic to play, though the fact that notes come from all directions means that you’re not left with that strange “the whole room is scrolling!” feeling that I always got from lengthy Guitar Hero or Rock Band sessions. The background videos are a lot of fun, too, featuring Miku and her friends getting up to various misadventures just like real pop stars in real music videos.

And the customisation. Man. I have a thing for playing dress-up in video games, and Project Diva F does not disappoint in this regard at all. Each of the game’s characters has a hefty number of different costumes to unlock, with various accessories on top of that. Then you can decorate each of their rooms, and unlock amusing, silly cutscenes when they interact with the items. Some of the items even have a practical function — setting Miku’s alarm clock puts her to sleep, for example, and she’ll wake herself (and you) up when the timer expires. Arguably not all that useful on a TV-attached console such as the PS3, but a nice touch — and I can see it being cool on the Vita version we’re supposedly getting in the West relatively soon.

I haven’t even touched the frankly terrifying Edit Mode yet, in which you can cut your own music videos and set up your own playable note patterns to your own music. If I jump down that particular rabbit-hole, I can see myself getting thoroughly lost, so I’ve held off for now. But I’m sure I’ll investigate at some point in the near future.

If you’re a fan of music games as I am, be sure to check it out; don’t worry that you might not know many of the songs — you’ll pick them up by the umpteenth time you play them to perfect your score!